I arrived at the Plaza Resort & Spa Monday afternoon Feb. 10 to temps in the '70s, and promptly stripped down to cargo shorts and T-Shirt, and walked down to the Daytona Beach Pier and had an early dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. All of it was a welcome relief from sub-zero temperatures in Wisconsin.
The first day of the WWT show netted me three Omega Seamasters from collector/trader (he doesn't consider himself a dealer!) Keith Yarbrough, of Dalton, Georgia. We had agreed to meet ahead of time via email and telephone, and there is a good tip right there: It often pays to set up meetings with contacts ahead of time if you are both going to a certain show. This provides a good "ace in the hole" if the pickins' are slim. I also picked up an Elgin watch from one of my repair people. It's an oversize model with two-tone gold filled case from the 1930s, and I have never soon one like it. When I bought it, it was missing the bezel, and this fellow manufactured a bezel for me out of sterling silver. I have the hands for it back home, where I will complete re-assembly:
I also picked up two Hamilton electric watches that were repaired by Jarett Harkness of Longview Texas. These were a Summit II, and a Nautilus in one-piece stainless case. (I subsequently sold the Summit II at the NAWCC show on Friday).
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| Summit II (left) and Nautilus |
Jarett is an extremely nice fellow who runs a website, and also repairs Hamilton electric watches, having tutored under the great René Rondeau (René will be doing a guest post on this blog, by the way).
Tuesday night, I had the pleasure of dining with Fred and Joy Friedberg at nearby Anna's Trattoria (wonderful place, by the way). We talked mostly about Fred's new book on the Illinois Watch Co. that will be published by Schiffer sometime mid-year 2015. This is Fred's second book on the topic, the first one being published in 2005. You might ask yourself, "What else could be said about Illinois after the first book?" And the answer is "plenty." This book will focus less on the watches (though there will be plenty of info, including newly discovered models) and more on the company. Specifically, what happened when Hamilton bought Illinois in 1928, and closed it in 1932. The story is a lot more involved than originally thought, and involved a TON of original, forensic-style research through newspapers and trade journal archives.
Another good chunk of the book is devoted to the period during the 1950s when Hamilton introduced (and then quickly withdrew) the Hamilton-Illinois wristwatch models. The big question: Would the Illinois Watch Co. have survived had it been left to run on its own? I don't want to ruin the surprising answer to that question! You'll have to read the book.
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| From left: Joy and Fred Friedberg, Bruce Shawkey |
The second day of the WWT show yielded two more Omegas, a manual wind, and an automatic, from a dealer I had not met before by the name of Francisco "Frank" Dumenigo, of Coral Gables, Fla. Like me, Frank is into a little bit of everything watch-wise, and is also collects/deals in writing instruments. He is a consummate professional, and a very nice fellow, and I hope to be doing more business with him in the future.
That afternoon (Wednesday) I also met Stan Czubernat (pronounced ZOO-ber-not) for a couple of beers in the Plaza hotel bar, to talk about American WWI trench watches in general. He identified and evaluated six American trench watches that I had brought to the show, and bought three of them. We also talked about Stan's book on WWI Elgin trench watches, which is coming out this summer. I will mention this again when I hear from Stan that the book is near publication. Do not miss it. The book will be the first ever devoted to this sub-genre of watch collecting, and I don't believe it's exaggerating to say it will turn this part of the collecting community on its ear.
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| Stan enjoying a cold one at the Hoffbrau beer garden in Munich, Germany |
Stan is a frequent contributor to the Vintage Watch Forum, as well as running his own blog. He is extremely passionate about American trench watches, having restored over 150 of them to pristine and "as original" condition.
On a couple of non-watch related notes:
1. I'm sorry to report that the Plaza Hotel, long my favorite of the two host hotels for the WWT and NAWCC shows, fell way below standards this year, and forced me to bail after just two nights, and move about 1/4 mile north to a Comfort Inn. The issues/problems with this hotel can no longer be considered "quaint and charming"; they were just a damned nuisance and detracted from the overall experience. Certainly, the regional is about the "show," but at the end of the day you need a comfortable sanctuary in which to recharge your batteries.
2. A pretty serious storm moved through central Florida Wednesday night, and left in its wake temperatures that were colder than originally predicted this week. This makes three years in a row that Daytona has had unseasonably cold weather during the mid-winter regional. Luck of the draw, I guess.
The first day of the NAWCC show proved disastrous, sales-wise. I sold one watch, a 2-register Orloff chronograph with Valjoux 92 movement, that I mentioned in an earlier blog posting. Sold that for 60 bucks. I purchased another Omega Seamaster, an earlier bumper-wind model with gold shell case. That makes six Omegas that I'm coming home with, most of them Seamasters.
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| An Omega 6-pack! |
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| Vietnam (1967) era miltary watch with hack |
And also a beautiful 1930s era Alpina rectangular model with formed movement:
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| 1930s Alpina rectangular wristwatch |
I spent Thursday evening with Mike and Pat Porter, of Dayton, Ohio. at their rented condo along Atlantic Blvd. We had lasagna, fried calamari, salad, garlic bread, and strawberry gelato for dessert. Wine with the meal, and coffee with dessert. It was nice to have a home-cooked meal while on this trip. Mike has been a long-time friend and watch source of mine, and we always try to get together for a meal and some watch swapping during this regional.
The final day of the NAWCC show, I attended a morning lecture, Evolution of the Wristwatch: From Wristlets to Wrist Devices, presented by Randy Jaye, who is president of NAWCC Chapter 154 - Daytona Beach, Fla. Randy has done quite a bit of research into the past, present, and future of wristwatches, and has an article in the queue for publication in the NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin. Be on the lookout for it.
I sold one additional watch, the Summit II, and on a last pass through the mart room bought a bundled lot of 15 wristwatches for $20 apiece, or $300 for the lot.
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| eBay meat |
This is further evidence of my statement in the home page of this blog that there are still a TON of watches out there that can be had for $50 or less, in this case much less. They were all in nice shape, most of them running, and all were complete with stems/crowns/crystals. All that remains is to "band" them and they will be coming soon to an eBay listing near you. I should easily double my money (or better), and the proceeds can be used to buy a nice watch for myself, or (more likely) pay next month's heating bill.
All in all, a great Regional, and I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventures and acquisitions.
Sincerely,
Bruce Shawkey
All of it was a welcome relief from sub-zero temperatures in Wisconsin. Watch Collector
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