M B & F Flow Road "Horological Machine" watch

M B & F HM9 Flow Road "Horological Machine" watch

6 June 2024

RECOVERED TODAY by Art Recovery International. This very unusual $200,000 M B & F HM9 Flow Road "Horological Machine" watch was stolen in 2022 in London (of course) in a violent mugging. (NB, no insurance)

This rare timepiece was offered for sale at a Swiss auction house which cooperated fully and agreed to an unconditional surrender to the theft victim. (Unlike Geneva-based Antiquorum Auctioneers who return stolen watches to their vendor/consignor even if they may be the thief).

Special thanks to Swiss prosecutors, who after 14 months, finally looked inside the case file to see our power of attorney, authorisation from UK law enforcement, and negotiated surrender from the possessor. It took some convincing that there was no one left to prosecute, and that the victim should be reunited with his property.

We support, and are grateful for, law enforcement involvement in art theft cases. However, it’s time to give a bit more consideration to the theft victims who are often desperate to have their property returned to them. Photos can be substituted for the actual items for prosecutorial purposes rather than keeping valuable and delicate artworks in police evidence lockers. (Hello Serbian Prosecutors and the ATF in the USA?)

I recall the unnamed police force in the USA who paraded around a $1M Fantin-Latour painting during their Christmas party one year. The officers in this relatively small town could not believe such a painting could be worth so much. It was eventually returned, undamaged, but why take the risk?