Las Vegas: The Annual Mecca for the Watch Trade

By Matthew Bain

I've just returned from the Las Vegas Antique Jewelry & Watch Show, and this year was exceptionally active. While many collectors are familiar with the event, it is primarily a trade show, a place where dealers from around the country come to stock their shelves and search for fresh inventory.

Over the years, I have found success by bringing a slightly different mix of watches than many exhibitors. We tend to blend neo-vintage and modern pieces, along with our signature carefully selected vintage watches. Knowing the market is important, but equally important is knowing the dealers, understanding what they are looking for, and bringing the right inventory at the right time.

This year, business was brisk, and the mood throughout the show was overwhelmingly positive. Las Vegas becomes the center of the jewelry and watch world for one week each year, as the Antique Show runs alongside the JCK and Couture jewelry shows. Dealers, collectors, manufacturers, and industry professionals travel in from around the globe. For those of us in the business, it is truly a pilgrimage.

One of the more memorable moments of the week came late one evening. We received a call from an estate jeweler who wanted to sell us what was described as an important vintage Rolex. There was only one condition: we had to meet that night at 10 p.m. in a private room at the Venetian Hotel.

We anticipated this to mean a comfortable meeting at a desk in one of the guest hotel rooms. What we got, was something a bit more out of an old Western movie. The seller met our team in the lobby, and urged us to follow him through packs of people and into a restaurant. Hidden away from the crowds, in a private VIP bar room, the seller presented the watch. Unfortunately, I personally was unavailable that evening, and so Morgan led the meeting.

He described the situation as "bizarre", while they were afforded the semblance of privacy it was in a very dark room where they made use of the tiny bar top lights to inspect the watch, on a table not much larger than a pizza pie. Another unexpected caveat to the meeting, the seller had made dinner plans at the same time in the adjacent room and urged our team to move quickly. The stakes were high. As the case back was opened, photos began arriving on my phone. One image after another confirmed what we hoped it would be...

By midnight, we owned a fresh-to-market 1960s Rolex Paul Newman Daytona.

The watch itself was exciting, but what struck me was how familiar the experience felt. After more than three decades in the watch business, some of my best stories have happened during this week in Las Vegas. Watches have appeared from safety deposit boxes, family estates, hotel rooms, and unexpected introductions. Every year seems to produce another story that could never have been scripted.

That is part of what keeps the business interesting. You have to show up. You never know what is waiting around the next corner!