Chronosect continues to pursue its goal of bringing the best Italian watchmakers to the attention of the public. Today we interviewed Massimo Stanghellini, owner of the jewelry Max Orologi in Mantua.
Who are you and how long have you worked in the industry?
My name is Massimo Stanghellini and for seventeen years I have been working in Mantova in the jewelry sector. I inherited the passion for the watch from my father, a collector. For some years I stopped dealing with the gold trading sector and I have increasingly moved towards high-end watches and prestigious jewelery. Mantua is a small city, so it is necessary to take care of your customers at three hundred and sixty degrees, keeping the satisfaction of your catchment area high. Selling both jewelery and watches and having been present in this city for seventeen years, I have both the breadth of offer and the reputation to satisfy and reassure customers.
Do you primarily deal with new or used watches?
I focus more on the second wrist, also for reasons of difficult availability of the most requested new watches. I prefer, when dealing with second hand, to work only with watches in excellent conditioni, completely contemporary and free of significant defects. This is also because it often happens that a customer, after some time, decides to change his watch for something more important, or even just for the pleasure of putting a different timepiece on his wrist: then he comes back to me and I collect the watch from him. 'watch with serenity, because I know what I put in his hand in the first place.
I love to work, being fine watches, with trustworthy people, serious traders that if there are problems they will respond, people who if you make the transfer give them the security of having the watch in shipment the next day. One of the reasons why I strongly believe in the Chronosect projectmoreover, it is precisely this: real traders come together under the same umbrella, really present in the sector with a VAT number and a physical shop, people with whom one can work in mutual trust.
He spoke of trust. What is the importance of the trader-seller relationship based on mutual knowledge and, indeed, trust?
Unfortunately, in this sector many improvise traders, attracted by the possibility of easy earnings. It is important to explain to the customer that it is first and foremost in his interest to buy from people who, if a problem arises with the watch, are there, answer for it, put their face to it. I often tell people who come to see me that "my shop doesn't have wheels ”: I've been here for seventeen years and my goal is to stay there at least as much!
What's more convenient, buy a watch from an improvised seller for three or four hundred euros below the market price and then realize that the glass is slightly chipped, that the bezel insert is not original, that the gaskets have not been changed. and water enters, that the movement is to be overhauled ... Or buy a guaranteed watch, in good condition, from a merchant who is by your side even after months of purchase if a problem arises? Fortunately, my customers understand this reasoning, also because I apply it first when I have to buy a watch from a dealer.
How did 2020 go?
For me 2020 is a year that went well despite the general crisis. The prices of the most in-demand watches, especially sports Rolexes, continued to rise. The long-term trend is particularly notable: when I started working in the sector, in the early XNUMXs, the average selling price of the watches I dealt with was between three and five thousand euros. Today, most of the sales are for watches from ten thousand euros upwards; as for brands, Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and some models of Omega they do the lion's share.
What do you expect for 2021?
In my opinion, and according to many others, 2021 could be the year of Rolex Explorer II. Marking the XNUMXth anniversary of the launch of the first series, it is expected that Rolex you present a new celebratory model, consequently putting the current one out of production: I already have some customers who, with this in mind, are starting to ask me for today's model, with the expectation that the production exit will lead to an increase in price. We traders have now almost become economic consultants for our customers: when it comes to watches worth thousands or tens of thousands of euros, it is important invest with judgment.
To a customer who wants invest, at this time I would recommend that you consider two Rolex watches. The first is the Rolex Explorer II, both in the current reference, 216570, and in the previous 16570. The second is the Rolex Daytona Zenith. Both of these Sporting Rolexes they have been stuck with i for some time prices: I believe that the gap between the Rolex Daytona Zenith and Rolex Daytona Ceramic is destined to be reduced if not filled, and that due to the probable launch of the new Explorer II this watch will also increase its prices: after all, it is a watch technically not dissimilar to a great house hit Rolex, GMT, and it is not at all unreasonable to think that it can imitate the latter in success with the public.
