In today’s UNBOXING Roman Sharf and Adrian Taskin are unboxing a bunch of heavy hitters along with an A. Lange & Söhne Unicorn I’ve only seen once before! I wish we got these more often!
Roman Sharf:
First and foremost, I would like to thank me for being me. It’s a Snoopy watch. I don’t know if you guys watched that skit by Snoop Dogg, but what else is there to be said about the Snoopy watch? We get these in as much as humanly possible as much as we can. And at the end of the day, I think this is the best variation of the Snoopy Omega has made. Price has been holding strong around that 30 grand mark, and hasn’t come down any least bit. See them anywhere from high twenties to-
Adrian Taskin:
Low thirties even.
Roman Sharf:
… to low thirties, depending on how new or used this is. Honestly, I’m happy this watch is selling at 30 grand. What’s the original list on it. Anybody know?
Adrian Taskin:
Irrelevant. All right, so I’m going to start with the top Rolex and we have a 40mm Sub 116610LN. What more can I say about this watch? Pretty much speaks for itself. This continued with actually, I think I saw here a newer style card, which is somewhat collectible.
Roman Sharf:
Oh, this is… Oh wait, this is your favorite. You like these clean… You like the Oysters-
Adrian Taskin:
OPs.
Roman Sharf:
The OPs. No dates.
Adrian Taskin:
Down with OPP.
Roman Sharf:
Oh look, it’s stickered.
Roman Sharf:
Adrian has talked about the OPs over and over and over. And I think your take is that it’s just a much cleaner watch without the date, and I tend to agree with that.
Adrian Taskin:
It’s more unique than Datejust. I’m just tired of them.
Roman Sharf:
Maybe because it’s just Datejust has been made for so long, and this is just something new and fresh, like a fresh look on a cheaper, cheapest Rolex, I would say.
Adrian Taskin:
Behind this door, we have a…
Roman Sharf:
Ooh.
Adrian Taskin:
Batman. No, I’m just kidding. Sprite, AKA, in my opinion, Sierra Mist.
Roman Sharf:
The Sierra Mist. Whatever, it’s the lefty Rolex
Adrian Taskin:
Okay, here’s my honest thought about the watch, obviously when it came out… Well, prior to it coming out me and Christian did the renderings of me thinking it was going to come out actually the crown on the proper side, I’d like to say. And when it came out, I was very, very disappointed because I don’t think the demand for the crown on the left side was really there. But then I kind of thought about it a little bit. And actually, you brought up a very good point about the spread is that this could be down the line a collectible, depending on how-
Roman Sharf:
It will be without a doubt.
Adrian Taskin:
… depending on if they, and when they, discontinue it, because, at the end of the day, there’s really nothing else like this on the market, especially from Rolex.
Roman Sharf:
Chris, what did you call this?
Chris:
Cash grab by Rolex.
Adrian Taskin:
A what?
Roman Sharf:
Chris called it a cash grab by Rolex because they knew that was going to…
Adrian Taskin:
Anything is a cash grab by Rolex.
Roman Sharf:
Where are we at on that?
Adrian Taskin:
Now they can be had in the low to mid-thirties, a black dial steel Daytona.
Roman Sharf:
Versus $40, $45?
Adrian Taskin:
Yeah. Well, blacks at the top of the high forties.
Roman Sharf:
High forties. The white one’s always popular and rightfully so because I think the white pops better, although-
Adrian Taskin:
It does pop better, but there is definitely something to be said about that all-black. It’s got a stealth look.
Roman Sharf:
For me, the old black is a lot more reminiscent of the OG Daytona before this, because it just kind of blends in. It’s plainer. Like when you take the white out, it just screams new ceramic Daytona. We look at the black one it’s still a lot more reminiscent to me of the older piece. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me.
Adrian Taskin:
It’s definitely just you.
Roman Sharf:
So how about you talk about this guy?
