A driver heading back to Andorra got more than he bargained for at a Via Augusta traffic light. Thieves grabbed his £34,000 Cartier watch right off his wrist.
It was just after 7pm on Wednesday. The Mercedes G-Class was approaching the tunnels when a red light brought it to a stop. The warm October evening meant the window was down.
That’s when the thief struck. He sprinted to the car and yanked the Cartier Santos-Dumont from the driver’s wrist. His accomplice waited on a motorbike in the opposite lane.
Within seconds, both thieves had vanished into Barcelona’s traffic. The whole Barcelona watch theft took less than a minute.
Mossos d’Esquadra are now hunting the pair. However, they’ve got few leads to follow. The technique mirrors classic Italian luxury watch thieves from years past.
This marks the second high-value watch stolen in Barcelona recently. Last Thursday, an American tourist lost a Patek Philippe worth £76,000 near Plaça del Pi. The thief dropped his phone during that struggle, which police recovered.
On average, two watches get stolen daily in Barcelona. Some are genuine luxury pieces, whilst others are normal watches or fakes.
Mossos have a specialist unit called Titani tackling these robberies. Watch thefts have risen 6.8% compared to last year. Police attribute most of the increase to non-violent thefts rather than violent robberies.
Violent watch robberies account for 5.28% of all violent crimes in Barcelona. In the first six months of 2025, police arrested 153 people (up 17.7% from last year). Of those, 23 went to prison.
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