Back in mid-February, a man at Battery Park City's New York Sports Club, at 102 North End Ave., stood in front of a mirror for less than a minute combing his hair. Meanwhile, someone was rifling through the wallet in his locker and stealing his credit cards.

A few weeks earlier, a gym member lost $1,500 in cash and a $12,000 Buti wristwatch to a thief.

And that was just the beginning.

In March, thieves struck the locker room three times, making off with a pair of Rolex watches, a $3,000 Raymond Weil and more than $4,000 in cash. And last month, a $4,800 Breitling watch and a $7,200 Rolex were nabbed from gym members' lockers.

In most of the eight thefts reported at the club since the first of the year, the valuables were stolen from locked gym lockers, according to police reports. There were no signs of forced entry into the lockers, and in some cases victims returned to find their lockers had been emptied and then re-locked.

Or perhaps they were never unlocked at all.

A man leaving the gym recently said the lockers appeared to be flimsily constructed and could easily be jostled open even when locked.

"All you have to do is loosen the nut [on the locking arm] inside," he said.

Frustrated by the thefts they believe could be prevented, community affairs officers with the 1st Precinct toured the gym last month in hopes of making security recommendations.

They found an unlocked and unmanned door leading to the hotel above the gym and that the "kitchen cabinet" style lockers could indeed be easily pried open.

The gym does not employ guards and for privacy reasons can not install security cameras in the locker room, a spokeswoman for New York Sports Club said.

"We obviously take security very seriously and do everything that we can do," she said.

She said the club sells both combination and key locks for gym lockers and offers members the option to secure their valuables in a locker near the reception desk for an additional charge.

A sign in the gym's lobby warns members the club assumes no risk in case of lose or theft.

There have been no arrests and police have no suspects in the thefts that have netted more than $30,000 in valuables since the first of the year.

"We would encourage people not to take valuables to the gym if they can help it," the spokeswoman said.