Luxury wristwatches worth about 200 million yen, or more than $1.2 million, were stolen from a watch store in Tokyo’s Nakano Ward, police said. According to authorities, a man entered the shop on Tuesday and smashed a display case with what appeared to be a hammer before stealing four imported timepieces.
A security firm alerted police after the incident at a store located about 400 meters north of JR Nakano Station. Investigators said the suspect spent only around 10 seconds inside the shop before fleeing with another man.
Five employees were present at the time but did not confront the suspect, and no injuries were reported. Police are searching for both men and investigating the robbery.
Hirota Masayuki, editor-in-chief of the Japanese edition of Chronos magazine, said he was shocked by the incident in Japan. He noted that expensive watches are increasingly targeted because they are valuable, portable and relatively easy to resell.
