Posts tagged #Stefano Mazzariol

News: John Mayer Sues Bob Maron for At Least $656,000 USD. What This Means for Vintage Watch Lovers.

On March 18, 2014, the celebrity news source TMZ broke the news that American recording artist John Mayer was suing Robert Maron a.k.a Bob Maron —renowned watch dealer to the stars with clients like Charlie Sheen— for at least $656,000 USD, claiming that some of the watches Maron sold him, were 'counterfeit' as confirmed by the Rolex Service Center.

John Mayer, besides being quite popular for his guitar playing abilities, is also well known in the watch collecting circles due to his close relationship and contributions to a well respected watch blog. John's love for watches probably started when he met Eric Clapton —also known to be an important watch collector.

No matter how much you know about watches or how close you are to the experts, you could always find yourself lost in the murky waters of the vintage watch collecting world. Especially, when it comes to vintage Rolex and Tudor timepieces. Always, always do your homework and if necessary, reach out to well renowned experts like Philipp Stahl, Stefano Mazzariol, Marcello Pisani or Pucci Papaleo.

For those of you not familiar with Robert Maron, according to his website, he has been a watch dealer since the 80s and known throughout the world for his 'expertise' in rare and vintage timepieces, especially around Patek Philippe and Rolex. Maron is a graduate of Harvard University and it was while attending UCLA Law School that he first considered taking his hobby to the next level becoming a full-time watch dealer. During this period, Maron began actively buying and selling vintage wristwatches and the extra money earned from his part-time business helped finance his law school education. Maron soon realized that his love for fine watches outweighed his desire to become a lawyer and following his graduation from law school, he chose watches over law as his full-time career. It is hard to believe that a watch dealer with such credentials could be caught up in a scandal like this.

But what does this mean for the vintage watch world and vintage watch lovers? Well, the moral of the story is that you really can't trust anybody and 'buying the seller' is no longer the safe route to go anymore.

When someone like John Mayer —a so called 'watch expert'— gets allegedly ripped off by another watch expert like Bob Maron and not even John Mayer's friends could tell that these watches were indeed 'counterfeit', it means that the vintage watch industry could be facing huge issues moving forward. If you are not any of the four expert gentlemen mentioned earlier, you should probably be more than careful when buying vintage. Not only have we seen a large number of 'counterfeit' cases, bezel inserts, dials and bracelets but also even punched papers.

While collecting vintage Rolex watches is very appealing and wearing a 'Freccione', a 'Paul Newman' or a 'Double Red Sea-Dweller' gives you a ton of street credit among other connoisseurs and heavy hitters, you are taking big risks. While there are many watch dealers that will never misrepresent watches and only sell you fully legit watches, there are others that are well known to offer what we call 'put-together' vintage watches trying to make them pass for 'original untouched safe queens' —you guys know who you are. In reality, these watches are just the sum of pristine different parts of many watches.

Oh, and don't forget those selling 'artificially aged' bezel inserts. There are a ton out there selling for thousands of dollars. Also, if you look deep enough, you'll find an Asian company selling 'counterfeit' Rolex and Tudor vintage watch parts online that we were told about by a watch dealer—we still wonder why this company has not been busted yet after so many years in the market. If, after checking that website you are still brave enough to buy another vintage Rolex, that means that you could be one of the four vintage experts mentioned earlier.

To us, the only way to buy with peace of mind, is to buy from the original owner. Here's one that we know for sure comes from the original owner.

You can find the full complaint documents here.

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Editor & Publisher and filed under News and tagged John Mayer Robert Maron Marcello Pisani Pucci Papaleo Philipp Stahl Stefano Mazzariol.

Insider: Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ref. 116520. Celebrating 50 Years of an Iconic Reference.

Launched in 1963, this is a Rolex reference that needs no introduction or long lines to describe it. Fifty years ago, one of the most iconic watches of all time was born. All watchlifestylers know this watch very well, as there's a wealth of knowledge and amazing content —in cyberspace and in books— regarding the history of this amazing reference that has already been published; therefore, we will focus on sharing some nice images of this wonderful iconic watch and give you some basic reference information.

The Rolex Cosmograph Daytona is definitely one of our all-time favorite chronographs; however, the lack of a date aperture is a deal breaker for us. They are elegant, refined and iconic.

Any watchlifestyler can spot one from a block away and the watch spotting always turns into a nice conversation as this is still a 'grail' watch for many collectors. We should say that there's almost a 'cult following' fueled by Italian collectors and by the many intricacies and variations that this watch has had over half a century.

For those that wear this amazing reference, thank you for paying tribute to one of the most beautiful watches ever made in the history of watchmaking.

This reference, originally launched as ref. 6239 in 1963, has undergone several changes to its bezel, pushers, dial configurations, movements and reference numbers. A true evolution of a classic watch. For instance, the original ref. 6239 featured a stainless steel bezel graduated to 300 units per hour —years later the bezel was changed to 200 units per hour— and the dial didn't make any allusion to 'Daytona', the home of car racing in the U.S.

In 1965, when ref. 6240 was presented, the dial configuration had changed from 'Cosmograph' to 'Oyster Cosmograph', the pushers were changed from pump to screw-down, its water resistance was improved and the bezel changed from solid stainless steel to a bezel with a stainless steel ring and a black acrylic graduated insert with numbers in white.

Since then, there had been numerous references and changes made to this watch including changes to the case size —from 37 mm to 40 mm— and the movement. The watch was originally fitted with the manual-winding Valjoux calibre 72 and from there, it went to the automatic self-winding Zenith 400 on ref. 16520 —known as Rolex calibre 4030. Today, the Daytona is fitted with a newer and improved Rolex in-house movement calibre 4130. With all of its variations, the Daytona is a watch with perhaps the most fascinating and difficult to master history in the horological world. Every time we think we've read it all, there's a new article being published with another interesting set of facts regarding this timepiece.

By the way, a great source for information on rare, unusual Rolex watches including extremely rare Daytonas is Stefano Mazzariol's blog.

Today, the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona is still as timeless and classic as it was 50 years ago. Its coveted white dial makes watchlifestylers travel around the world for one, pay special premiums over the retail price and even put their names on prepaid waiting lists for one. In reality, if you are in the know and you are a watchlifestyler with a good network of collectors, finding one is way easier than what most people think.

Now, if you want to get a rare vintage piece like a Rolex Cosmograph Yacht Master ref. 6242 or a ref. 6263 'Albino', then you really need to dig underneath the stones or you can call one of your close friends in Firenze, Roma, Napoli or Livorno.