There was this video that went viral a while back about a fight in New York City's Diamond District. The jeweler accused another jeweler of ripping off a customer. And they ended up not just in an argument, but in a brawl right there in the Isle of a Diamond exchange. It was all recorded from multiple angles in multiple chapters. The outraged windup, the accuser, a guy named Max Agajani banging his hand like a gavel on top of a jewelry case.
The other jeweler spitting right in Max's face. And then it's on. A bunch of men, old and young, going at it. This video was everywhere. Some people who know nothing about the jewelry market or the diamond district saw it.
Tens of millions of views. The whole presentation was over the top dramatic. Including the CODA. A selfie video of Max reclining on a hospital bed. And then they tried to kill me, strangling me with my own chain.
Get out of this hospital. TracksNYC.com. TracksNYC.com. That's the website for Max's company, TracksNYC, which pretty much lives online. Almost everything Max does for the company is posted.
So I wondered, and I wasn't alone. Was this whole thing for real? Maybe it was staged or half staged? I learned about the fight video from reporter Corey Kilganon. He wrote about it for the New York Times.
Corey loves the diamond district. He's written a half dozen stories about it over the years. Such a singular place in New York because it's still old school. We walked over there from our office. He told me, no place else in New York operates like this.
The diamond district is one of the world's biggest jewelry hubs. And it's just this one block, 47th Street between 5th and 6th avenues. And it does feel old school. Thousands of vendors are packed in here in showrooms and exchanges and weird little offices tucked into every cranny of every building. It hasn't been sanitized or corporatized like Times Square just a few blocks away.
It's scruffy and chaotic, clogged with cars and armored trucks. Guys are hawking watches, offering to buy gold and go shading deals. People right there on the sidewalk. I mean, it's like you're stepping back 20, 30 years in time. At least it's like stuff that you would have encountered in the 80s and 90s in New York.
You know, people coming up with you trying to pull you into one of the galleries for a bargain. But is that like were you? Hi. Good. How you doing?
We're not even a quarter of the way down the block. And a man has materialized as if on cue, trying to pull us into one of the galleries for a bargain. He's wearing a powder blue sports coat and a blue check shirt straining at the buttons. Let me make him fresh on your 40 caronat together. How much is that?
How much do you want to pay for this? Which one? That's square one. He's pointing to an enormous sparkling yellow ring in the center of the display window we're standing in front of. It was really a diamond.
It is maybe the biggest diamond I've ever seen. It looks like it should either be in a museum or in a novelty store. It cannot be a real diamond. That's a diamond? Yeah.
That's a diamond. It is not. It is not. My feeling. No, it's a good guy right here.
He only does real stuff. I'll later find this ring on the company's website listed for $2.2 million. So real, I guess. The powder blue salesman repeatedly invites us into the store. But I tell him we're just wandering for now.
Maybe we'll circle back. Yeah, what's your name? James. James Bond. And he's messing with us.
Oh, guys. Right now, it's the main user bond. Oh my god. Here we go. Here we go.
He takes out his wallet, flips it open to show a credit card and his driver's license. Bond, comma. James. Oh, shit. It's true.
Oh, shit. It's true. It's James Bond. James Bond. James Bond.
James Bond. James Bond. James Bond. James Bond. James Bond.
James Bond. James Bond. James Bond. James Bond. James Bond.
What are you doing? Your name's James Bond. I need some Gasol. I don't know. I'm so skeptical.
I hear. Do you believe these guys are? I don't know why you can take anything to face value. I think this is really literally when money talks. I think it's all about the deal and everything else.
I can take with the grand assault as part of the stick. You know? The driver's license is legit. What can you do on the house? New Yorkers talk a lot about what's real New York and what's Razzatz.
Sometimes, it's hard to tell what's deeply and culturally New York and what's branding. The city performing it to New Yorkness. That, to me, was the question at the heart of Corey's tracks NYC's story about that viral video. Not just whether the fight was real, but was any of this real. Now I wanted to find out.
