Akon and French Montana’s mild spat over a phony watch got mended when Akon made amends and handed Montana a genuine expensive watch.
A viral video posted this week shows the two African-born rappers sharing their delight when Akon gifts French Montana an authentic luxury watch.
“Stop asking Akon about the watch 😂 he just pulled up on me and gave me another watch lol let’s see if he did right this time,” French Montana, who has an estimated net worth of $20 million, said on Instagram.
French Montana, a Moroccan-born, South Bronx-raised rapper, and Akon, born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Senegalese parents, have been in a budding relationship since 2008, when they met in Miami and began to collaborate. They had a small hit with their track “Married to the Streets” in 2009.
A Fable of the Fake Watch
In 2009, Akon, who was in the process of signing French Montana to his label Konvict Music, gifted his new signee what turned out to be a counterfeit watch. Akon had picked up two Hublot watches for $5,000 on Canal Street in New York, an area known for selling knockoffs.
Montana described to DJ Akademiks what happened next in a 2019 interview:
“[Akon] had gave me a Hublot,” Montana said. “So it wasn’t iced out, and you know I like s*** with diamonds on it, so I just took it to my jeweler. I was like, ‘Yo, can you switch this for me? Akon gave it to me for my birthday.’ He looked at me like, ‘What you mean? Akon did not give you this, my guy.’”
“My jeweler looking at me like, ‘You trying to get me?’” Montana continued. “I’m like, ‘Nah, swear to God.’ So I’m like it’s either my jeweler playing with me or Akon made a mistake. So I just called him. … I’m still waiting for the real one.”
At the time, Akon, whose net worth supposedly is $66 million, said he knew nothing about watches.
In a 2022 “Drink Champs” interview, Akon said that he was “the one who got got” when he bought the fake watches. He said that he learned his lesson, and that he is now more careful about buying watches.
According to Akon, the man who sold him that watches told him he was getting a deep-discount — one that turned out too good to be true. “He said, ‘Normally about $15,000 to $20,000. But I got a guy that can get it for us for $5,000,’” Akon recalled.
Akon has not specified which Hublot watches he purchased for himself and French Montana. However, because this is Hublot’s most renowned watch, it seems likely that they were both Big Bang models. The Big Bang Theory was released in 2005 and rapidly became a status symbol among celebrities and athletes. It is distinguished by its unusual design, which includes a square casing and a rubber strap.
The current price of a new Big Bang Hublot watch ranges widely from $5,000 to the $14,000, depending upon the model and material, according to Chrono24, a marketplace for luxury watches.
