Watch Spotting At The Miami Concours

By Charlie Dunne

The Miami Concours is an annual event showcasing highly desirable automobiles, hypercars and supercars from the world’s most prestigious manufacturers. Each year, the event takes place in The Miami Design District. While I’m no where near as obsessed with luxury vehicles as I am with vintage watches, I knew it would be fun to attend and also be an interesting content piece for the Wind Vintage Blog. That Sunday morning, Eric Wind, Charlie Wind, Max Braun and I headed down to Miami for a fun Sunday filled with watch spotting and supercars.

For the most part, attendees were wearing Apple watches. Of course, there was no shortage of contemporary Rolex sports models. There were certainly a few Panerai watches in the mix and, being in Miami, the Richard Mille collectors were out and about.

Noticing the scent of a smooth cigar, I turned around and saw a gentleman sporting GMT-Master II. I pitched the idea of him having a cameo in the next WV article. “Hi, I’m Charlie. I like watches, and I’m taking photos of what people are wearing on their wrists. I think a Pepsi and lit cigar would be a pretty cool picture if you’re open to being photographed.” We were on the same page that he looked quite cool and we snagged the photo below. When I informed him I wasn’t a car aficionado, he would help clarify some of the vehicles we were looking over in layman’s terms. “This blue one here, that’s a vintage Patek. This yellow one, that’s a “Paul Newman”. Those ones down there - modern Daytonas.”

Among my favorite encounters was a trio of watch lovers sporting a Rolex, a gold OMEGA Speedmaster and an American-market Longines. Wearing a vintage Longines myself that day, I pointed out that I was a fan of the gentleman’s watch. The three of us quickly became friends. When the conversation shifted towards vintage Memovox, I was excited to see a photo of the collector’s Seconde/Seconde customized “Bzzz” (bumblebee hand) models. I immedietley showed a photo of mine. Soon after, a photo of a 1940s automatic JLC in steel was shown to me. While this crossing of paths was brief, it was quite memorable.

Catching up with Max Shillman, he was wearing his newly acquired GMT-Master reference 1675/3. Having a penchant for neutral-colored clothing, the two-tone Rolex associated with Clint Eastwood has been his personal favorite to wear over the past month of ownership.

Having just parted with his “Bunny Mellon” Explorer (a watch that he couldn’t take off his wrist at OMBAS), Wind found a new companion in a similar and recently acquired Explorer 1016. The watch has really attractive lume and considering this watch has been worn in the last two trips down south, I’m fairly certain this is his new “Miami watch”.

As usual, Charlie Wind rocked his ever-reliable G-Shock 5600 Series reference GWM5610NASA4. Throughout the trip he timed various situations via the chronograph function.

While in the area, we stopped over at the IWC boutique to acquire a bracelet for Eric’s Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “C.03” from Collective Horology. While in the boutique, we took photos the IWC teams’ wristwatches.

We then stopped in next door to Vacheron Constantin to admire a few watches. The salesperson had a tremendously cool Overseas. She informed us that she had to be quite patient to eventually land the watch, and that it is her favorite in her personal collection.

Upon noticing my friends had huddled up with a few new faces, I stopped by to see what was on everyone’s wrist. Deeply concerned, Max Braun emphasized I should ask them first before shooting. Although I emphasized we were all watch friends now and that I was in need some non-choreographed shots.

Within the group was a husband and wife with a Rolex Daytona and Roman-dial Datejust. The Daytona and Datejust were quite complimentary and I have to imagine other watch enthusiasts can appreciate this when they notice it as well.

Wandering the aisles, two of the watches that caught my eye were a gold-plated OMEGA Constellation from the 1960s, and a green-dial Rolex Daytona famously endorsed by (and later nicknamed after) Mr. John C. Mayer.

While taking a break for lunch, I caught glimpse of Adam Golden (Menta Watches) running through the Design District’s courtyard. Our table began flagging him down and he joined us for a quick moment before rushing off to deliver a watch. On his wrist was a reference 6239 with "Big Daytona" dial.