Corey introduced me to the tracks NYC people, so I asked them if I could come hang out at the store. Surprise, surprise, they were happy for possible coverage, and off I went. What I saw during my two days there was that my outsider's question. What's real and what's fake is very much alive inside tracks NYC. From zero productions in New York Times, I'm Sarah Koenig, and this is Metrop.
I came on a Friday morning. They told me to arrive at 1030, but then the guy was supposed to meet and show up for another 45 minutes, so I had a long time to look around. I waited on the mezzanine level of tracks NYC, half a flight up from the main vendor floor. Online sales and customer service people sit up here. There's a lounge area with red upholstered sofas and chairs, which is where they bring VIPs or people who just really want to meet the owner of the store, Max, or people who want grills, jewelry for your teeth.
Just to start the circle of my soul, something different on the side like a... A young guy named Aiman is selling to a family, a mother and daughter, the daughter's fiance, and the mom's friend, who was clearly more than friend. The daughter was grill shopping. They'd all come up from North Carolina, and this was the first and pretty much only thing on their agenda for their first trip together to New York City. My mom's friend, Doug, was so impressed by the video last month, how Max stood up for the customer who got duped.
I mean, I would act the same way, he said. You can tell that that was real. That's who he is right in that moment. You can't fake that. Eh, I think you can fake anything, really.
Maybe I'm just cynical, because I heard the same thing all day. Customers who felt a kinship with Max, as if there were an active struggle going on in the Diamond District, in the world even, between integrity and deceit, and that by choosing Max, they too were choosing a side. This internet-wide burst of solidarity I found out had pushed the company to a turning point. The theft only sales for the month had doubled, more than doubled, in fact, thanks to that crazy video, and now they were trying to capitalize on that momentum. Cranked their sales up by a couple million dollars every month, which meant they were on a hiring spree.
They had two people trying out for online sales positions, Ray and Shavanya. So that's where I started. I figured I could learn along with them. Trainees are supposed to sell $25,000 worth of merchandise over a five-day period. If they succeed, then they get to try again for two more weeks, $25k each time.
And if they're still around by week four, then they get a shot at the real money, commissions. Eat what you kill, as Rodrigo the sales manager likes to say. Right now, Ray and Shavanya are on day three of their first $25,000 goal. Are you doing so far? We're getting there.
Are you doing so far? We're getting there, too. But what's some numbers? So actual numbers? Roughly around $1,600 in total.
That's three sales so far for Ray. Shavanya, is it about half that? My number is at $865. OK, just one sale. But we have one pending.
You seem calm. Are you freaking out on the inside, or you just got calm, or you're freaking out inside. I am totally freaking out. Shavanya gets a guy on the phone who wants to buy a gold bezel and list it for $1,900 on the website. He's offering $1,500.
She matters, absolutely not. But checks with Rodrigo. Who does some quick math? No, we can sell it at $1,500. Can I have it?
Just don't look. I just want to my manager. And if you're ready to purchase a day to make you happy, we'll make it happen at $1,500. Are you credit card ready over the phone by any chance? Shavanya hasn't really worked in sales before.
But the other trainee, Ray, has. He's pretty silly. He says, my man a lot. Most of the customers seem to be men. So what do you think, Matt?
Because all this facts, I did as much as I could, thanks for holding. OK, so I just spoke to my manager. And we're ready to make you happy by $7,500. But only if you purchase today. Are you credit card ready?
He is credit card ready. You're welcome. Have a good one. Bye bye. All right, well done.
Good job. Ray gives her a high five. They're rooting for each other. I'm not sure if they know it. But they're also competing against each other for this job.
There are two open sales spots right now. But Rodriguez was bringing in a bunch more trainees next week. How do you feel? So happy. Now I have two sales in $1,000.
I hit this one. I'll hit the quota. Chevania and Ray are trying hard to land a job in one of the most expensive cities in the country, the realest task of them all. But as I listen in, I hear them navigating a surprising number of fake customers, customers who aren't customers at all. Chevania spends a long time looking for a diamond tennis bracelet for a buyer named Richard in London, who, Ghostur, Ray gets an inquiry from a Serbian rapper named Will Hugo, who says sky's the limit on a big gold and diamond chain he wants.
