Police Release Video Of Upper East Side Watch Heist

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Police have released security camera footage from a Tuesday morning heist at an Upper East Side luxury watch boutique. Investigators have also tied the robbery to a similar stick-up on Madison Avenue last year, police said.

A man wearing all back entered A. Lange & Söhne on Madison Avenue between East 67th and 68th streets around 11:15 a.m., displayed a silver gun, and announced that a robbery was about to happen, police said.

The man then ordered store employees to open display cases containing jewelry and used a hammer to smash open a case containing watches, police said. The man grabbed jewelry worth $738,000 and fled the store heading north on Madison Avenue, police said.

Investigators believe the man who knocked over A. Lange & Söhne on Tuesday is one of the men who robbed Jaeger-Lecoultre last year in November, police said.

Both robberies share similarities, police said. Both stores are luxury jewelry boutiques on Madison Avenue, both robberies occurred in the morning and both involved the use of guns and a hammer to smash display cases. The only difference is the 2016 robbery was a two-man job, whereas the A. Lange & Söhne robber acted alone.

Police released security camera footage of Tuesday's robbery:

The suspect in Tuesday's robbery is described as a white man who was last seen wearing all black. The man was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses at the time of the robbery, hiding details about his appearance.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).

Photo/video by NYPD