I go into Wempe, and am immediately turned off. There are hardly any watches in sight. They're nearly all in the outside windows. Just little tables with soft chairs next to them. Just like, well, a 5th Avenue shop. Which, of course, Wempe is. I'm ignored for 5 min. while I look around the store, but there's nothing to see. I'm about to ask one of the 4 or 5 people standing around to talk to me when Eugenia, a very pleasant woman (in her 50s, like me) greets me. Again, it is the Reverso that does the trick. (What a great watch-buying accessory! If you need to buy a watch in New York, maybe you can borrow a Reverso to wear.)
We have a long session with various watches that she retrieves from the window and puts on a felt-lined little tray. As I reject a watch it goes back into the window, and the candidate watches remain in the tray. So, eventually, the tray becomes my personal watch selection. They don't have the Patek 5080 with black dial, only with white, and I don't care for that version at all. Seeing it, I no longer want the black either. We talk mainly about Royal Oaks. I ask the price for the steel and gold version, and she quotes me one that's about 9% off list. I don't press her, because I'm not sure I want the watch at all, but I know that I'm never going to get Wempe anywhere even close to 20%, let alone 25%.
I ask to see a Lange 1, figuring that maybe everybody hates Langes, the company is in a panic, and they've told all their dealers to sell them as fast as they can at any price. Nope. She shows me one in white gold and then says the other one, in yellow gold, was just sold, not an hour ago, but I can still see it, although I don't get to hold it. So, I guess not everybody hates Langes. She doesn't have the black and rose gold one, which is the only one I would consider, and I don't want to buy anything from Wempe anyway, even though the people are nice enough. I'm tired of watches for today. I am starting to hate AP, and don't understand why I am still attracted to them. I don't want the 5080 anymore, at least not today. Time to go.
I head on south. It's about 4:20. I briefly decide to go to a museum for a little while just to rest, and then realize that's silly, it's already past four, and I'm much too tired. Apparently, I'm not even thinking straight any more. So, here's the plan. I will call it quits, go back to my room to get cleaned up, have a nice dinner, and go buy the Eterna with the orange dial tomorrow for my Birthday present.
Next page in this article
5 | 6
| 7 | 8 | 9
