Watches' Luxury or Lie: Pawnbrokers Learn to Identify

Las Vegas, NV Strip. Image courtesy of Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/en/las-vegas-strip-las-vegas-strip-1128811/. CCO Public Domain


UPDATE (May 2017):

I've discovered that one of the best blogs to find out more about upscale pawnshops is written by EZ Pawn Corporation's President, Lauren Kaminsky. 

The 2017 National Pawnbrokers Association (NPA) Annual will be held in Las Vegas July 11-13.

Summer is the high season for professional association conferences and trade shows. This summer, Las Vegas heats up with no fewer than 240 of them during July. The National Pawnbrokers Association (NPA) will be there hosting its Pawn Expo 2016 at the Mirage Hotel and Casino from July 12 -14th.

This year, the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) offers Pawn Expo attendees an exceptional opportunity to learn more about the vagaries of luxury watches. Adam Harris, NAWCC Horologist/Consultant will be speaking about how to unravel the product Luxury or Lie conundrum, i.e. how to "discern a counterfeit wristwatch from the genuine."

Eleven is a lucky LV number and it's also the number of manufacturers Harris will cover in his NPA presentation. The line-up includes Omega, Hublot, Rolex, Breitling, Cartier, Tag Heuer, Panerai, Bell & Ross, Patek, Breguet, and Audemars Piquet.

Pawnbrokers attending the session will learn how not to rely on Lady Luck in accepting a luxury watch for loan collateral or outright buy. They will learn to identify the hallmarks of the genuine and tip-offs to the so- called "replica watches" as the counterfeit trade likes to call them. They will learn the watch industry language of  "reworked dials, the marriage of Franken pieces (some original parts mixed with replica or after-market parts), complications, and homage versus Franken versus reworked."


Surprised that this would be of interest to the pawn industry?  It is big business -- with $14.5 billion in annual revenue. There were approximately 11,000 U.S. pawn establishments. 85% of them are independently owned small businesses or small regional chains. The rest are publicly owned. Most will never see luxury watches proffered on a regular basis.

However, there is a subset within the industry known as upscale pawnshops or high-end pawnshops that accept higher value merchandise that can include watches, jewelry, gem stones, fine art, and wine collections among others. These include EZ Pawn Corporation of New York, the Provident Loan Society of New York, Borro, and iPawn.com. 

Several of these companies already have had associates who participated in Adam Harris' two-day NAWCC Class, "Luxury or Lie™" and gave glowing reports on their experiences.

"Adam Harris' Luxury or Lie Course is a must for anyone in the business of buying high-end watches. His knowledge and expertise surpassed our expectations and provided an invaluable learning experience for all."
                                                                    Lauren Kaminsky, EZ Pawn Corp, NY

"what initially on paper sounded as a rather boring seminar turned out to be a extremely informative event. It opened up my eyes into the vast world of watches without hesitation. Your entertaining way of getting everybody involved in this course was without peer."
                   Gertrude C. Richter, Manager, Provident Loan Society of New York

It's a sure thing that pawnbrokers who take this NPA seminar during Pawn 2016  won't follow the adage, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." They'll be using their new luxury watch knowledge with discriminating eyes and spreading the word to colleagues about the value of identifying the replica from the authentic.

RELATED POST: Guest Post: What's in a Name? - War of Words" (Adam Harris)

  

   

Time Crash: Disney's Alice Through the Looking Glass

It bothers me when someone says, It's a Waste  of Time. No choices ever are truly wasteful. Time is something that once spent can't be redeemed except through reflection. Disney's latest Lewis Carroll adaptation, Alice Through the Looking Glass is at times tedious and visually unbearable, but not completely unwatchable.

It does give me the opportunity to do a fanciful post about a film that already has received the critics' Rotten Tomatoes' -- Rotten Tomatometer rating.   

My first impulse after seeing the movie last week, was to check out how pervasive its characters are in Zazzle's watch designs and in the Disney Store online. Sure signs of popular pablum. Yup. They're -- There.

