Category: News

Our Mercedes 380SL on a road trip from Utah to New York

I’d like to share some killer images of our 1982 Mercedes 380SL for sale.

It was previously owned by our good friend Emmanuel from Greece who drove it from Utah to New York via Alaska. Emmanuel is an extremely talented guy: not only he skillfully took care of this vehicle he also masterfully photographed it during his road trip from coast to coast.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did and even better I hope someone takes this car home to be dolled for years to come!

It will outlive us all..

Vanity Fair: “The World’s Finest Vintage Watch Dealers”

I ended up in great company in the Autumn 2024 issue of Vanity Fair On Time being featured in a “world’s finest vintage watch dealers” list.

I am beyond appreciative to be recognized and cited in this list.

If you are planning to come in NY please come on by!

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Why Is Italy the vintage watch heaven

As some of you may know I travel to Italy and specifically to my hometown of Milano every two months to find treasures to bring back to my clientele.

I was quoted in this nice article recounting why and how Italy is the vintage watch haven. Below, the quote:

Then, last week, the Milan-born watch dealer and collector Gai Gohari, who has amassed an insane collection of vintage Piaget by shopping in Italy, may have cracked the code. The simplest explanation often being the best, his statement sounded plausible. “Italians always save that money to buy that special watch for the special occasion . . . [and] . . . all those watches remain within the families. And now there’s a lot of stuff to be picked up from the estates,” he told Robb Report. Despite no formal study to back it up, Gohari’s explanation does align with the history of the Italian economy and the dolce vita culture of the post-World War II era.

https://robbreport.com/style/watch-collector/italy-vintage-watches-1235824016/

Enjoy!

Why Vintage Mercedes is the best

Classic Mercedes Benz epitomizes old world opulence, quality and sophistication much like the vintage watches I love, collect and sell for a living.

I believe just like Rolex as a brand in watches MBenz represents luxury- reliability and history combined with being expensive but somewhat still accessible to the middle classes and, in my opinion, this is the magic ingredient that keeps the dream going to this day.

Growing up in Milano my earliest memories of cars are of my father driving a BMW sedan 3 series in metallic green (about 1984), my mom coupe BMW black 3 series (1985), my dad’s upgrade to an egg cream color BMW 5 series (circa 1986) that turned to be a lemon (yes I remember it).. then my parents got divorced and my dad kept on driving my moms black 2 door BMW and few years later got himself a green VW Corrado (circa 1991). Then we had a Lancia Thema, a preowned gangster Alfa 164 and that’s the old century stable of the Gohari family that was.

My father always said Mercedes Benz “lasts till over a million kilometers and they are indestructible” but “they are too show offy and we don’t want to show off… Granpda always said Merzedes isn’t for us”.

I especially remember the “lasts forever” part and now that I am a big boy and unfortunately my Father is gone I reminisce him and those missed opportunities to change things around and maybe: “Merzedes is for us after all because we are worth it “ !!

The indestructible lesson also rings true everyday as most of the classic cars I see around me are indeed Mercedes Benz from the 1970s to the early 2000s… they are built to outlive us all.

I also decided to celebrate those forever words by my Father by acquiring myself a Mercedes 560 SEC from 1987. More details about that in another blog post.

As I was learning more and more about the brand, the design language and its history I came to discover the great Bruno Sacco that designed all the best Mercedes of the 70-2000 golden era.
Bruno Sacco is to cars what Gerald Genta is to watches. Same era, same innovative and timeless designs and lines. Similar standing in the pantheon of 70s 80s and 90s rich and successful themes of mens obsessions and aspirations.

Just like watches I am not so fascinated by the mechanics or the technical aspects of the cars but more by the aesthetics and the feeling they give. I am not the guy to obsess wether its a 5 liter engine or smaller or wether it’s a W126 or W124 model, stick or manual.. I don’t care.. to me it’s about the look.

