Chronosect editorial staff
At Chronosect, we have been committed since our beginnings to putting a face and a name on our Certified Sellers in order to create and strengthen seller-customer relationships. Today we have the pleasure of talking with Luciano Greco, a young exponent of an exceptional family business: the Greco Orologi, which in the summer of 2021 will celebrate one hundred years of activity in its historic headquarters in La Spezia and the four of the Florentine boutique.
Tell us about yourself. Are you a dealer or a dealer? How is the relationship between you and your customers in your two stores in La Spezia and Florence?
First, we of Greco Orologi, by the will of my father, who has been doing this job for about thirty years, we are not dealers of any brand. Our choice is to be free hitters, without constraints: my father's passion stems from personal collecting and we do not like the idea of being forced to prefer one watch to another just for the brand it bears. We love to treat the vintage and the second wrist. We are based in Via Chiodo 39, in La Spezia, a Ligurian town of about one hundred thousand inhabitants, and four years ago we opened a store in Florence, in Via dei Bardi, right next to Ponte Vecchio. The boutique in the city of the Medici, opened in collaboration with Claudio Albano, is called In Time: it is a gem that has given us great satisfaction. The structure in La Spezia, the historic one of my family, is larger, of three hundred square meters, and employs five people.
Florence is an hour's drive from La Spezia, but the two markets couldn't be more different. Florence is a splendid city, very touristy, which took a heavy blow due to the travel restrictions of this period. Ironically, La Spezia, a smaller and provincial city, has suffered much less the crisis: we currently sell more in La Spezia than in Florence, unlike in past years. In Ponte Vecchio the view is disconcerting: there is not a person on the street. The little work of this period, fortunately one quality work, we carry it on with some loyal local customers in the past years. The tourist customer, mainly foreign and oriented to buy a new watch as a souvenir of his visit or, if a second hand, in any case modern, has given way to the local customer, interested, in our case, vintage.
As long as we talk about modern watches, which can be found everywhere, no one moves from their city to buy them: a modern Submariner is always a modern Submariner, whether you find it in Palermo or Milan. We saw that instead il vintage is able to warm hearts enthusiasts and to make them move: we have customers from all over Italy who come here to pick up their "new" vintage watch. Who buys a vintage, today, look for a completely original watch in excellent condition. A vintage that meets these requirements can be sold, in fact, at any price. The customer is looking for the high quality watch and is willing to pay for it.
“Every watch has its own wrist”: this is the motto of Greco Gioielli and its staff.
This vintage strength is also an advantage for the workshops, right? Who can fix the watches to resell ...
Yes and no. Another fundamental request of the enthusiast of vintage is that the watch has never been touched, that it has never been polished and that the bezel or other parts have never been replaced. The watch must be intact, contemporary, as they say in the jargon: that is to say, as close as possible to how it was when it left the dealer forty, fifty or sixty years ago.
There are clocks vintage which, if uncut, even better if equipped with accessories, are in great demand, thus feeling the effects of the phenomenon of hoarding. By now they become investment watches, as much as happens in the new. I'm talking about classics like i Patek Philippe Nautilus, hand-wound Rolex Daytona, Audemars Piguet's Royal Oak 5402. Indeed, I must say that the recent crisis leads more and more savers to buy, pack and put away their watches as a form of investment.
In this regard, we come to a sore point: the prices of Rolex watches, especially sportsmen. In your opinion, are quotations such as that of the Rolex GMT, which sells at double the price, justified?
No, I think similar prices are not justified. I Rolex modern, like Submariner, Datejust or GMT, we obviously treat them and continue to sell them: but if a loyal customer or friend enters the shop, asking me “Would you take this new sporty Rolex as an investment?”, I tell him that it is not I would buy. I believe that the prices of Rolex with ceramic bezels are too high. Of course, if someone buys these watches because they match their taste and wants to wear them, that's fine. But buying a Pepsi GMT for seventeen thousand euros with the hope that it will rise again in five years? No, that's not something I would recommend. Rolex is an industrial manufacture, it doesn't seem like it but they really produce many pieces, they are not rare objects: pay them double the price list hoping they will go up again, there are better investments. Personally, if my father and I have to invest and collect some pieces, even for speculative purposes, let's go to the vintage: for our vocation and because we do not believe in the investment value of modern sports Rolexes.
This is an interesting phenomenon: we too had talked about it in an article, "The curious case of Doctor Patek and Mister Rolex". Can you tell us a particular anecdote?
Yes, just recently a young lawyer from our city came into our shop, eager to buy his first watch, asking for a watch that was both quality and worthy as an investment. I first showed him the usual Rolex watches, explaining the prices. Then I told him "now I'll show you something that I like, at the same price if not less than these sports", and I pulled out some classics: a Audemars Piguet Edward Piguet in shape, with a rose gold case with crocodile strap, a Longines chronograph with very important mechanics, equipped with a 30CH movement and a two-tone dial with a double tachymeter scale ... In short, different and particular watches, which cost less than a Rolex Submariner in steel reference 16610. To my satisfaction, the customer turned to one of the “alternative” watches.
What are you wearing on your wrist right now and what would you like a customer to ask when entering your shop?
On my wrist I have a Girard Perregaux, with a shaped case, in steel and a jeans-colored dial in hard stone, with quartz, a thousand-euro watch, but which I put on with pleasure and which comes out a bit out of the box. Here from Greco Orologi it's everything from $ XNUMX items to Patek Philippe calendars. As a child, when my father showed me watches and I said "This is beautiful, this other ugly", I was told that there are no beautiful or ugly watches, and that when I had learned to understand and love the world of watches, I would have including that every watch has its own wrist. There is no watch that cannot be sold: everything is sold at the right price.
From a customer who walks into my shop, I'd love to hear you ask because I have chosen to do this job. It is the passion that my father passed on to me, and it is an honor to follow his footsteps and consolidate the craft of four generations. For me it is a honor to carry on with my family this activity which will celebrate one hundred years in the summer. For Greek Jewelery, be a landmark in the city it means a lot.
To get in touch with Greco Orologi click here.