Adrian Taskin:
So what this is, this is an A. Lange 191028. This is an A. Lange Blue. So what’s so special about this watch? This watch is actually in production only for one year, so it’s a highly-
Adrian Taskin:
2017. So it’s a highly, highly collectible piece. You’ll see some auction prices and you’ll actually see some really, really, really big numbers on Chrono24. So I’m very excited to have this, because first off, I think A. Lange 1, it’s almost like the perfect watch, right? It’s got elements of sport, it’s got elements of being refined, and elegant. And then with this blue dial, it’s just killer. It’s sleek, it’s clean.
Roman Sharf:
So they made it for one year. At the time they were making this watch, their total production numbers were probably hovering around 3000 watches. It’s fair to say that…
Adrian Taskin:
It’s got to be under a hundred units.
Roman Sharf:
It’s got to be under 100.
Adrian Taskin:
It’s got to be under 100 units. And it’s so, so, so beautiful.
Roman Sharf:
Here’s a sleeper, as I like to call it. And these have been sleeping for a while, and that is the Grand Complication Patek Philippe 5270, which is the child of the 5970 and a larger side for perpetual calendar chronograph from Patek.
Adrian Taskin:
They’ve been pretty consistent in terms of market value for the longest time. I mean, this watch came out-
Roman Sharf:
But what’s the retail on it?
Adrian Taskin:
The retail on it, the last time in retail, from what I understand was right around the 170 mark-
Roman Sharf:
Right, but they’re still trading under list, and I don’t understand for the life of me why. When somebody was paying, this was 150, and somebody was paying almost 300,000 for a 5711 Rose, and it just kills me because from a complication perspective, from a horological perspective, this blows any Nautilus out of the water. And what Patek did really well, is it also gave it the size, meaning that-
Adrian Taskin:
A little bit bigger than the 5970, yep.
Roman Sharf:
Exactly. 5970 was I think two or three millimeters smaller.
Roman Sharf:
… in a grand complication. And it’s just, yeah, the 5970 was 38 millimeters, I believe. So this is a lot bigger. So again, it’s one of those things.
Adrian Taskin:
How about 5270 rose gold on a bracelet? So basically the black dial version with this watch on a bracelet was less than a 5711 rose gold.
Roman Sharf:
That’s just kills me. I’m sorry that absolutely-
Adrian Taskin:
That’s probably, to me, the biggest sleeper Patek on the market. 5204R on a bracelet and the 5270 on a bracelet, are extremely underrated.
Roman Sharf:
I think those watches on straps, both white gold, rose gold, platinum salmon, I mean, I think they’re all sleepers. I think the one they just came out with-
Adrian Taskin:
Green dial?
Roman Sharf:
… is a banger. So I used the case that we got from the Watch Stand, shout out to Watch Stand, to put in a couple of Rolexes. I’ll let you talk about them because seemingly these two Daytona’s would be on the bottom of the totem pole in terms of popularity, would you say, but that’s also what makes them sleepers.
Adrian Taskin:
That’s a hard one to say, right?
Roman Sharf:
All right, let’s go with Oysterflex.
Roman Sharf:
Would you say that’s the least popular Oysterflex?
Adrian Taskin:
In yellow gold?
Roman Sharf:
With that dial.
Adrian Taskin:
Minus the white dial, this probably comes in second to last place. Obviously, you had the YML version, which is the champagne with the black subs and yellow gold was probably the most popular. I think there was a Chinese actor or something during an award show that wore that and it blew up.
Roman Sharf:
They all blew up.
Adrian Taskin:
That’s also known as the Paul Newman dial, but listen, at the end of the day, this is-
Roman Sharf:
I like the vintage look on it, right?
Adrian Taskin:
Yeah.
Roman Sharf:
The lemon sub dials. Actually, everything about it just works for me.
Adrian Taskin:
Yeah. Beautiful pieces with the red accents, it kind of gives it some character, gives it some pop.
Adrian Taskin:
It’s just, it’s great. You got… At first, when the Oysterflexes came out, I was not a big fan of them because you think Daytona you think it’s just the quintessential sports watch on a bracelet.
