The Elegance of Steel Time
1940s-60s elegance of brands like Leonidas and Universal Genève among the passions of Raul Tajè, founder of Steel Time
Raul Tajè, founder of Steel Time, often deals with Patek and Rolex but his true passion are the less talked about but highly elegant brands of the 1940s-60s. "The first watches I started collecting for myself in 1989 included brands such as Leonidas, which is quite rare, Zenith, Omega and Universal Genève, a brand that gave me the satisfaction of buying (and reselling) the only known prototype of a Space Compax Prototype made in '67 for the U.S. Navy, which then never went into production."
"In recent years, we have seen a huge evolution in the world of watchmaking, and some models have reached particularly unjustified prices only to crash by as much as 50% due to a logic of pure speculation and fashion. Vintage watches of great quality have never suffered big price jumps and have always given satisfaction to even the most demanding and traditional customer. At VO Vintage, we will be offering a range of GMT Masters from all eras from 1968 to present day, including an extremely rare Gold GMT with a 'stella' dial, or rather, in enamel, and a Gold GMT 'Concorde' with a particular configuration of the hands. In our 30 years of business, we have been fortunate enough to buy and sell the finest pieces in watchmaking history, and recently, a Patek Philippe 2499 in rose gold, a piece of magnificent workmanship and extreme rarity. Such pieces attract the attention of 'special' collectors. In this regard, one anecdote has become famous in our field. Some time ago, on the weekend of the Monza Grand Prix, we received a call from the concierge of a top hotel in Milan requesting our availability to receive a highly important client of theirs in the store, who was interested in viewing a few pieces. A few hours later, an associate of this person arrived at the store asking us to open it purely for his client. We waited for the call, but unfortunately, it came on Sunday evening when I had already left for the United States. On Monday morning we found out that it was Silvester Stallone, a great watch enthusiast and collector.»
"In recent years, we have seen a huge evolution in the world of watchmaking, and some models have reached particularly unjustified prices only to crash by as much as 50% due to a logic of pure speculation and fashion. Vintage watches of great quality have never suffered big price jumps and have always given satisfaction to even the most demanding and traditional customer. At VO Vintage, we will be offering a range of GMT Masters from all eras from 1968 to present day, including an extremely rare Gold GMT with a 'stella' dial, or rather, in enamel, and a Gold GMT 'Concorde' with a particular configuration of the hands. In our 30 years of business, we have been fortunate enough to buy and sell the finest pieces in watchmaking history, and recently, a Patek Philippe 2499 in rose gold, a piece of magnificent workmanship and extreme rarity. Such pieces attract the attention of 'special' collectors. In this regard, one anecdote has become famous in our field. Some time ago, on the weekend of the Monza Grand Prix, we received a call from the concierge of a top hotel in Milan requesting our availability to receive a highly important client of theirs in the store, who was interested in viewing a few pieces. A few hours later, an associate of this person arrived at the store asking us to open it purely for his client. We waited for the call, but unfortunately, it came on Sunday evening when I had already left for the United States. On Monday morning we found out that it was Silvester Stallone, a great watch enthusiast and collector.»
