 |
(Photo: Brad Paris) |
Jules Siff
Wempe
700 Fifth Ave., nr. 55th St.; 212-397-9000
Are you buying anyone a watch this year?
I haven’t decided. But I would consider buying my wife the 24 by Patek Philippe in stainless steel [$8,600]. It’s like a cuff. It curves to your wrist.
Do you get a discount?
Of course I get a discount. I would be insulted if I didn’t.
What’s going to sell like hotcakes?
The Submariner by Rolex in stainless steel [$5,175] is always in demand. Thirty years from today, it will still be in demand. I bought it for my son on his 30th birthday.
What’s the watch brand to buy for the watch-obsessed person?
Patek Philippe and A. Lange & Söhne. The plainest Patek Philippe [$12,950] takes nine months to make. More complicated ones can take two to three years.
An inexpensive gift?
I would say a set of cuff links in sterling silver, like the Wempe cuff link [$195]. You can put an initial on it.
But what about a less expensive watch, in the $1,500 range?
It would be an automatic—self-winding. I would say a Tag Heuer [$1,450]. It has a blue dial and a blue bezel, and it looks like a diving watch. It’s unisex—for a young lady or young man. With automatic watches, as you move, it winds itself. If you leave it idle for a day, it will stop.
Have you been selling for Christmas already?
I sold a Rolex this morning to a gentleman from Mexico. He bought a Rolex for his wife, a Lady Datejust [$6,525]. It is eighteen-karat yellow gold and stainless steel.
Are quartz watches popular?
If you’re a watch person, quartz is not even in your vocabulary. If Mario Andretti came in and wanted a car, would he ask for an automatic?
Email
Print
The Transformation of TV Into an Art Form
The Draw of Dream Worlds in Film
Gosselin, Prince of the Professional Nobodies
A Decade of Defining Moments in Pop Culture
The Invention of New York's Local Cuisine 
Thirty-Five Short-Lived Looks of the Decade
Two Views of a Swath of the Upper West Side
An Older Generation Moves Into Williamsburg
Ten Years That Changed Everything
A Generation of Overparenting
The Sports Rivalry of the Decade
What Is the Point of the United States Senate? 
