Day Two Report from the Original Miami Beach Antique Show

Once more into the breech…

9:58am

The show opens at noon. Right now I’m in the lobby of my hotel, planning my attack for today. Yesterday I raced through the show to get the lay of the land (and see a few cool things at the same time). Today, I’ll go back and chat with a few vendors, and take some more better photos.

First up is the booth with several Paul Newman Daytonas and a matched set of four, count ‘em, four 1016 Explorers.

12.02pm

Ok… before I go see the Explorers, my wife has a ton of cool stuff to show me. Two carat diamonds (of course, there were bigger ones… thank goodness she was only looking at two carats), snake bracelets, diamond brooches, stuff like that. And I had things to show her too – the aftermarket enamel-dialed Air-Kings and Oyster Perpetuals, a Piaget opal dialed ladies watch, and a cool collector’s chest.

But… on to watches!

Funny thing – I’m seeing a fair number of OysterQuartz Rolexes. Jes’ sayin’…

And some cool Rolex dealer clocks (see the photo up above).

2:07pm

I finally got to the Alex Ciani / Corrado Mattarelli booth. These folks had some of the coolest Rolex goods at the show.

There’s the set of four ref. 1016 explorers I mentioned earlier, a rose gold Rolex Dato-Compax Oyster Chronographe (the 5036, precursor to the one they call “the Killy,” for skier Jean Claude Killy), a Submariner 6200 from 1955, numerous Newmans (Paul, that is), a Double Red Sea-Dweller flanked by two Red Subs, and a Breguet auto clock out of a Lamborghini Diablo. (no partridge in a pear tree though…)

Submariner Ref. 6200

And all those were in and amongst numerous other pieces which escape me now (my eyes wouldn’t focus properly after the Sub 6200…).

3:52pm

I just love the look of a Rolex DayDate in yellow gold with a silver dial (I know… it’s a personal thing). And sure enough, I found a great example in a ref. 1803 on a strap that had perhaps never seen a bracelet. Early serial number, pie pan dial, sharp as a tack. I was so excited, I forgot to take a photo (like I said… a personal thing).

4:04pm

I’m back at Bob Maron’s booth, looking at various samples of the ref. 1655 “Steve McQueen” Explorer II. The uninitiated might think the price difference between the Mark I and the Mark II was all in the lollypop second hand of the Mk II. But no… it had to do with the clean, unpolished nature of the particular Mk I in question.

5:57pm

I’m running to a cash machine so I can get back to Giorgia Mondani and pick up the book she wrote with her dad Guido, The Rolex Day-Date. (See? I told you. It’s a personal thing.)

And with that, it’s a wrap from the 2016 edition of The Original Miami Beach Antique Show. The show goes for three more days and there’s lots more to see (there always is…). But I’m exhausted from resisting temptation…

Thanks for watching (no pun)!

The post Day Two Report from the Original Miami Beach Antique Show appeared first on Bezel & Barrel written by Ed Estlow.