The gang smashed through the window of Watches of Switzerland on Oxford Street in broad daylight but their entire haul was later recovered by police. The gang smashed through the window of Watches of Switzerland on Oxford Street in broad daylight but their entire haul was later recovered by police.

Aurum has been hit by a second central London smash-and-grab raid in as many months.

A motorbike gang smashed their way through the window of the retail group’s Watches of Switzerland store on Oxford Street at 10.10am on Wednesday. The gang escaped with eight Rolex watches with a total value of £56,000; all which were later recovered after police stopped a car in Islington, Professional Jeweller has learned.

Metropolitan Police said that a 22-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the raid at Watches of Switzerland.

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Last month, Aurum’s Mappin & Webb store on Old Bond Street was targeted in a similar raid by a motorbike gang that spent ten minutes smashing through the reinforced shop window and escaped with handfuls of jewels and watches worth tens of thousands of pounds. The raid was the fifth on a Mappin & Webb London branch in the past three years.

Aurum declined to comment on the raid at Watches of Switzerland.