Harry’s grand salon smelled the way it always does: a faint fragrance of white orchids. They passed through the safety vestibule, and he turned off the general alarm.
It began at 9:50 a.m., when import-export director Anne-Marie Capdeville arrived, authorizing the security guard to open the side entrance. It would soon vanish, along with all the other rocks in the store. One emerald necklace at Harry Winston that Saturday cost nearly $3 million. The Paris retail outlet occupies a neoclassical château on Avenue Montaigne in the luxe Golden Triangle district of the Champs-Élysées, set among such haute couture flagships as Dior, Gucci, and Valentino. Harry Winston is famous for selling, as its motto puts it, Rare Jewels of the World. Employees aren’t permitted to enter the premises alone, nor may they leave with the keys. Following protocol, the guard then waited outside the building for the staff to arrive. The keys, which are kept off-site each night by a protective services company, were delivered as usual to Harry Winston’s security guard at 9:30 a.m. Four hooded thieves were already inside Harry Winston Paris-along with $36,683,281 in well-defended jewels-when the boutique opened on October 6, 2007.