Zazzle has character watch dials galore with Alice, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, and the Red Queen.

Alice | Curiouser and Curiouser Wristwatch. Wrap Around Style.Made by E-Watch Company. Art Work Designed by Disney.

Or if you're impossible to please and prefer plastic, get it with your choice of three face designs, 14 top band colors, 13 bottom band colors and 13 keeper colors (the color of the little part of the watch that is holding the watch band).

Alice | Believe in the Impossible Wristwatch. Clear Face. Pink Top Band. Blue Bottom Band. Made by May28th. Art Work Designed by Disney.

The Disney Store didn't have Looking Glass movie character watches. However, it did have character tea time petit fours plates from the Mad Hatter's Party. In the film, their counterparts sit on It's Always One-Minute-to-Tea Time table.

  
Where am I going with all of this?  The horological significance and value of the my movie experience, of course.

The best way to sum the movie and my time spent watching it, is to call it a Time Crash. It's an insipid  special effects mash-up with the character of Time (Actor Sacha Baron Cohen) as a clock-like humanoid disc jockey. He's villainous of sorts but still a likeable time-punster. He can make entertaining time-chatter even if it's predictably cliched.

He's the keeper of the Chronosphere, a mechanical golden globe that runs all time, past and present, and is housed in his palace. The Chronosphere is akin to a gyroscopic disco ball at a bad rave dance party.  Everybody wants to possess it and take it home as their all-time party favor.

The Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) wants it to destroy time; Alice (Mia Wasikowska) and her ally, the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) want it to save the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) by reuniting him with his family. It will also allow him to recover from his deathbed and reinvigorate his chromatic mascara (which by the way looks reminiscent of the top and bottom band colors available for Alice's Believe in the Impossible Wristwatch).

Thoroughly confused? So is the film. The good news is that at its end, Alice climbs back through the Looking Glass, reunites with her mother, forms an international trading company and sails off to China -- presumably to export  Empress Dowager gowns back to Victorian London fashionistas.

AND I can go back to constructively and coherently blogging about wristwatches and time.
       

Two Places at Once: Hamilton's Original Dual Time Zone Watches

World time has gotten flatter, faster, and more visual -- compressed onto our flat screen TV's, through our 24/7 cable news access, and on some highly complicated wristwatch dials.

We now live in all 24 time zones colorfully, simultaneously and with wrist defining flair. That's what came to mind when I saw the Louis Vuitton advertisement for its Escale Time Zone Watch (Wall Street Journal, March 17, 2016).

Escale Time Zone Watch. http://us.louisvuitton.com/eng-us/products/escale-time-zone-010461.

But hold on.  This post's not about that watch but three of its 60 year old predecessors which were equally impressive in their own time, 1956. That was the year the Hamilton Watch Company introduced the Cross Country and Trans-Continental models for men; and the Starflite for women.

In that year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, there were 46,004 "Revenue Passenger Emplanements." In other words, that's the total number of either originating or connecting passengers boarding aircraft in the US. Hamilton had an existing and growing market beyond the railroads.

[Quick Time Zone Tutorial: Time zones worldwide are based on longitudinal/solar calculations. Each time zone represents 15 degrees of longitude, roughly the distance covered by the sun in one hour. US National Time Zones (Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific) were an outcome of the nation's need to standardize railroad passenger and freight transportation in the late 19th Century to avoid the possibility of collisions and synchronize destination departure and arrival schedules across cities and states.  It was not until March 1918 that Congress officially established the four-zone system by passing the Standard Time Zone Act.]

National advertising was all important for this Hamilton innovation. The company featured the Cross Country and the Trans-Continental models in Time Magazine's March 26, 1956 issue emphasizing how wearing time when traveling or even using the telephone can cross time zones, solidify communications, and presumably clench deals.
 

Visual excerpt from Time Magazine advertisement, March 26, 1956,No. 13, p. 49.