He's fake. Another guy calls saying he's Tyree's Halliburton, the NBA player. He's not. What's in it for these bakers? No one could guess, apart from Ford and maybe.
Then I see a couple of real live customers downstairs on the main floor of the exchange, who I think might be fake. The exchange floor is laid out like an open market, a couple of aisles running the length, booze on either side, glass cases everywhere. The tracks on YC territory is at the very front, nears the street. I noticed this slightly odd pair huddled at the counter. Two guys, they look young to me, sort of mismatched.
They're trying on luxury watches, just casually, it's no big deal. I hear one of them say, maybe we should both get one. Maybe we should both get one. Come on, that'd be fun. Watches are some of the most expensive items on sale here.
Some of them cost as much as a really nice new car. I'm thinking, there is no way these kids have the money for this. The taller one's doing most of the talking. He looks a little older than the other guy. He's wearing a denim forward get up that looks goofy to me, but I'm guessing rings all sorts of fashion bells and the instaverse.
He also seems sort of sweet. The other guy's quieter, dark haired, black leather jacket with a shadow on his upper lip. Not so much like he needs a shave. More like someone should probably teach him to shave. The shorter guy tries on a Rolex with a brown face.
The taller guy passes on the Rolexes. Honestly, I'm more of an AP kind of guy. I look into this silvering right here, yeah. AP, Odomar, P.A. Ultra Luxury.
They start talking prices. David, the salesman, says he's asking roughly $44,000 for the AP, and then the Rolex, this model's known as a chocolate stick. I'll do seven. She first watched. I'll do 17.5 on the chocolate stick.
And you go stick up with me right now. As long as you have your idea on your today. I do have a picture. I do have a physical idea. Once you do Cass, I can spot it.
I can spot it. I can spot it. It's an all spot. Do you know where they're at? Are they friends, relatives?
Why is one offering to spot the other? Ready to lay out 60 grand without breaking a sweat? Who does that? Who are you? My name's Grayson.
Who are you a famous person? Some people might say that. But how would I tell me who? We do e-commerce, so we sell products online. Primarily, this is my friend melodic.
He's 17 years old and crosses first milli, which is really impressive. So he's coming in by celebrating by buying a Swiss Rolex. You're 17 years old? Is that why you don't have an ID? Yeah, pretty much.
I don't know what crossed his first milli means, but I did learn that melodic is from Afghanistan. He immigrated with his family to Virginia, and then dropped out of school at 15 to do e-commerce full time. And he's made so much money, his parents no longer have to work. That's what he told me. He'd never met Grayson in person before.
But they've been working together to sell stuff online through Shopify. Grayson's 26. He told me he was the financial forecasting guy. And that melod is the brand owner. What is the brand?
And what do you make? Don't tell him you're going to go to jail or remember we talked about this last night. Oh, number one? No, like what is it that you sell? Well, you don't sell something.
You sell something. The things that you eat? Yeah, dietary supplements. I don't understand. All of this sounds shady to me.
But no one else seems concerned. Maybe if you're used to it's only money kind of money, then anything is possible, including risking a loss of two grand for kicks, which is what happens next. David, the salesman, says he'll sell the AP for $42,000. Grayson, a little sheepishly, offers $40. David's 22.
He's fairly new here. He calls over a more knowledgeable colleague Encore, who's also 22. But Encore's worked here for four years already. So he's the senior salesman in this scenario. He tells Grayson, $40,000 kind of low.
You are a little bong-looking. I know, I know. This is complete, by the way. Is this complete? I don't know if you saw the condition on this.
It's really, really nice. That's all right. I'll do this. You want to get a flip action going? I'm going to flip.
I asked a farmer in New York. Flip a coin for the final price. If it's heads, Grayson pays $40,000. Tails, he pays $42. I'm good with that, says Grayson.
Yeah? Fuck it, run it. They locate a quarter, not always using this economy. Up it goes. $42?
