A band of thieves broke into a high-end Manhattan jewelry store early Saturday morning and made out with more than half a million dollars worth of bling, police said this weekend.
The daring heist took place around 3:30 a.m. Saturday at Cellini, a luxury jeweler on Park Avenue at East 56th Street. Surveillance video shows three thieves break down the store’s glass front door with a sledgehammer. Once inside, the thieves use the hammer to smash display cases featuring ornate jewelry, stuffing whatever they can into a sack before fleeing on foot into the night.
Cellini has not yet submitted a full inventory of items stolen to the NYPD but estimates the value of the items at over $500,000. The thieves can be seen on video stealing watches and necklaces out of display cases.
Police have not identified any of the three men in hoodies responsible for the heist, and are seeking assistance from the public in discovering their whereabouts. The investigation remains ongoing.
Cellini has been in business in New York for over 40 years, and was previously based out of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel before opening the Park Avenue flagship in 2018. The store’s extensive watch collection — self-described as “unsurpassed” — includes timepieces from brands like Bvlgari, Cartier, De Bethune, and Zenith, while it carries jewelry from swanky designers like Carrera y Carrera, Wellendorff, and Sara Weinstock.
The store’s website includes a whole section devoted to watches valued at over $100,000. Cellini’s most discerning customers can buy a Greubel Forsey GMT Sport Blue Dial for a cool $545,000, or a Girard-Perregaux Minute Repeater Tri-Axial Tourbillon for $508,000. Those consumers hit hard by inflation still have options though, like the Franck Muller Crazy Hours Tourbillon, in 18-karat white gold and an alligator leather strap, for just $188,000.
Cellini was closed on Sunday, per its normal posted business hours, and could not be reached for comment.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.
