Luxury watch a prized target for thieves at the Cannes festival

A luxury watch valued at between €700,000 and €1 million was stolen from a guest at the Palm Beach hotel in Cannes, southern France, where the annual film festival is being held, a police source told Agence France-Presse.

The watch, a luxury Richard Mille timepiece, was stolen during a jostling incident near the hotel restrooms on the famous Boulevard de la Croisette, the source said.

Each year, professional thieves operating in organized groups seek to steal the jewelry of wealthy visitors who come to Cannes for the film festival, prompting authorities to tighten security measures.

Last year, more than 12 thefts or attempted thefts of luxury watches were recorded over a two-month period in Cannes, according to the public prosecutor's office.

Sophisticated theft networks forge the serial numbers of these watches and provide fake boxes and documentation in order to resell them for huge sums.