Shopper tries on Rolex, flees

A store manager had just placed a $14,000 stainless steel Rolex watch on the shopper's wrist when he turned and made a run for it.

CCTV footage shows the brazen thief, dressed in jean shorts and sunglasses, making his getaway at a shopping centre in Hampshire, on England's southern coast last Tuesday afternoon.

The jewellery shop's manager, Diane Devonshire, is seen running after the young man but was unable to catch him.

She said she first spotted the man pacing up and down in front of the store's entrance, looking inside several times, before coming inside and trying on the Rolex Sea-Dweller.

"He was a young lad looking at an expensive watch but I don't judge a book by its cover," Ms Devonshire was quoted by the Sunday Express as saying.

The shop has offered a $1800 reward to catch the thief.