
Jewelry influencer ‘The Watch King' zapped with stun gun, robbed of $560K in wild NYC ambush: ‘They know where I live'
Moshe Haimoff aka 'The Watch King' told The Post Monday he's been looking over his shoulder since the masked brutes shoved him to the ground and stole his watch, chain and a trio of bracelets in his front yard last week.
'I'm scared to leave my house now,' Haimoff, 39, said of the Wednesday morning heist. 'It's my home, it's where I feel the safest, but I can't because now they know where I live.'
7 New York City influencer Moshe 'The Watch King' Haimoff was hit with a Taser and robbed of $560,000 in jewelry in Queens.
Paige Kahn/NY Post
7 Surveillance footage of the robbery on July 24, 2025.
Obtained by the NY Post
Haimoff, who boasts big-name clients like Pete Davidson and over 2 million social media followers, was approached by one of the thieves — dressed in a construction worker's vest — in front of his SUV on the street at 10 a.m., surveillance footage from the incident shows.
The robber pins him down before his masked accomplice in a similar vest joins in, raiding Haimoff of most of the flashy items he was wearing, according to the footage.
The two suspects escaped in a waiting silver Mercedes-Benz SUV with a getaway driver in the driver's seat, police said.
'I'm sure I was targeted, I'm sure I was set up,' he said. 'My neighbor left the house two minutes, three minutes before me, nobody touched him.
7 The thieves stole Haimoff's watch chain and three bracelets.
DCPI
7 The suspects were dressed in construction uniforms.
Obtained by the NY Post
'Luckily I didn't take my son to work that day, usually my son comes to work for me in the summertime and I didn't take him that day,' Haimoff said of his 13-year-old kid.
Haimoff said the first thief hit him with a stun gun on his right leg that gave out as he raced back to his home where a surveillance camera could capture the stick-up.
The pair initially grabbed another necklace, but tossed it back because it had his logo 'WK' on it, the influencer said.
'That they threw at me and said we can't use this,' he recalled. 'So they left it.'
7 Haimoff at his jewelry store in the Diamond District.
Paige Kahn/NY Post
7 Haimoff is known for showing off jewelry to his millions of followers on social media.
Instagram/@thewatchkingnyc
The NYPD said the total value of all the swiped jewelry is about $559,000. The watch alone was worth around $400,000, Haimoff said.
Haimoff suffered cuts and bruising to his wrist and neck, and was taken to New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital – but the emotional scars will last longer, he said.
In the days since the ambush, he looks both ways numerous times when he walks to his car and has hired 24/7 security.
7 Haimoff displaying watches in his store.
Paige Kahn/NY Post
'Thank God I'm alive,' he said. 'That's all that matters.'
Haimoff regularly posts on social media about the flashy items he's selling and the numerous celebrity clients he's rubbed elbows with like NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal.
No arrests have been made as of Monday with cops blasting out photos of the two robbers and the getaway car.
'They're not gonna stop my life, man,' he said of the craven thugs. 'They're not, they're not.'

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Multiple people wounded in early morning Brooklyn restaurant mass shooting
Multiple people were shot inside a Brooklyn restaurant around closing time Sunday morning and a suspect remains at large, according to the NYPD. Officers responded to calls of a shooting inside Taste of the City Lounge at 903 Franklin Avenue just before 3:30 a.m., officials told The Post. Multiple individuals were transported to local hospitals. However, their conditions were not disclosed. Police at the scene of a shooting inside Taste of the City Lounge at 903 Franklin Avenue in Brooklyn, NY, on Aug. 17, 2025. Citizen No arrests were made in the shooting, and a suspect has yet to be identified. The NYPD has opened an investigation into the early morning shooting. Police did not confirm if there were any casualties or the number of people wounded in the shooting. NYPD personnel stood inside the business near a pool of blood and broken glass, according to video posted on X. Taste of the City Lounge serves American and Caribbean plates with a full bar, hookah, and DJs. The business, which opened in 2022, is located less than a half mile from the historic Brooklyn Museum and closed at 3 a.m. on Sunday. This is a developing story