That was shit. Good job. Thank you, guys. Encore tells Grayson, he himself bought the watch for $39,000, a good price. Yeah.
When you sell it back to me, you're going to be completely fine, actually. I was thinking like, because I want to probably upgrade in like next six months. So I'll probably buy another one for you back to you. So that's good to you. He's going to upgrade in six months.
Encore says he buy it back for $38,000 or $37,000, and he offers to put that on the invoice. They go up to the mezzanine to wait while the sale gets finalized. They sit on the red furniture. A 26-year-old, piling around New York City with his 17-year-old business associate, buying fancy watches for as much money as an average person makes in a whole year. In this building, nothing is strange about that, which is why Grayson seems totally relaxed here.
He doesn't ponder the difference between real New York and a performance of New York. He grew up, he tells me, in Northern Idaho, lower middle class, homeschooled, seven siblings, adores his family. He called them very, very good God-fearing, corn-red Americans. And boy does he love New York. New York is the best place in the entire world.
A lot of it out. I mean, I think the better question is, what could you say that's not the best reason? It's the best food, best place, best people. You can get an elevator with somebody that could be the most influential person in the world, or could be the most influential person to you at that right now. And I don't think I've ever found somewhere that embodies the American spirit better than New York City, ever.
If you've never been here and you've been thinking about coming to New York, just do it. Buy the ticket. Don't look back. Maybe it's because he's 26, or maybe it's because he's from Idaho, but he's short. You'll get a good return on your investment in New York.
Luck is waiting for you here. As if to prove his point, Max, the owner of Traxxon YC, arrives on the mezzanine, walking quickly, slightly stooped, dark hair swept back from his face. Like he's moving against a perpetual headwind. He later told me, I'll come to work. It's like going to war.
Grayson is a fan. He knows Max from years of watching his YouTube videos. Max throwing stacks of cash into the street or running over jewelry with his car or asking people to guess the value of a solid gold banana. He gets away thousands and thousands of dollars in these marketing antics. Part of the fun is watching people refuse to play, because they cannot believe it's for real.
Now Grayson and Malaga get a chance to pay their respects, like a surprise audience with the Don. I'm grateful for your business. How much these boys are that spent here? $58,000. $58,000, I got a special gift for you.
No way. No way. Max was those gifts like this all day long. $2,000 from 1887. Grayson thanks, Max, for his integrity.
He tracks his the only on the steel in the diamond district. Hey, listen, I hope I'm not the only one that would be a problem. I think it's a less than you think, brother. We're going to try to keep it going. We're going to try to make you proud, brother.
All right. Just two honest brokers having a moment. After the break, these two will cross paths again, and it won't be quite so chummy. Max wields a guru's power in the office. Once upon a time, he was like a lot of the staff he's now surrounded by, barely adult, foreign, and winging it.
Max, Maxude Agajani is originally from Baku, Azerbaijan. His family came to the US as Jewish refugees when he was a little kid. He turned seven in Rigo Park, Queens, where he still lives. He told me his family was more or less middle-class in Baku. But once they got here, his parents fought about money all the time, and he hated it.
He had the wrong clothes and the wrong shoes. Yeah, I have plenty of friends. I made a lot of friends, but I never felt comfortable. I never felt comfortable because I wanted to have money. I didn't feel comfortable without money.
School wasn't going to be his way out. He could not, for the life of him, do his homework. He would just draw swirls in his notebook. I have an issue, he said. At 18, as soon as he graduated high school, he bought a digital camera and started photographing jewelry to sell online.
And by the grace of God alone, did that skill help me build a jewelry business? If that didn't happen, then I wouldn't have had a jewelry business. Because that's the only real talent that I actually have. That and communicating with my staff. His sales staff is mostly men, and as I've mentioned, young by design.
First of all, they cost less. But also, they're part of his five-year plan. He's going to take this ragtag squadron of youths, some of whom have come straight from the soft nests of their parents and mold them into a money-making team. They'll be the wolf pups of 47th Street. Yeah, I got a propaganda as these young people to be productive, people that work in an actual group.
