“You can never beat physical security,” says Sam, operations manager and one of two close-protection officers assigned to me by the luxury retail security specialist UK Protection. “Cameras are good, but they’re only good after something has happened.”
Sam, a former firearms and counter-terrorism police officer of nearly two decades, and his colleague Andre – whose surnames I am asked to withhold to protect their anonymity – are escorting me to Rolex’s Old Bond Street store to test out the firm’s new secure shopping service (from £3,000). Comprising a close-protection team, plus transport to and from your jeweller or watchmaker of choice, it aims to mitigate against thefts that could take place during a high-value purchase.
UK Protection is one of a number of firms specialising in bespoke security that have cropped up in the past decade as the ultra-rich look to safeguard their physical assets. Even in a city as safe as London (where you’re less likely to be the victim of violent crime than in the rest of the country), the past two years have seen an estimated £22mn worth of jewellery, watches and handbags stolen, with less than one per cent of items recovered by the police. The steep rise in the price of gold, up by 37 per cent in the year leading up to May 2026, has made haute jewels and diamonds a high-priority target. Acquiring an expensive watch or piece of jewellery is no longer just a question of what you buy, but how you buy it and where it stays.
