Time is money: Paris thief swipes $840k watch from tourist's wrist

PARIS - A Japanese man who stepped out of his Paris hotel for a cigarette was robbed of his $840,000 Swiss watch by a thief who snatched it off his wrist, police sources said on Tuesday.

The 30-year-old victim was approached outside the five-star Hotel Napoleon near the Arc de Triomphe late on Monday by a man who asked for a cigarette.

The thief then grabbed the man's arm and fled with the rare Richard Mille timepiece, a Tourbillon Diamond Twister estimated to cost nearly 770,000 euros ($844,000).