WATCH: Man steals $700K in watches at gunpoint from NYC boutique

UPPER EAST SIDE, Manhattan -- Police believe a brazen daytime smash-and-grab robbery at a high-end Manhattan watch boutique is linked to a similar incident last year.

Authorities say the bandit hit the A. Lange & Sohne store on Madison Avenue between East 66th and 67th streets around 11 a.m. Tuesday and got away with approximately 14 watches worth an estimated $700,000.

The suspect reportedly displayed a silver automatic handgun and smashed a display case inside the store before fleeing the scene.

The NYPD has now linked this robbery to a similar one at a Madison Avenue jewelry store in November of 2016, in which two suspects used a gun and claw hammer to smash several display cases inside the Jaeger-LeCoultre jewelry store. The suspects stole five watches valued at more than $300,000.

Both incidents were caught on surveillance video.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).