Jeweler Admits Selling Rapper Lil Baby Fake $400K Patek Philippe Watch by Mistake

“We pride ourselves in being an honest business and will take great care to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”

Maxim Staff

Sep 21, 2021

This is just embarrassing for everyone, but especially for diamond jewelry and luxury watch dealer Rafaello & Co. The company has admitted it sold rapper Lil Baby what it took to be a $400,000 Patek Philippe 40th Anniversary Nautilus watch.

Lil Baby showed it off—only to find out quickly that it was a fake.

Oop! Lil Baby shared this message after it appears that his Patek Philippe watch was fake. pic.twitter.com/W2jtU98qYV

— TheShadeRoom (@TheShadeRoom) September 16, 2021

He then called Rafaello & Co out on social media. He was one unhappy Lil Baby.

In an Instagram post the rapper (born Dominique Jones) wrote:

Now @rafaelloandco y’all Kno better then to sell ME of all people a FAKE Or anything that could be called a FAKE! I stand on my name the same way y’all should! Ain’t no such thing as a mistake when that money involved!! Don’t Fuccin Play Wit me Cause when I’m on that I’m on that #ansameforyoupussyassn*ggas #dontplaywitbaby.

Much larger companies fear the day a celeb calls them out on a highly visible platform, so this was likely an all-hands-on-deck crisis behind the scenes for Rafaello & Co.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CR4fT9NBRmk

They owned up to everything in a statement directed at Lil Baby. It was an embarrassing oversight in vetting the faux Patek, but it wasn’t an attempt to scam anyone.

Lil Baby speaks after Fake Watch Bustas exposed him for having a fake $400k Patek Philippe watch.👀😳

“See this why I need to be on the list!! After market jewelers going to make me do some I shouldn’t be doing 😈” pic.twitter.com/WKaMQEHkFm

— Hip Hop Ties (@HipHopTiesMedia) September 16, 2021

Rafaello & Co. returned Lil Baby’s money and added in some (presumably) well-vetted bling in the bargain, then gave a statement to XXL Magazine:

We do stand on our name just like [Lil Baby] does that’s why today he got those four rings for free and his money back because we didn’t do our homework on the watch and we take full responsibility for that. But it didn’t happen intentionally and he knows that for a fact. Everyone that knows me knows that I don’t play games when it comes to my brand and especially my client’s brands.

I personally want to apologize to @lilbaby for not doing my due diligence when selling him the Patek watch. I should have inspected the watch after purchasing it from the dealer. I take full responsibility for not doing my job properly. I personally would NEVER knowingly sell him or anyone else anything that is not 100% authentic. I have known @libaby for a while and there is nothing fake about him – especially his jewelry and watches. I want to personally apologize to Lil Baby for what has transpired. Rafaello & Co. took immediate action to rectify this. We worked directly with Lil Baby to refunded him in full and have gifted him rings as a token of our sincere apologies.

We pride ourselves in being an honest business and will take great care to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. To all of our customers thank you for your business over the years and we look forward to continuing to provide the best jewelry and watches in the industry.

While Lil Baby hasn’t made any public comment since the apology, his Instagram post calling Rafaello & Co into account has been deleted, which is probably enough for them.