OK? You have to fight against whatever the hell everyone else is telling them. And once they experience that and it works for them, then they believe in the propaganda. So that's just really what I have to do. I have to create that reality for them.
Yeah, so let's start the meeting off with Justin. What you got for us, Justin? You got any news for us? The afternoon staff meeting is when I see it in action. The character building, let's call it.
And spinning red light here, the language is about to get spicy, slash offensive, so fair warning. We're up on the 14th floor where Max has an office. We all squeeze in, six employees in, and within seconds, really. So you're editing do so well from the weekend, man? He's lying into Justin, a 24-year-old from Missouri, thin as a rail, but very tall.
The video was a three-card Monty giveaway thing, where people were supposed to guess which box had an ounce of gold in it. It didn't get much traction. Max asks Justin, why didn't you use the other camera angle? Where is it? I had it, but I was clearing off some storage, because I got stored on my computer, so I'll have to.
I have it on his computer. He has more storage than the camera. Right. Yeah, that's the one on his computer. Didn't you film it on a phone?
Yeah, but it was on the, uh, his not even phone. You have it? So if it's not even phone, why don't you say it's not even phone, so we can look for it. Forgot for a second. Oh man, bro, this is fucking ridiculous, bro.
This fucking guy. I forgot what that is on a fucking phone, bro. What are we doing here, dude? Yeah, that's the number one thing you don't want to hear in business. I forgot fucking bullshit, bro.
Justin's been working here for less than a year, and how he ended up here. Holy cow. He's originally from Sudan, and he got hired because he made this video defending Max against allegations that he supported blood diamond mining in Sierra Leone. And after that, Justin asked for a job, and Max sent him $3,000, and against the better judgment of his skeptical parents. Justin bought a plane ticket to New York where he'd never been, found an apartment on Craigslist, and now he's getting yelled at, on tape.
What happened with Justin, and you know what I'm saying, he completely blunt, he just took the lazy fucking route and did new shit. Pretty much the only people Justin knows in this city are right here in this office. He's not had time to make friends. Max takes a breather on Justin, turns to Ayman, who sells grills. Ayman hands over his phone with a second camera angle to Max, so he can watch it.
And this motherfucker's on zero battery over here. Jesus Christ. I was running around, Ayman says. He was. I saw him zipping around all morning.
You know what I'm saying? It's not hard. You fucking go to sleep like a fucking conscious person. You plug in your fucking phone, you wake up, you're ready to go. That's all.
I don't want to be sitting here scrolling. The phone's about to die, bro. There's man angles here of the guy's face. Ayman's 20. He's worked here on and off since he was 16, 17.
His fingernails are bitten right down to the flesh. And yes, he tells me people have cried in these meetings. Ayman's cried in these meetings. But he used to play baseball and he used to being chewed out by the coach. He doesn't take it personally.
And PS, his phone was at about 70% when he got to work that day, he said. Max will slide in and out of various topics during this meeting. He'll record a quick voice over for a video. He'll praise Emma for the hot selling engagement ring she designed. Daniel's on point, executing every time.
That's business. Mickey, Swaroop, consistent. But his late motif will be Justin's disappointing video. As an example of what is not business. Excuses, not business.
This happened, that happened, then what happened? Brutality aside, I find Max's speech mesmerizing. The left came back, it was this, it was that, it was that, it was that, it was Sam, it was here, it was there. It was this, it was that, it was here, it was there. Shuffling and buffling, Chachkis and Schmachkis, the pearls, the schmurls, the clippings, the schmippings, twitching and ditching.
Max swings and he rhymes. But inside the bullying poetry of the recommend. He's telling them, you guys can do this. If you need proof, you're looking right at him. Your reality is me.
I forgot is not a sentence that should be uttered in a business. I forgot is for drug addicts and bumps. That's what I forgot is for. I also forget, I forget my keys, I forget some shit when I'm high. Okay, that's just a reality of the situation.
