This heist was certainly the costliest theft ever in Israel and it took place a relatively short time ago, only back in 1983, but just how many antique pocket watches were taken, and at what cost?
Image: Jeffrey Smith under creative commons.
A thief was daring enough to walk off with more than a hundred timepieces worth millions of dollars. The stash, taken from a museum in Jerusalem, included a pocket watch made for Marie Antoinette, valued at more than $30 million (£20 million). The case remained an unsolved one, a mystery if you will, for decades — until, that is, a Tel Aviv watchmaker in 2006 told police he had paid $40,000 (£27,000) to an anonymous person to buy items that included Antoinette’s watch.
The trail subsequently led to the widow of Naaman Diller, an infamous criminal active in the 1960s and ’70s. The widow told police her husband confessed to her just before he died that he committed the heist — he suggested she sell the collection after his death.