New York Post
19 hours ago
- New York Post
Drone allows Mayor Adams real time, bird's eye view of NYC emergencies
He's watching over Gotham. Mayor Adams has been tapping into NYPD drone footage to get an immediate assessment during the city's most critical emergencies, officials told The Post. 'I can send him a link upon his request to be able to see in real time what's happening on the ground,' Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Kaz Daughtry said of Adams, the first NYC mayor to have this access. 'Remember, he was a police officer. He doesn't want to get updates on the phone. He wants to get them in real time.' 6 Mayor Adams got a link to live feed from the shooting at 345 Park Avenue in Midtown while he was in his car. Andrew Schwartz / The mayor was watching the NYPD's response to 345 Park Ave., after gunman Shane Tamura, 27, walked across the outdoor plaza wielding an AR-15-style rifle and murdered four people inside before killing himself, Daughtry said. When he saw how dire the situation was, he got there as fast as he could, Daughtry said. 'I spoke to him several times during that whole incident,' Daughtry said, explaining he told the mayor the NYPD called a level three mobilization. 6 Deputy Mayor Kaz Daughtry sends teh mayor a link when there's a large incident or event he needs to know about. Leonardo Munoz 'We're calling for resources from all over the city to respond because this is an active shooter situation,' Daughtry said, explaining the level three. 'We immediately deployed the drone. They're part of that mobilization.' Adams watched the video from his car and saw people running out of the building with their hands up. 'He was like, 'I can't believe this is happening in our city,'' Daughtry recalled. 6 The mayor tapped into the drone feed to monitor a recent large protest in Manhattan. Michael Nigro 'Now, as NYPD officers are running into a building you've got folks running out with their hands up. I think that made him respond to the scene faster.' In April, the mayor watched rescue efforts from above after a helicopter carrying a Spanish family on a sightseeing tour plummeted into the Hudson River. 'Immediately he says 'Is everyone OK?' Daughtry recalled. 'Do we have our drones up yet can you please send me a link?'' 6 Shooter Shane Tamura killed four people inside the building before fatally shooting himself. AP Adams watched as the family of five and pilot were being pulled out of the water, saw efforts to resuscitate them with CPR, and rushed to the scene. 'I told him, 'We're pulling out victims now and it's not looking good,'' Daughtry recalled. 'If he wants to see the drones, he can look real time and he can make decisions from his vehicle,' Daughtry said. 'That's only for high profile incidents. There's got to be something that rises to the magnitude where we're notifying the mayor in real time.' 6 The mayor is able to access the drone feed during large incidents. Leonardo Munoz Daughtry has been a staunch cheerleader for the NYPD's drone program since it started in 2019. The department uses the unmanned aerial vehicles for everything from crimefighting, to search and rescue and disaster response. The NYPD has about 100 drones at its command and an equal number of police officers who are certified by the Federal Aviation Administration to fly them. In 2024, the NYPD started its Drone as a First Responder (DFR) program, which deploys the unmanned aerial vehicles on 911 calls to get an overview of the scene and improve situational awareness for cops. 6 The mayor also got a link to watch rescue efforts after a helicopter crahed into the Hudson River in April. Bruce Wall The department also uses drones to locate and rescue swimmers in distress off the city's beaches — along with the FDNY — and detect illegal activities, such as subway surfing. Civil libertarians have cried foul, arguing the video surveillance violates privacy rights. 'The drones are a force multiplier and they just add a real time sense of what's going on,' he said. 'People said it would not work and it is working here.' The Adams administration pointed out that shootings and shooting victims are at historic lows in the city because of efforts to take guns off the street, gang takedowns and precision policing. 'As technology evolves, we are evolving with it — and drones have become a critical crime-fighting tool that helps our officers do exactly that,' Adams said in a statement. 'Real-time camera access for our senior leadership during emergencies or mass protests allows us to keep communities safe and respond to active incidents faster.'


New York Post
19 hours ago
- New York Post
Art stolen by Nazis at heart of lawsuit against Christie's
A Czech man claims he's the rightful heir to paintings worth millions that once belonged to a Jewish cabaret performer who was killed by the Nazis — and wants auction house Christie's to reveal what it knows about the art's current location and owners. Milos Vavra is an heir to Franz Friedrich 'Fritz' Grünbaum's art collection, he said in a Manhattan Supreme Court filing asking a judge to force Christie's to share the information. Before he was killed in January 1941 at the Dachau Concentration Camp, the Nazis forced Grünbaum, 60, to sign a document giving his wife the authority to transfer his property. The Nazis then stole his art collection, which included works by Austrian impressionist Egon Schiele, Vavra said in court papers. 6 The Schiele works are considered 'red flags' in the art collecting world, according to the lawsuit. Obtained by the NY Post 6 Heirs of the cabaret performer want information on who currently owns the paintings. Obtained by the NY Post 6 The performer's art collections was stolen by the Nazis. Obtained by the NY Post 6 Grünbaum was killed at the Dachau concentration camp. ullstein bild via Getty Images Christie's has previously sold six works by the Schiele from Grünbaum's collection — most selling for $1 million apiece, according to court papers. 6 The Scheile artworks are at the center of a legal dispute. Obtained by the NY Post In July, the auction house told Vavra and another Grünbaum heir that a family in Switzerland reached out offering to 'partner' with the heirs to sell three Schiele paintings, Vavra said in the filing. 'Experts at Christie's have seen these three works and describe two of the works as being among the highest quality (and potentially most valuable) Scheile (sic) works they have seen,' according to a Christie's email included in court papers. 6 The paintings were not well known outside of Austria before the Nazis invaded. Obtained by the NY Post Schiele's art was not sold outside of Austria before the Nazis took over the country in 1938. The works 'have been considered to be 'red flag' artworks following World War II and very dangerous to collect or sell without ascertaining provenance,' Vavra said in the legal papers. Vavra wants a judge to force the auction house to 'immediately turn over' all information 'relevant to possessors of artworks from the Grünbaum Collection (including all sales records, financial information, appraisals, expert reports, estimate and correspondence),' so he can bring a lawsuit seeking restitution. Christie's said it: 'has established an unparalleled record of bringing objects with painful World-War-Two era histories to public sale by respecting the law, the ethics of restitution, and the principles put in place to support a successful outcome, as we are doing in this case.'