That's what it's for, for bumps. My shit is this, my shit is that, my shit is here, my shit is at 4%. I left the phone back there, I did that, I don't give a fuck about none of that shit. I don't want to do that, do yourselves a fucking favor and have the business discipline. I mean, ready to go every fucking day.
I understand you come home and you have a bunch of bumps around you. I understand that, bro. It is what it is. Don't let that shit rub off on you. So I can rub off on me.
That's it. I don't want to be around bumps, man. I'm fucking almost 40 years old, bro. Before most of these guys were hired, Max had a bunch of people around him who turned out to be untrustworthy that he told me. People stole from him, betrayed him.
Unlike so many diamond district businesses, Max doesn't have any family working with him. On this block, where for the better part of a century, fathers have been teaching their sons the business and then handing it over, Max did it solo. Scraped and hustled and built this brand, which just doubled its sales last month. Max has no children, no family of his own. It's lonely up here at the top.
All of you are fucking strangers. None of you are my family, none of you. Diamond heritage is this fucker and his son. And the guy is two brothers and a dad. The landlords, cousins and fucking in-laws and their father.
Simon brothers are brothers. Prestige brothers are fucking brothers. I'm here by my fucking self, bro. What a bunch of strangers. It's a different game.
I got to pick the right strangers, bro. I got to pick the right strangers. Who's with me? Who's going to stay with me? To the end of the meeting, Max casually mentions that moving forward, some people are going to have a job and some people I need to really think about carefully.
He ends it with the most dreaded question of all, which he puts to Justin. I'm going to say that. I'm going to say that he's going to be a part of the game. I'm going to say that he's going to be a part of the game. He ends it with the most dreaded question of all, which he puts to Justin.
Do you like this job? Do you like this company? Yeah. After 77 minutes, it's over. New York Times, any final thoughts?
No. I'm glad I charge my phone. Yeah. If you want some water or anything like that, get her a bottle of Fiji or something. No, no, I'm glad I have water.
Thank you. Everyone goes back to work. My first thought was that I couldn't believe he let me tape what had just happened. My second thought was maybe what had just happened was actually meant for me. A performance.
Was that an interesting meeting? The main one is like, were you actually mad or are you not mad? I'm mad. That's not as mad as I usually get. But I could be mad.
Yeah, I mean, listen, you cannot be relaxing and wishing upon a star in this company. Isn't your business booming like crazy? Why do you keep booming? I don't because you're mad? Because I'm pressing the issue and I'm pushing it forward.
I'm not satisfied with the lowest common denominator. If his employees are rattled by the way he talks, then this isn't the job for them. Fuck their feelings, he said. Get to work. All that happened on a Friday.
On Monday morning, I check back in first thing with the trainees upstairs, Shabani and Ray. They were busy trying to make their numbers and politely asked me to get out of their faces. So I wandered back to the Red Furniture where I was surprised to see Grayson, the guy who bought the AP watch for 42K on Friday. Your back. I know I'm selling a watch today.
You're kidding? No, I'm not. The same one. I didn't like the silver. No, you're kidding.
You're selling that watch? I didn't like the silver. We're going to look out and see if they can find me a gold one, but silver doesn't work for me. Isn't a gold one going to be so much more money? Yeah, like probably double.
Yeah. But it looks cooler. The gold one he said would be a gift for his twin brother. I asked what he was waiting for and he and the salesmen, David, explained that they were out by Eddie across the street at the watch hospital, which is a little booth in another gallery. I've been over there earlier.
Every watch that tracks NYC buys, they get it checked out, even if it's a watch they bought before, like this one. Just do diligence to make sure it hasn't been tampered with. Not that I would ever do something like that, but it's not uncommon. I've heard in stories that people will buy a watch, go swap it out for a fake one and try to bring it back in, which obviously I wouldn't do something like that, but it's just personal. I'd heard about this too.
People will pop out the movement, the mechanical part of the watch, swap it for a fake, and then try to resell it as the original. David pipes in. It's just procedure to have it checked. He says, it's not that I don't trust him. I'm sure there's a couple dead giveaways and he looks for those and if it's good, he closes back.
