Nadal's Stolen Watch Found, Barman Arrested For $376,000 Timepiece

Rafael Nadal of Spain watches the ball after tipping it over the net in his second round match against Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan at the French Open tennis tournament in Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Thursday May 31, 2012. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

PARIS -- Police say they've found the 300,000 euro ($376,000) watch stolen from the Paris hotel room of tennis star Rafael Nadal, and that a barman has been arrested in connection with the theft.

Nadal was in Paris for the French Open, which he won Monday for a record seventh time, beating Serbia's Novak Djokovic.

Luxury watchmaker Richard Mille had lent the Spanish tennis champion the watch. It vanished sometime late Monday to early Tuesday.

A police source – speaking on condition of anonymity, citing policy – said Wednesday that the pricey timepiece was found Tuesday night along a railway track in the southern Paris suburb of Evry.

The suspect in the case, a 39-year-old barman who worked at the luxury hotel in Paris' 8th district, was arrested Tuesday evening.

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Comments

[Meldy1]

11:01 PM on 06/15/2012

But who would wear such an expensive watch!!Iam happy with my "Tissot"'sapphire glass,made in Geneva),a discount during my travel in Switzerland from $1,675 to $985,...it gives me the right time without winding or batteries....(just the warmth of your skin!)

[William Brock]

06:20 PM on 06/15/2012

$376,000. for a watch! That sounds like a Jewelry Store's claim with their insurance Company....Highly Inflated, of course. This is just a case of fraud and a thief.

[sensimilla]

02:43 PM on 06/15/2012

Never EVER trust anything valuable to be left in a hotel room. It can and probably will be stolen, and unrecoverable. Too many people have access to the rooms, and no one held accountable.

Yes, i have worked in hotels..

[Allgernon]

07:07 AM on 06/15/2012

I'm not loaning him my watch!

[MikeElPaso]

02:20 AM on 06/15/2012

The guy was going to take it to Pawn Stars and after some finagling would have sold it for 300 bucks only because Rick wanted it to give to the Old Man for Father's Day.

[nirvana101]

10:34 PM on 06/14/2012

People read the story, it says the watch was loaned to Nadal... not that it was his.

[AsaSemaj]

08:40 PM on 06/14/2012

I have a $500 watch, (which I love, and can justify 100 different ways) but I'm guessing if you compare incomes, I probably spent more than someone who buys one of these $375K watches. It's all relative.

[Dr JohnS]

07:13 PM on 06/14/2012

The article did not state how the barman had access to his room. Did not state why he left it beside the railroad tracks, which seems to be a precarious place to leave any kind of watch.

[phantasma]

06:58 PM on 06/14/2012

Many people don't realize the great investment value of luxury watches. Unlike luxury cars, boats etc. watches require no gasoline, electricity or parking space. However, it is wise to have good insurance!

[Nomadius]

06:54 PM on 06/14/2012

yeah yeah yeah...he earns it so he can spend it...you know what...

- The Ancient Rome was fulll of this kind of excess until the 99% got fed up.
- The Aristocratic Europe of the 19th C was full of this kind of excesses until the 99% got fed up.
- Nowadays, the 1%, the corporations and politicians are raging their excesses and weare about to be fed up!!!

[thomas James fuller]

04:53 AM on 06/15/2012

The 99% are welcome to grab a racket, practice 18 hours a day and give it a try. Here's a hint though......whether it be business or tennis, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

Funnier yet, by definition you'd still have a 99% even if we all had this watch.....or none of us did.

God/Allah/Darwin didn't create us the same. Some are great parents, some are great teachers, others athletes or businessmen. Stop trying to level the financial playing field.....lit isn't the only thing that matters

[jellyj]

08:20 AM on 06/15/2012

Except it was a loner from a watchmaker who probably wanted the publicity of a major tennis star wearing his goods.

[hot lava]

06:23 PM on 06/14/2012

The Nadal watch, selling at $500,000 (due to the drop in value of the Euro) is sold out. There were 50 made, and Richard Mille (the maker) had orders for 150. The super rich live in a different world than we do.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/47812878

[thomas James fuller]

04:55 AM on 06/15/2012

You needed a watch to tell you that? Bmws are a dime a dozen and most cost more than 50k. A private jet charter costs about 25k round trip from Dallas to las Vegas......if you take the smallest one. Houses in aspen cost about 1000 per square foot to build.

[wedidpredict]

06:04 PM on 06/14/2012

My ex husband had a watch that was worth more than that...it was full of diamonds...He also drove a Rolls Royce. I told him he looked like a pimp and I divorced him. I cannot stand that kind of excess....

[Reality always bites]

05:12 PM on 06/14/2012

The watch was on loan to the tennis player. It is valued by the maker but is actually only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
Why all the outrage on here about a rich professional.
Paintings are selling for £70 M and antique vases / urns for ridiculous amounts.
At least a watch has a practicle purpose.

[JD Salinger]

05:02 PM on 06/14/2012

It's time for us to band together and form a movement against crimes such as this. Otherwise we'll all wind up finding our stolen watches in second hand shops.

[linton]

04:42 PM on 06/14/2012

Let the young man spend his money as he deems fit. 50% of it might be sponsorship anyway.