In less than a minute, a trio of smash-and-grab burglars snatched 23 luxury timepieces worth approximately $250,000 from a Southern California jeweler. According to Newport Beach Police, the crime occurred on September 8th after 4 p.m. Four individuals trashed the front exhibit at the Jewelers on Riverside Avenue in Newport Beach, California.

CBS News Los Angeles:

Police are searching for a group of robbers who targeted a jewelry shop in Newport Beach last week, taking off with a quarter million dollars worth of luxury watches.

Newport Beach police say that the incident happened back on Sept. 8 just after 4 p.m., when four suspects ransacked the front display at Jewelers on Time, located on 149 Riverside Avenue.

The entire ordeal took just 20 seconds, with the thieves taken nearly two dozen Rolex watches, estimated to be worth $250,000.

KCAL News spoke with the employee working during the robbery. He says that he had buzzed in a customer, who can be seen in surveillance footage from the store wearing a white t-shirt.

“He held the door open and three other accomplices came in, smashing display cases,” the employee said, referring to the locked steel security door, which requires each customer to get buzzed in by an employee.

The burglars in the video below enter the business before destroying the glass displays with what appears to be a hammer. The crooks then steal 23 Rolex watches and flee the store in around 23 seconds.

The image below shows one of the shattered cases at the store.

In California, smash-and-grab has become a prevalent offense. This is the final effect of loose legislation and prosecutors who refuse to accept responsibility for going after these criminals.

Gateway previously reported on a smash-and-grab at a Macy’s in Los Angeles involving nine masked guys in August.

On August 24th, smash-and-grab robbers ransacked a Macy’s shop in Los Angeles.

A troubling tendency of ‘ smash and grabs’ is afflicting Democrat-controlled California.

Nine masked guys in their early twenties entered a Macy’s at Westfield Fashion Square in Sherman Oaks, stuffed trash bags with merchandise, and fled.