I would imagine at least. Heading in all clear from Eddie, tracks NYC has agreed to buy back the Silver AP for $37,000, which means in the span of a few days, Grayson is out $5,000 on this deal. He told me he didn't bother to haggle. Later that afternoon, I go upstairs to the 14th floor to interview Max some more, but as we're sitting there talking, Max's general manager comes to the door. He says, sorry to interrupt, but we've got a little problem with a watch.
So what happened to it? We sold it to the guy, basically on Friday. He came back today, trying to sell it to us back for like $5,000 less. A couple other salespeople come in too. I quickly realize they're talking about Grayson.
Before buying it back, we took the deal since we checked the watch. So he basically brought us back. So the movement is real? So he makes the match fake in real work too. They're saying they think he frankens down the watch and that now he's trying to scam them by selling it back.
So basically we have a few options, but one of them they want to go with it to just tell the guy to, you know, we have a bike. So it appears that he has some social media following as well. We could go to war over it. We could go to war over it, Max says. He doesn't have to see any paperwork, doesn't have to look at the watch itself, not going to investigate.
His lieutenants are telling him they believe it's been tampered with. That's enough for him. He instantly records a preemptive strike. Okay, so let's just do it right now. Let me just record it.
This is a reality of life right here that we have to deal with. Alright, let's see how we're going to do this. We sold a real watch and now this guy is trying to return a fake watch. Well, he's in for a fucking surprise, alright? Me and the boys are on it.
What did you learn about this watch of it? It's fake. We sold him an authentic genuine watch and now we're buying it back. It's fake watch. It's not the same reason why he sold it.
He's in the aftermath of the original movement. So we can sign it. Within four days, he was okay with taking a $5,000 hit. Which is pretty ridiculous. He didn't argue about it.
He's just taking the hit and wants to wire him. Listen, I don't know who the fuck you are. Fuck right off, bro. Okay? Someone reminds Max.
You met this guy. Remember? He bought a Rolex for his friend? Max doesn't remember, which isn't surprising. He meets so many strangers.
But I remember. Mr. Eyelove, New York. They called each other brother. And Grayson said tracks on YC was the only honest dealer in the diamond district.
I was stunned. I mean, assuming it was true that Grayson had done this. So brazen. We'd just been lounging in the mezzanine lounge, talking about how sometimes scammers will swap out the movement of a watch. I'm sure there are a couple of dead giveaways, he'd said.
Not that I'd ever do something like that. And apparently he hadn't done that. He, again, allegedly, done the opposite. Instead of the innards being fake, these guys were saying the outards were fake. The watch case wasn't original.
They explained that when Eddie at the watch hospital checked the movement, as Grayson knew he would, it was real. It's just that the rest of the watch didn't seem to be. Encore, the salesman, told me Eddie had caught the tiny differences people don't usually check for. But for Grayson to discuss it at all. With a reporter.
On tape. The one place in the diamond district where the smart one he says the owner Michael ballistic. How would Grayson kept his cool? I couldn't believe it. I went back downstairs to see how they're going to handle this.
Grayson had already left the building, so now they have to call him. They decide they're not going to accuse him of anything. And that young David's going to be the one to make the call, since he was the salesman on this deal. He's nervous. Marcus, the sales manager, and Encore give him some pointers.
Don't be rude. Don't let him force you to explain it. I'm not going to give him a nice mention. I don't want him to read to beat you into giving a like reason. Yeah, there's only companies about the watch.
Does this go in the world? Anyone has to focus? We're both in our way. We're both in our way. No.
We're fine. Let's get this. Y'all want one on speaker? We're not in here. Is this actually very beautiful?
Yeah. I'm at it. Hey, bro. Please leave your message for me. It's around 6pm now, and the showroom is closed to customers.
David tries calling Grayson again. Grayson finally calls back. It's not something very really interesting to bang at the moment. David keeps his voice even. tells Grayson the deal is off.
