I visited an AD in New York this past weekend, Cellini Jewelers. It is only the second AD I have ever visited. At first, I had my doubts. Because this
was the only other AD I was going to visit, my mind was already believing that the visit would be similar to my lackluster trip to the AD back home. I was wrong.
(Btw, sorry for no pictures, my dad, with the camera, wasn't willing to come with me to Cellini's)
The excitement of visiting Cellini's had already built up a few days before the actual visit because their website showed nearly all the high-end luxury brands that I had been drooling over at home. I literally could have jumped with joy if I was the only person in the shop. Why so happy and excited? How about about 7 tourbillons, maybe more, a few minute repeaters, and pretty much anything and everything someone could ask for?
I was greeted at the door by someone who I thought was the doorman, but turned out to be a staff member at the store. He happened to be the man who would show me the watches I was interested in. Knowledgeable and benevolent, as I'm sure every other staff member would have been, he was quick to show me around. I, after seeing videos on youtube and pictures in catalogs, jumped straight to asking: "Where are your tourbillons?"
"Your'e looking right at them," he said, pointing to a showcase of idk how many grande complications. It was watchmaking at it's finest, all in one place. Probably being able to tell that I was indecisive on where to start, he showed me his favorite piece, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Gyro freakin tourbillon! Winding it up and letting it take the stage, it was truly a thing of beauty and mechanical greatness. I am still not sure why I did not notice half the pieces in the showcase, as they were ones that i had viewed many, many times in catalogs (must've been in shock and awe).
I am not going to go too much in detail, as there really was a lot to take in, but I will share the highlights. I highly suggest visiting them if you are in town.
Next came Ulysse Nardin. By far one of my favorite manufactures, I immediately spotted the Triple Jack Minute Repeater. Taking it out from the case, he wound the watch up and slid the mechanism on minute repeaters to chime. It was incredible that the sound was so bold and crisp, yet everything was inside that tiny little watch, all mechanical. I was lucky enough to wear the watch, and I must say, it does have quite a presence. For some reason, I always thought that the watch was around 50k maybe a bit more. Again, I was wrong. I asked how much the watch would cost me. Oh, just three hundred thousand! That's discounted 33% already. Turns out it has a $450,000 price tag! I was literally wearing a house on my wrist!
I ended up looking at around 5 or 6 watches, only wearing that one Ulysse Nardin minute repeater. Unfortunately I was with my mom and she did not let me wear or even ask to see the A Lange & Sohne Datograph, the one watch I was dying to see the most. I'll admit, I did forget about it, caught up in the other tourbillons and all, until the very end. Incredible! Lying in the showcase with 10 other A Lange & Sohne watches.
The purpose in sharing this story with you guys is the fact that one: Cellini's is truly an incredible place of watches (and jewelry) that everyone should consider visiting if they are in New York City; and two: I had some sort of experience/epiphany where I felt truly in love with the watches. Being able to hold and to wear such a unique piece as the Ulysse Nardin Triple Jacks minute repeater, I realized that that's what I wanted to be able to own in the future. I had always said to myself that I had to work hard to get what I wanted, it wasn't until this past weekend where I really felt that I would need to exceed all expectations, to go above and beyond to simply have a shot at owning, or better yet collecting, watches of that degree.
My first visit to an AD, I tried on a Breitling SO. My second, I tried on a $300,000 Ulysse Nardin. I can guarantee you one thing: Wearing a those high-end luxury watches gives a much greater feeling than a Breitling or an Omega.
I may have been inside Cellini's for about 20 or 30 minutes, but that was enough to change the course of my life.
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After Cellini's, I stayed at Long Island where I went to Americana Manhasset. The one brand that Cellini's did not have, Patek, was at this one AD at Americana Manhasset. The experience only added to my changed ways of wanting to work my a$$ off to achieve what I want.
Sorry for such a long post, but Cellini's is an extraordinary place that has tremendous service and quality watches.
~Crasian1030
Oh, and btw, even after I made the AD aware that I was not going to purchase a watch that day, the service stayed top notch, if not better.
If anyone is interested in visiting, you can PM me and I can give you the contact information of the gentleman that helped me experience a welcoming time at Cellini Jewelers.
EDIT: I was also exposed to a lot of other brands including F.P Journe, Parmigiani, Maitres du Temps, among others. They all have very nice designs, have in-house movements, and are very expensive
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