24-year-old Ferrari lead driver and current F1 points leader Charles Leclerc was robbed of his ridiculously expensive wrist watch on Monday evening in Viareggio, Tuscany, Italy. According to reports from the scene a small scrum of fans surrounded the driver for photos and autographs, and when that crowd died down he noticed the watch was gone. Authorities are investigating whether this was a crime of opportunity, or if the whole thing had been elaborately planned like a Danny Ocean plot.
The watch, based on photos of Leclerc wearing it, is a Richard Mille RM 67-02 (like the one below) with cnc-machined carbon and titanium for an ultra-light weightless feel on the wrist. Similarly, the band of the watch is a lightweight elastic fabric with no clasp. It seems like the kind of watch that would be very easily slid off someone’s wrist in an unsuspecting manner. Perhaps even while a handful of unsuspecting fans stood by. The whole watch weighs just 32 grams. Personally, I like the idea that the whole situation was a part of the plan, and half a dozen enterprising Italian criminals are now enjoying the spoils of splitting the profit from selling a quarter million plus dollar watch. But it could just as easily have been one of them seeing an opportunity to enjoy some extremely centralized economic stimulus.
Richard Mille is a partner of Scuderia Ferrari, and it seems quite likely that Leclerc will have another one on his wrist before the on-track action begins this weekend at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Italy. Obviously I’m quite glad that nobody was hurt in the perpetration of this crime, and it’s not like Leclerc, Ferrari, or Richard Mille can’t afford a replacement. I don’t condone theft, but the watch is fucking hideous, and barely capable of telling time from anyhow, so really they’re doing Charles a favor.