NEWPORT BEACH : Gunman Robs Store of 12 Rolex Watches

Police on Friday were looking for a gunman who robbed a jewelry store of a bag full of Rolex watches but passed up diamond and silver pendants, brooches, necklaces and rings.

“He was only interested in the Rolex watches,” Newport Beach Police Sgt. Andy Gonis said.

The dozen watches taken during the holdup were estimated to be worth about $20,000, Gonis said.

The robbery occurred shortly before 5 p.m. Thursday at Charles Barr Jewelers, located in the busy West Cliff shopping center near the intersection of Irvine Avenue and 17th Street. It was the second daylight jewelry heist in Newport Beach in two weeks. However, police do not believe the two robberies are linked, Gonis said.

Gonis also said that there was no reason to suspect that Thursday’s robbery was connected to the series of robberies in Los Angeles County by the so-called “Rolex bandits” who rob people on the street and steal their high-priced watches.

“This appears to be an isolated incident,” Gonis said.

Gonis said that the robber walked into the jewelry store when there were no customers in the store.

He asked one of two clerks to show him one of the dozen Rolex watches on display. When the clerk reached in for the watch, the man pulled out a handgun and demanded that the clerk put the 12 watches in a bag.

He then ordered the two employees to sit on the floor behind the glass cases while he made his getaway.

Witnesses saw the man walk casually outside, jump into a blue compact car and drive away, Gonis said.

The car was found by police a few minutes later in a nearby residential area, Gonis said. The car was later determined to have been stolen earlier in the day in Westminster.

The robber was described as a tall, white man in his 30s, with long, dark blond hair pulled into a tight ponytail.

Police were also looking for a man who walked into the Jewels by Madonna at 11 a.m. on July 31, tied up two employees and escaped with an unspecified amount of jewelry.