Roman Sharf:
I think there was a different reason because the years you would’ve been in the business, you’ve been in the business a long time, and if you remember going back before any of these crazes, the worst Rolex was always the Rolex with the strap. It was kind of like a round Franck Muller or a round Richard Mille. It’s like, that was just it. Right? And then all of a sudden with the Oysterflex, I mean, they changed the game around. So I got to give them props for that.
Adrian Taskin:
Changed the game, yeah, they-
Roman Sharf:
What do you think of the white gold with that dial?
Adrian Taskin:
You know what? I love this dial. I do have to say I am a big proponent of white gold Daytonas overall. To me, look, it always goes back to being in the game for so long and seeing certain style trends over the years. Rose gold Daytona’s as of recently, obviously came back way back up in popularity. But I saw for the longest time, a lot of our mutual friends, women wearing the rose gold Daytona. So when that tends to happen for me as a man, I tend to kind of stray away from it. And then when the white golds came on, I kind of liked the precious metal element to it and the fact that you can differentiate it pretty well from a stainless steel one. If you see this, you know that it’s white gold.
Roman Sharf:
But if you go back to times when the price levels were quite different, these could have been gotten at a discount. I think that white gold Rolexes seemingly people think, “Oh yeah, it may be stainless steel.” I think there were second unpopular to the strap models.
Adrian Taskin:
Yeah, for sure.
Roman Sharf:
And that has turned around big time now.
Adrian Taskin:
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Roman Sharf:
Because people still want the Daytona. There’s a, there’s a slew of people out there that won’t buy a Daytona. They want a Daytona, but their collection, their average price in the collection was like 50, 60, a hundred thousand dollars, so they can’t bring themselves to put on a stainless steel Daytona that’s say that’s a $20, $30,000 watch. But a lot of them have gone to the precious metal Daytona’s in white gold, therefore they’re getting the Daytona, but yet they feel like it’s an expensive watch.
Adrian Taskin:
Listen, I mean, at its peak, this watch in precious metal was 10% more than a stainless steel one.
Roman Sharf:
Yeah. It’s pretty crazy.
Adrian Taskin:
So at that point, a lot of people think-
Roman Sharf:
What’s the market on one of these now?
Adrian Taskin:
Market on these?
Roman Sharf:
Brand new.
Adrian Taskin:
It went from $65K to brand new… Not that big of a drop it’s still in the low fifties, high forties pending condition.
Roman Sharf:
Well, that’s what happens when the watch doesn’t really go crazy. So it’s like, what goes crazy is-
Adrian Taskin:
Same thing with the blue dials. Matter of fact, the white gold blue dial is probably one of my favorite modern-day Rolexes.
Roman Sharf:
I love that one. I love that.
Adrian Taskin:
I’ll take that white gold one and forget about market value, I’d take it over a John Mayer.
Roman Sharf:
I’ve told you that before too, but I low-key wish they come out with that with the John Mayer dial in a white goal. That would, to me, would be killer.
Adrian Taskin:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Roman Sharf:
Speaking of killer, you know we got some special things. This is a Rainbow Day-Date. This is as pave as it comes. They come without the diamond bracelet as well. So this is the richest version of this watch. They took a Day-Date in 36 millimeters. They jumped on the bandwagon of the rainbow, low key wish this was a rainbow bezel.
Adrian Taskin:
It has nothing to do with the rainbow.
Roman Sharf:
It does because of the dial. It’s the rainbow markers. Well, if you go back to rainbow days and you go back to Oysterquartz in the ’70s, they made a Day-Date Oysterquartz where they had the rainbow dial. So this is technically somewhat of a repeat from the ’70s. Those things are like 300 some thousand dollars, super collectible, and it’s an Oysterquartz, a quartz watch. This is a 36 millimeter Day-Date. If they made this and a 41 millimeter-
Adrian Taskin:
Absolutely.
Roman Sharf:
… I think this would be trading an upwards where the tiger eye’s are, where-
Adrian Taskin:
It’d be a $300,000 watch.