According to the ad's copy, the watch at  top is the Cross Country model. It has a 10K gold case, is shock-resident and comes with a strap. In 1956, it retailed for $69.50 ($611.35 in today's dollars*); and with an expansion band, $75 ($659.73 in today's dollars).

  

Example of the Cross Country Model. From the www.Farfo.com Vintage Watches Image Gallery. http://www.farfo.com/vintage-wristwatches/hamilton-cross-country-vintage-watch-multipe-time-zones-1950s/

 The ad goes on to describe how to interpret the dial settings to read one's time in place and the time in a desired second place:

 

The watch on the left in the advertisement is the self-winding Trans-Continental  which was also shock-resistant and waterproof. (The self-winding feature was a new Hamilton innovation in '56.) The 10K gold-filled case with strap retailed for $95 ($835.65 in today's dollars); and with an 14K gold case, $185 ($1,627.33) in today's dollars adjusted for inflation). Its dial face had a map of the United States with the time zones marked accordingly.

Example of the Transcontinental "B" Model. From the Jones and Horan AuctionTeam Image Gallery. Full description can be found at: http://jones-horan.hibid.com/lot/77441-65047-1966/hamilton-transcontinental-b--swiss-time-zone-watch/

The Ladies' Starflite model was similar to the Cross Country in its dial design and price range, $79.50 to $85 ($699.31 to $747.69 in today's adjusted dollars). 

Excerpt from Hamilton Watch Company Dealer's Catalog, p. 6 Starflite model.

Now It's 2016--Sixty Years On -- And the dual time zone watch construct still offers traveling practicality. 

In a recent email exchange that I had with Adam Harris who teaches the popular workshop Luxury or Lie? How to identify Genuine Watches for the NAWCC and has served as a guest wristwatch curator at the National Watch & Clock Museum in Columbia, Pennsylvania (2012-2015), Adam wrote:

I live in two time zones, either living in Spain, but communicating with the Museum here on the East coast, or staying here and communicating with Europe.

A GMT or dual time zone watch does that for me instantaneously!

On Saturday, I fly to Singapore, prior to landing I will set my watch to Singapore time, and the GMT hand to Eastern Time.

I will then, for the first day base my body clock on Eastern Time, helping me avoid jet lag.  
It works, I know, I have traveled most of my life.

* Adjusted dollars are derived from the online US Inflation Calculator.


 

Happenstance Blue: Anthony Eglin and Chopard's Precious Couture

Baselworld 2016 ended on Thursday, March 24th, the same day I finished Anthony Eglin's mystery, The Blue Rose (Minotaur Books, 2005).

In one of my previous posts, Botanical Companions: J.G. Ballard and Chaumet,  as is the case in this one, an author and a watchmaker, i.e. Eglin and  Chopard are connected by my old friend happenstance. The color blue is the bridge between the Eglin's novel and Chopard's Precious Couture wristwatch.
 

Chopard Precious Couture  Model 1044271004

 

Coincidentally, Isabelle Guignet wrote in her Swiss Watch Authority WorldTempus post  on March 24th,  "Blue is the colour — Cool blue is the hottest colour for this year’s Baselworld ... in every shade from cerulean to royal blue." 



So let's explore Eglin's haute horticulture work and Maison Chopard's haute joaillerie creation. In doing so literature can enliven horological artistry.

In the Blue Rose, the main character is the book's namesake, a blue rose bush.
Rosarians know that in nature, this is an unnatural bloom. Roses do not produce  delphinidin, the blue colored pigment needed to produce this wonder. Throughout garden history, such a colored rose is a beautiful genetic aberration  with discordant qualities of both attraction and lethality.

The presumptive owners of the mysterious hybrid are an English couple, Kate and Alex Sheppard who discover the flowering rarity when they purchase an English country home and its overgrown garden. The rose and rights to its hybridization will be worth millions to the international rose industry. In an effort to hide the rose's existence until it can be strategically marketed, Alex and Kate use the code name, "Sapphire" instead of referring to it by its color.  