You can come by anytime and pick it up. This is a little bit over my head. And I guess that's what I've been told. Eventually he hands the phone to Marcus. Oh, this is what I was saying.
I was just saying. I was just saying. I was just saying. I predicted Grayson immediately crumble. I was wrong.
No, we're just the client. They weren't telling Grayson what they really thought. And they weren't going to post Max's video. Because they wanted to avoid a protracted back and forth about what was true and what was false and what was real and what was fake. This way they can just skip all that and tell him we're under no obligation to buy back the watch.
We're simply exercising that non-obligation. Marcus is firm but polite as the conversation drags on. In the pauses we can all hear Max behind them shooting a bracelet ad with a blonde model named Christina. There's also a marine sergeant and a nearby bass. Okay, I understand you feel you can settle the time to come in with David.
And I will not be a problem. I'll be here in the show. Hang on. Hang on. I realized not proudly that I was a little disappointed.
But I was actually hoping for a showdown. Not just because it might have been an exciting tape. But because now I was craving the adrenaline hit of street justice. For somebody to yell into the phone, you're busted sucker. Instead they've been so controlled with all of them.
When David passed over the call to Marcus, I'd heard him mutter. This is fucking me up. I mean the best way to put it is I'm a 22 year old guy. So far in my life I've only argued with my mom, my girlfriend and maybe some of my friends. I've had to get bad news before the clients but this is something a little bit different.
It doesn't just come down to, you know, I'm mad at my mom or I'm mad at my friend or I'm mad at me. It comes down to, well this is real world stuff. This is a lot of money. The real world is full of sharks and conflict and people trying to take money from each other. That's the world David's learning to survive in.
The world of Max. By now I'd accepted what another employee told me. That the Max I met is the real Max. That 22 years on this tough block and this tough business molded him into Max the persona. In Separable Now from Max the Person.
So yeah, that was Max in the video. Performing himself, mad as a hornet, real as can be. On the other hand I just seen David and Marcus and Encore pull an anti-Max. Solve a problem with aggressive good manners. The kind of fakery that greases civil society, where I prefer to live, most of the time.
The staff unlocked the door for me and I started walking back to the office. Before I'd even gotten to the corner of 47th and 6th I got a text from Grayson. You know what's crazy he wrote? I asked neutral questions as if I had no idea what was going on, faking it in effect. He explained the whole thing.
He had just surprising to see lack of integrity from that store he wrote. I guess I should have seen it coming. I do not know what really happened with this watch. Grayson did go pick it up he later told me. He claims he never tampered with it.
He sold it in fact to a watch dealer in Texas. Who says he sold it to another dealer in Miami. So far, no complaints. As far as I know. Listen.
This episode of Metro was produced by Janelle Pfeiffer and edited by Julie Snyder. The producing team behind Metro includes Brendan Klinkenberg, Alvin Meloth, Daniel Giesmez, Corey Kilganan, Ben Phalen, Phoey Wang, Jen Guera, Jessica Weisberg, Anita Badajoe, Catherine Anderson, Abby Purpitch, Max Miller, Andrea Lopez-Gusato, Matt Nadell, and Walter Snyder. Nikita Stewart is editor of the New York Times Metro Desk. As we get this thing rolling, we would love it if you would help us get the word out. Follow the show on your podcast platform or favorite it or even comment on it if you're nice.
Also, please come find us on our social media platforms. Search Serial Productions on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook. We're going to be posting callouts for stories, stories we hope to make with you, the listeners. Again, search for serial or serial productions and you'll find us. Special thanks to the many people who helped get this show off the ground.
Jessica Testa, Maddie Masiello, Kyle Grandillo, Nina Lassam, Blake Olmsted, Kelly Doe, Bill Ferguson, Pierre Antoine-Louis, Tyler Cabot, Zoe Murphy, Mahema Chiblani, Reina Desai, Elizabeth Bristo, Dana Green, Jack Browning, Simone Procas, Susan Westling, and Sam Dolnick. Metro is a production of Serial Productions and the New York Times.