Roman Sharf:
It would be a $300,000 watch.
Adrian Taskin:
Yeah.
Roman Sharf:
Instead, this is about $150K.
Adrian Taskin:
Yeah. Because-
Roman Sharf:
Which is still good.
Adrian Taskin:
It’s fit, yeah, because more or less, nine times out of 10, it’s fitted for a lady. As a matter of fact, I highly prefer the pave bracelet to it not having a bracelet.
Roman Sharf:
This is a good fit on my wrist. And I would wear this watch. Until my wife would take it off my wrist and say, “I kind of like this.”
Adrian Taskin:
Probably the cleanest version of a Datejust possible in 41, blue, stick dial, fluted bezel.
Roman Sharf:
You don’t think the unfluted bezel?
Adrian Taskin:
Yes. There’s too much jubilation for my taste.
Roman Sharf:
Too much jubilation, eh? He comes with the big words.
Adrian Taskin:
At the end of the day, it’s still so clean. It’s blue. Like it’s such a good-looking blue though. You know what I mean? Like I’ll say this, this is a better blue than Patek makes. This is a better blue than AP makes.
Roman Sharf:
All right. Omega geeks. We got a couple here. Nick, what can you tell me about this?
Nick:
This is the Apollo 17. I don’t mind. This is the Apollo 17. This is actually the same patch that they use for Apollo 17 with NASA, which obviously shows the American eagle flying behind the Greek God of Apollo.
Roman Sharf:
Well, what’s one other special thing about this watch is specifically the dial.
Roman Sharf:
What’s most special about the dial is that’s actually a silver medal inside that dial. So the dial itself is made out of silver. So when they made the Apollo and American eagle and the whole to do-
Adrian Taskin:
Silver medal.
Roman Sharf:
It’s actually a silver medal.
Adrian Taskin:
It’s exactly what you’re going to get after my team wins a sales competition, a silver medal.
Adrian Taskin:
The Gold medal, baby.
Roman Sharf:
That’s actually made out of silvers like actual silver. When they refer to silver dials, they usually refer to gray dials or sometimes white dials that are silverish, but that’s an actual silver dial. So now you know.
Adrian Taskin:
Okay, so this is-
Roman Sharf:
Oh, oh, you had to grab that. I was going to leave that for last. All right.
Adrian Taskin:
Listen, it was right there.
Roman Sharf:
Not a watch we ever get.
Adrian Taskin:
Guys, stainless steel A. Lange Odysseus. Now I have a quarrel with the market, not the watch, the market. How the hell has this come out the gate and has remained at the same price, I don’t understand. Given the amount of-
Roman Sharf:
I have an answer.
Adrian Taskin:
Given the amount of production on this piece, from what I understand, I spoke to a couple of A. Lange clients and they said that it’s about… If you walk in and you want to get one, it’s a three-year wait. This is the second one I’ve seen, personally.
Roman Sharf:
Oftentimes what happens is the following. You have something that’s so rare that everybody wants. There’s a three-year waiting list. You can’t just walk into Lange and got this, you have to be a Lange customer, you have to have history, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Adrian Taskin:
Here it is on the wrist.
Roman Sharf:
So a watch that retails for what? Around $40 grand.
Adrian Taskin:
Yeah. I mean it is spectacular.
Roman Sharf:
And sells and sells for what? A hundred?
Adrian Taskin:
Almost a hundred. It’s just spectacular.
Roman Sharf:
So it’s a watch that’s two X, a little more. But here’s what happens, in order for something to continually go up in price, there are two things that can happen. Once in a while, you get some asshole in our business that will take a Royal Oak Anniversary and put it up on Chrono for $600,000. A watch that retails for 40 grand. That happens once in a while. And then, at the same time, you get some asshole to buy it. In order for a watch, or any item, really, in any market, to go up in value it has to trade. It has to trade. It has to trade. It has to trade.
Adrian Taskin:
There isn’t enough exposure in the market.
