N.O.R.E. has revealed he has to touch base with Jay-Z before he purchases a watch, given the Brooklyn rap legend's affinity for luxury timepieces.
The Drink Champs host paid a visit to the Wrist Check podcast on Friday and explained why he reaches out to Jay to get his opinion on buying a timepiece. According to N.O.R.E., Jay won't ever tell him not to get a watch, but he will give his opinion if he's really feeling a specific one. N.O.R.E also said he reaches out to Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg, but given Hov's history with watches, he tops the list.
"I won't buy a watch unless I speak to certain people," he said. "JAY-Z's top of the list. He does not answer me all the time. But I think that's respect. I think that if he doesn't like the watch, he won't say, 'N.O.R.E., don't do that.'"
He continued, "He's too rich and too smart and too fly to say 'N.O.R.E., no. Don't get that,' because he knows. I don't know if he knows or not, but he's one of them. When I got the Nautilus, and when I got the Aquanaut, I sent him both pictures. And his exact words were, 'Get both them bitches!'"
Business Insider reported last month that Jay-Z's luxury watch collection is worth millions of dollars and includes rare pieces from Patek Philippe, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Richard Mille, Hublot, and more. One of his most rarest pieces is a Patek Philippe 2499, previously owned by Swedish watch collector and dealer Tony Kavak, who explained how happy Hov was to get the watch. There's no word on how much money Hov spent on the watch, but a similar design was sold at an auction in 2022 for $7.68 million.
"The watch is so exclusive that I often chose not to wear it in public, and I always wear my watches, that's my philosophy," Kavak told watch site Bezl.
In an interview with watch blog Hodinkee, Kavak said, "You should have seen his happiness. It just reminded me of how happy I get when I find something rare myself. …So when I saw his face, I knew he was the right person to own the watch."