I love those gorgeous straight lines and those beautiful rears (not to say ass) on the Sacco designed automobiles. The headlights, the grills, the presence. You can see them coming miles away. You can hear them calling their dominion on the road. You can feel their aura when they drive by. You can smell that strong exhaust recalling the image of a powerful man behind a even more potent vehicle.

Suited and slick or hairy arm sticking out with gold chain in view, Mercedes captivates so many men demographics and their dreams it is impossible to repeat such a legend on the roads.

bruno sacco mercedes

Inside the Biggest Vintage Piaget Watch Collection in North America

I was just interviewed in my Manhattan office by Allen Farmelo, the Robb Report watch editor, focusing on my personal Piaget collection. I never show my personal watches together in public but I agreed to open up my Piaget hoard..

From my beginnings via my family heritage, discover why colored stones are so important for me.

Link below!

https://robbreport.com/style/watch-collector/biggest-vintage-piaget-watch-collection-north-america-gai-gohari-1235822484/

Robb Report writes about Piaget Polo 79 and I am mentioned

Article link:

https://robbreport.com/style/watch-collector/how-watch-collectors-styling-piaget-timepieces-today-1235582152/

Quote from the article:

Dealers and others have been catching on to this pendulum swing. For the recent Rough Diamonds auction at Sotheby’s—a sale dedicated to unusual dress watches— the catalog referred to Piaget as “the single most ascendant brand in vintage collecting,” while Gai Gohari, a New York–based vintage dealer, started buying more Piaget a few years ago. “It was still underestimated and not appreciated, so it was possible for me to acquire these gorgeous watches and create sort of a new niche for myself and other collectors and see it grow,” he recalls. Now, he says, “it’s finally catching up with the mainstream public.” Gohari notes that clients tend to come looking for older versions of the recently released Polo 79, interesting stone-dial iterations, and the “Andy Warhol” model, a watch known for its stepped case with rounded edges that was once owned by the artist. It was reissued by Piaget in 2015 in a limited run of just 28 pieces, but the brand has teased that the timepiece will have another major moment by the end of this year.

Menta Watches Comes To Visit

My favorite colleague came to visit me once again in New York!

Adam is at the forefront of vintage watches and has been documenting our word on his famous YouTube channel for a while.

Enjoy the video!

Some new press and podcast

This past month together with Piaget we were featured on the GQ issue in a picture that really gives the mood of having a fun Piaget on the wrist!

I also was hosted on “Fifth wrist radio” on the Independent Thinking Podcast in a chat about my inspirations and how my spirituality connects to my work.

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I hope you enjoy it!

An Afternoon At Piaget Geneva

This year has been a monumental one since I started curating more and more Piaget for my stock.. I had my eyes on Piaget for years but I didn’t reach the collector maturity to understand the beauty, the quality, the infinitely supreme craftsmanship and unsurpassable value that it represents for the past 150 years!

The relationship with the brand sprouted also on a corporate level and I am happy to say Piaget has been extremely warm and accommodating since we got to meet last May in Geneva (check my auction review on the blog from May 2023).

This past November while I was in town for the auctions, Piaget and their PR Team where extremely kind to invite a group of collectors and enthusiasts, myself included, to an intimate Swiss comfort lunch in old town Geneva followed by a visit to the historic Rue de Rhone boutique to look at highlights from their epic vintage collection.

The gracious Anne Sophie Mallard (the PR director) and the savvy Alain Bourgeaud (curator of the archival collection) were wonderful hosts for the rowdy and youthful group of enthusiasts allowing us to touch, feel and photograph some really epic watches I could only dream of seeing!

From Andy Warhol’s “Andy Warhol” Jumbo Piaget, to the Miles Davis mythical skeletonized Polo on the strap gifted at the Montreux Jazz festival in the 80s..passing through some crazy intricate jewelry watches and mesmerizing stone dials it has been an afternoon for the horological chronicles never to be forgotten in my memories.

LET THE PARTY BEGIN!