Another Robbery in Cannes, This Time a Luxury Watch Store

Empty watch cases at Kronometry. Photo credit: BBC

The Kronometry luxury watch store was the latest target for robbers in the French resort city of Cannes.

Two robbers on Wednesday threatened staff with a grenade and a gun before fleeing with an undetermined amount of watches, according to reports. Their faces were concealed. There were three employees and no customers in the store at the time. No shots were fired and no one was injured.

The store is located on the Croisette (Cannes famed beachside promenade), about a half-mile away from Carlton Intercontinental hotel. On Sunday, thieves made off with $136 million worth of diamond jewelry that was on display in the hotel lobby. The jewelry was from the Leviev diamond company, owned by billionaire diamond merchant, Lev Leviev. It is considered the largest jewelry theft in France and one of the largest of all time.

This is the second time the luxury watch store was robbed this year. In February, thieves stole 150 watches valued at approximately $1.3 million, according to reports.

Cannes is developing a reputation for high-profile thefts. In the video report on France 24, locals display amusement and disgust over the number of incidents.

In another report, a police union official criticized the city's approach to security.

In May, there were two high profile thefts at the Cannes International Film Festival:

* A necklace by Swiss jeweler De Grisogono reportedly worth $2.5 million was stolen at a celebrity party;

* A week earlier $1 million worth of Chopard jewels were stolen from the hotel room of an employee of the Swiss company.

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