Just been reading over at Worldtempus the shocking news of the burglary of the Girard-Perregaux Museum (housed in the Villa Marguerite) in La Chaux-de-Fonds. It appears that two individuals raided the place early on Thursday morning, took an employee hostage, and made away with some valuable loot. Fortunately, the employee was not harmed, but received medical attention as a precautionary measure.

As to the burglary, Osvaldo Patrizzi, the founder of the Antiquorum auction house, is of the view that the perpetrators could not have been ‘professionals’ of any sort. For one thing, perhaps oblivious of the true worth of their booty, they managed to break a few pieces. One would have expected them, if they knew what they were doing, to have taken steps to prevent that.

My understanding is that the authorities are still trying to finalise details of the items that were stolen. The museum housed over 100 timepieces, going back over the years. Some of them are so well known that, if stolen, would be hard for the burglars to resell. However, that doesn’t rule out the possibility of some unscrupulous people buying them for their private collections.

Anyone with useful information relating to the burglary is urged to contact the Cantonal Police on the following telephone number: +41 (0) 32 888 90 00.

UPDATE. Monday, 9 July. The watches have been recovered in France. (Link to French version of the story; click here for the report in English.)