The International Art and Antiques Loss Register has joined Secured by Design, with The Watch Register and The Art Loss Register achieving the Police Preferred Specification.
The Art Loss Register (ARL) provides research and due diligence services to protect the art market from the sale of stolen property and its associated financial and reputational risks.
It also provides recovery services to police forces, insurers and victims of theft worldwide to secure the return of missing property and assist criminal investigations.
The ARL is one of the world’s largest private databases of lost and stolen art, antiques, jewellery and watches. The company was established in 1990 and has headquarters in London.
Its founding shareholders are Lloyd’s of London and the leading global auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s, who remain major clients to this day.
In 2014, the ALR launched The Watch Register. Since then, The Watch Register has established itself as one of the biggest international databases of lost and stolen watches.
“We are delighted to have secured this accreditation with Secured by Design and see it as a significant enhancement to our database and the service we provide to the watch trade globally who search our database prior to transaction to check if a watch is stolen,” Katya Hills, Managing Director at The Watch Register said.
“We believe the increased sharing of police data that it brings will also lead to us recovering even more stolen watches, as well as jewellery, art and antiques, for owners who may have given up on ever seeing the return of their property.”
The Watch Register contains data compiled over 30 years from police forces, insurance companies and theft victims globally.
It provides specialist stolen watch recovery services and pre-transaction serial number checks to pre-owned luxury watch traders and buyers.
“I have known about the ALR for many years going back to when I was a young uniformed police officer back in the 1990s,” added Lyn Poole from Secured by Design.
“So when I was approached by The Watch Register and found them to be connected I was thrilled to work with them to achieve SBD membership and bring not only The Watch Register but also the ALR on so they can now both use the Secured by Design Police Preferred Specification accreditation. It’s great to have them on board, I’m looking forward to working with them over the coming years.”