Tokyo thief returns stolen Audemars Piguet watch with apology note

Theft at a Nakano Broadway shop

A man who said he wanted to try on an Audemars Piguet walked out of a third-floor watch shop at Nakano Broadway, a shopping complex in Tokyo's Nakano district, on the evening of 29 October 2026. Libertatea puts the moment at around 20:00. The watch was valued at 46 million yen, and the man ran off while still wearing it. Two staff members were in the shop at the time, and neither was hurt.

A parcel on Sunday morning

On Sunday, 1 November, a parcel arrived at the shop containing the stolen watch and a handwritten note of apology in which the sender expressed deep remorse. Staff checked the serial number, which matched the stolen item. The parcel had been posted from Aichi Prefecture, more than 300 kilometres from Tokyo, and the sender gave a name and address that investigators suspect are false. The shop declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

Police and the value question

Police are still trying to identify the man suspected of the theft, and the case remains open. The watch's value is reported differently depending on the currency: about 238,000 Swiss francs, about 292,000 US dollars and about 1.1 million zloty. Each figure converts the same 46 million yen price tag.

An earlier theft in the same complex

In August, four luxury watches valued at 200 million yen were stolen from another shop in the same shopping complex. Two Chilean citizens were arrested over that case, and Libertatea reports that they were later charged. Tokyo police are still searching for the man in the latest theft.