In my early days as an entrepreneur, I thought that once someone owned a Rolex meant they had made it. In 2013, I was celebrating a significant milestone in Los Angeles with our fifth restaurant, and I thought if there was ever a time for me to indulge in a perfect watch, it was now.
I sold some of my equity in the meatball store, and we opened our fifth location. We did a rough calculation of how many people we served meatballs to, and it was about 3 million, and most people eat four meatballs at a time, so we sold about 12 million meatballs. I was blown away by that number. This watch is a way to commemorate all the hard work I’ve put in for four years.
I never thought my first replica Rolex would be a gold watch. My dad wore a Seiko watch. I don’t know where that watch is today, but he always had that Seiko watch on his wrist.
In the spirit of my father’s Seiko watch, I always wanted to have an heirloom to pass down to my children. My family has never really had anything like that, something that has been passed down from generation to generation. I thought of that when I bought my GMT-Master, even though I didn’t have children yet.
I had the watch for three or four years when walking down 47th Street in New York’s Diamond District. When I stopped at a watch store, I told one of the salespeople that I didn’t like the Jubilee strap often found on the GMT-Master. I like the President collection.” I asked him, “How hard would it be to put a Presidential strap on this GMT I have?” He said, “If I wanted to pair them up, the bracelet would have to be customized to the head of the watch, and it would probably devalue the watch.” Well, the watch is going to be passed down to my son, then to his son, and so on,” I told him.” So I don’t really care what it’s worth. It’s a special thing.”
The salesman went to the back and came back with this fabulous presidential bracelet that used to be worn on the Day-Date and had some relaxed wear – the links were a little loose. There are some newer-looking bracelets that I could have gone with that had less wear and tighter links, but I’ve never really liked anything brand new. All the restaurants I’ve owned have been former restaurants; I like things that have lived for a while. It adds culture and character. He put the bracelet on the watch, and now I have the most extraordinary watch on my wrist. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the most beautiful Rolex on the planet.
When you think of some of the greats in history with muscular style, many had a Rolex on their wrist. Steve McQueen is one of my idols, and he wore a fake Rolex. I think Rolex appealed to the Renaissance people. People who weren’t one-liners. I do everything I can to live up to the standards of the replica rolex watch.
When we were starting the meatball store, I said one day I would buy a Rolex. I like to create Pinterest boards for all my restaurants for design inspiration, and I have a board on my Pinterest page that says “Everything I Want.” It’s just something I think is cool. I have a picture of a gold Rolex with a Presidential strap on it. It wasn’t a GMT-Master. But when I walked into that store in L.A. and saw the GMT on a black strap, I knew that’s what I wanted. Then, over time, I built the watch that I have today. Things don’t have to end where they begin.