Roman Sharf:
It’s not about exposure. There isn’t enough product. In order for something to trade, you have to have product on the market. You know what happens? I’m shocked that we actually got this watch.
Adrian Taskin:
Yeah.
Roman Sharf:
Right? In fact-
Adrian Taskin:
This is the second one.
Roman Sharf:
In fact, I’m so shocked, this is the only second Odysseus in stainless steel bracelet that we’ve had since it’s come out. We had a lot of the white gold ones. Well, a lot, maybe under-
Adrian Taskin:
Close to 10. White gold.
Roman Sharf:
Close to 10, versus two of these. So one to five ratio. So what happens is is that in order for the market to continually go up, but let’s say if tomorrow if I was able to get one of these every month or so in the very least, if I was able to get 10 of these throughout the year, I think eventually the price would go up because the market is set on the buy not to sell. It’s not like me going, “Oh, you know what? I want 150 for it now.” It’s me paying a number in order to get a product.
Adrian Taskin:
I’m coming from the perspective of clients calling in and requesting. You get 5711 blue dial requests all the time. You get the Royal Oak requests all the time. And then you have a brand that is up the par with both of them and we barely, barely, barely get requests for them. And as a matter of fact, what you’re holding in your hand right there, in my opinion, is probably the best thing that Lange did probably ever.
Roman Sharf:
Girard-Perregaux.
Adrian Taskin:
Quality control stickers, ladies and gentlemen, full stickers. This is brand spanking new.
Roman Sharf:
All right, stop selling watches. This is an unboxing. The Neo Bridges from Girard-Perregaux. A watch that is in that $20,000 price range, and it’s a hell of a value. Again, a watch I could probably do an entire what’s on my desk on to go through it. Girard-Perregaux has some amazing watchmaking, unfortunately, Girard-Perregaux is quite a bad name in terms of resale value. So what ends up happening with Girard-Perregaux even in some of their newer stuff, you end up getting deals. I was pleasantly surprised by how well the Skeletons have performed as an alternative product to some of the other stuff. I am pleasantly-
Adrian Taskin:
It’s a great-looking watch.
Roman Sharf:
Yeah. I am pleasantly surprised to see their partnership again, going back to F1 with Aston Martin. And they’re carbon Aston Martin with the green dial trades that are about three times its retail value, which is…
Adrian Taskin:
What else we got? Another one.
Roman Sharf:
I have another Girard-Perregaux. Oh, plain. Oh, look, it’s a-
Adrian Taskin:
A baby oak.
Roman Sharf:
Oh, look, it’s a 15500. This is Girard-Perregaux Laureato. Clean white dial. I’ve seen these with multi-color dials.
Adrian Taskin:
White’s clean.
Roman Sharf:
I feel like this white really, really pops on this watch. It’s a nice size. It’s comfortable on the wrist too for its size. Surprisingly. I think I’m going to go out on a limb and say, this is more comfortable than a Royal Oak or a Nautilus because of the way it sits on the wrist. Considering how wide the lugs are on the bracelet going into the watch. And Adrian didn’t argue. What is that?
Adrian Taskin:
That is just a Patek box for the 5270. Oh, wait a sec. Where’s the 5212? I know we got a 5212 in here. There it is. See, where you hiding at? There you are. All right guys, so 5212 Calatrava in stainless steel. I think this is again, minus the 6007A, this is probably my favorite Calatrava. Again, Calatrava has never been a big winner for me in terms of just anything. I think it was boring. I think it was just a grandpa’s watch. Although there’s a lot of history behind the Calatrava. I think this spices it up and adds so much character to it. And I’ve seen… What I like about the strap is that it’s very dynamic if you put it on. The strap, I mean. What’s so dynamic about the watch is that you can put it on so many different straps I’ve seen in so many different colors and it’s just so cool. It’s got that elegance. It’s got that sport feel. It’s a overall sleeper.
Roman Sharf:
This is a hell of a way to display a calendar watch. That’s just me.
Adrian Taskin:
Sick. It’s not for you though. If you got to wear your bifocals to read this, it’s not for you.