Boxer Amir Khan robbed at gun point for £72,000 Franck Muller Vanguard Chronograph
Luke BenedictusAmir Khan has become the latest celebrity victim of watch crime after the British boxer was robbed at gun-point in London last night. The former world champion posted on Twitter that he and his wife, Faryal Makhdoom, were recovering after being confronted by two men in East London with his diamond-encrusted Franck Muller snatched in the robbery.
“Just had my watch taken off me at gun point in East London, Leyton,” Khan tweeted. “I crossed the road with Faryal, luckily she was few steps behind me. Two men ran to me, he asked for my watch whist (sic) having a gun pointed in my face. The main thing is we’re both safe.”
Earlier that day, Khan had been pictured with a fan while shopping in Oxford Street wearing the conspicuous watch. This has raised suspicions that the muggers may have potentially targeted Khan after being alerted to his wristwear.
They would hardly have had to be horological experts to have clocked that Khan was wearing a valuable watch either. The Franck Muller Vanguard is made of 19-carat rose-gold and bedecked with 719 diamonds that spill from the case onto the dial.
Sadly, such unfortunate incidents seem to be increasingly common on the streets of London. Formula 1 driver Lando Norris was another high-profile victim back in July after being mugged for his prototype Richard Mille.
Khan’s love for luxury watches is particularly well documented on his social media feeds. In 2020, he celebrated buying a a £100,000 Richard Mille RM 032 dive watch with a post captioned with the comment, ““Not everyday I treat myself.”
That post drew criticism from some quarters with one person tweeting a little presciently: “It seems unnecessary to show off your no doubt expensive watch.
“It could also make you a target for being robbed, although I’m sure you can fight back.”
Nor is Khan’s habit of posting about his watches a one-off as shown by this post celebrating a spot of retail therapy in Dubai.
Last year, Khan posted an even more more heavily publicised post in which he showcased his birthday present to his one-year-old son – a grey dial white-gold Rolex Cosmograph Daytona.
In retrospect, it now seems distinctly possible that such posts may have drawn criminal attention to Khan’s timepieces. Unfortunately, the spotlight of social media attention may not always be welcome if you’ve got an valuable watch collection to protect.