Additional characters, like blooms and thorns, spring from the flower's find: a retired Edinburgh botanist, scheming buyers, lawyers, nursery owners, cryptographers, police inspectors, and murderers. All are critical to the narrative.
 
Chopard's Precious Couture wristwatch, making its debut at Baselworld 2016 reflects the Blue Rose in one very special, overwhelming way -- its pulsating sapphire adornment radiating in profusion from its central corolla.

In all its grandeur, the watch is 18 ct. white gold with 25 cts. of pear-shaped sapphires; 7.5 cts. of pastel blue sapphires, and marquise-cut sapphires and brilliant cut diamonds.  

It's akin to the distinctive singularity of Eglin's Blue Rose. A bracelet and time dial adorned by natural precious gemstones elements, conceived by designers and brought to market by the creativity of an entire atelier of fine craftsman,

It's a wondrous showstopper, at home in the international trade of  rarefied, luxury time. It can be owned but not ultimately possessed for posterity -- just as a blue rose would be.

Related posts:

Dials Too Can Get the Blues

 March 2016 Bench #3 -- Anthony Eglin




     

  

Two Years On and Timing Forward: My Latest Blogging Experiences

Every 5 or 6 months I write about my experiences of being a blogger during that time frame. I wrote my last update on November 1, 2015, Still Dialing Through at Twenty-two. Twenty-two months, not age or years that is.

Now Daylight Savings Time 2016 is here; Spring is a week away and it's again time for my short-term reflections/retrospection.  

My actual posting activity on this blog has slowed down.  I've only published 6  posts during the period under review. However, page views continue to be healthy and are close to 20,500. 


Lesson Learned #1: My greatest challenge has been finding time for blog  sustainability.

Chalk the time-sharing up to the holidays, tax preparation, providing technical guidance for my husband James Raciti's new blog, America's Revolutionary Voices;and helping him publicize his new book, Stephen Girard: America's Colonial Olympian 1750-1831 to libraries across the country.

Stephen Girard: America's Colonial Olympian published by Sunstone Press, Santa Fe NM, 2015, ISBN 1632930706

Not to mention going to a new dog park for daily-demanded outings by Gustav, our 180 pound, 8 year old Great Pyrenees Mountain Dog.

The family Gustav-Raciti

 
ADD to this my new blog, Strolling Among the Watches / Flanânt Parmi les Montres. This is a companion blog to Wrist Watch Redux. It describes "Short Walks on Historical, Corporate, Creative and Cultural Watchscape Paths." 

My New Blog: www.watchflaneuse.com

I've also spent more time reading the advice of  two exceptional blogging experts, Robin Houghton and Jane Friedman.  

Robin's written The Golden Rules of Blogging (& When to Break Them) and Blogging For Creatives. I've read both and highly recommend them.  I've also featured her in one of my posts on Watch Flaneuse, 

Jane Friedman offers advice online through her Weekly Blog Round-up and newsletter, Electric Speed delivered to my email. Check them out.

Lesson Learned #2:  Reading does contribute to sustainability. It's just that it doesn't necessarily show up in or as more post writing in the short term.

Lesson Learned #3: Sustainability can come from Unexpected Sources.

The quintessential blog sustainability observation that has gotten me through this period comes from Nora Ephron.  Ten years ago this month, she wrote in one of her blogs titled Hello. By the Way. Whatever.:

"One of the most delicious things about the profoundly parasitical world of blogs is that you don't have to have anything much to say. Or you just have to have a little tiny thing to say. You just might want to say hello. I'm here. And by the way. On the other hand. Nevertheless. Did you see this? Whatever. A blog is sort of like an exhale. What you hope is that whatever you're saying is true for about as long as you're saying it. Even if it's not much."

So in tribute to Nora.  I'm Here. And by the Way. I'm Still at It.  

Related blogging experience posts:

 Still Dialing Through at Twenty-two (November 2015)

 BeWatching Midnight: Taking Stock Twelve Months On (February 2015)

 Taking Stock at Six O’Clock: Beginning My Blogging Career (August 2014)

   
      








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