This particular TL 30 contains close $1M in vintage
watches. Rolex. Omega. Charbel. Twelves of these
watches are displayed on a wooden tray. The combination
dial spins, the door opens and a young man, Tyler Vanes,
removes the tray from the safe. He places it in front of
his cousin and boss, Cameron Barr, the 34-year old man
behind Craft and Tailored, a vintage watch broker based
in Downtown Los Angeles.
“I’m going to wear this,” says Vanes, indicating a gold
Rolex Submariner. Barr nods and Vanes writes down in
a ledger that he’s checking out the $32,500 watch like it’s
a library book. The men are gearing up for this evening’s
festivities, an event with Hodinkee, a luxury watch
publication. “What are you going to wear,” asks Vanes.
Barr shrugs and observes a Charbel, a watch from the
1960s. They keep only about 30 watches in this safe. The
remaining 200 or so are in their bank vault because the
TL30, though impressive, is only insurable up to $1.5M,
and the value of their collection well exceeds that.
“There’s a false sense of exclusivity today,” Barr says.
“If you want a Ceramic [Rolex] Daytona, anybody with
enough money can go buy one so it’s not really exclusive:
that’s just having disposable income. But to find a cool
vintage example of something? That takes time. It takes
patience. It takes taste. It takes perspective.”
He picks up a Rolex 1675 Mark 5 and says, “I could put
this watch on, go to the event tonight and know that
even though it’s going to be filled with a bunch of watch
collectors, I’m going to be the only dude there wearing
this watch.”
What makes this watch so special? The bezel has faded
from black to brown, and Barr — who spends 80-plus
hours a week looking at watches — has only seen maybe
two or three with this sort of color change. “That to me is
exclusive regardless of price point.”
He holds up another Daytona, the dial of which has a
faulty lacquer that took on a starburst, almost tropical,
shade. “I mean,” he gets excited, “it almost looks like hot
lava or magma. Some guys spend fifty-sixty grand on a
modern Rolex that doesn’t even come close to having
that much character and vibe.” He places it on his desk.
“There’s only one of these in the entire world.”
Barr started Craft and Tailored four years ago. He was an
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IT executive for a federal defense contractor, spending
most of his time visiting clients all over the world. He
was making a lot of money, which helped fuel his interest
in watches. He dove Cousteau-deep into the details,
becoming such an expert that watch brokers and other
collectors would ask him questions. He decided to make
it his life’s work.
Craft and Tailored is more than just a watch brokerage
firm. It’s a lifestyle. Visiting their office is like visiting
an old-world bespoke tailor for a suit. First, they’re
housed in an historic building downtown. The furniture
throughout the office is vintage. They have an old library
with bookshelves dedicated to the inspirations behind
Rolex and Omega: memorabilia of Paul Newman, Steve
McQueen, race cars, scuba diving and space exploration.
They have a McIntosh stereo assembled by Zach Cowie,
music supervisor for Master of None, and a record
collection that would make an audiophile weep.
They serve whiskey, sparkling water and espresso made
from an ECM Synchronika. It’s very easy for a man of
leisure to get comfortable here. That’s the intent: time
travel, a notion of celebrating something timeless here
and now.
“I put on a watch and I think about McQueen,” says
Barr. “I think about Newman. I think about these guys
differently, how they would have acted, how they would
have interpreted things. It allows me to also see things
differently, from a different perspective.”
Barr will be in his car, at a stoplight, and he’ll watch
the sweeping second hand of his timepiece and
he’ll contemplate the design details. He’ll take that
appreciation of the moment and consider the eaves of a
building, the contours of an automobile or the arch of a
shoe.
It’s not that Barr only appreciates vintage items. He
loves the ease of a digital boarding pass, the connectivity
of the internet and the marketing potential of social
media as much as the rest of us. Craft and Tailored has
17,500 Instagram followers, and a healthy portion of its
business is generated online. Though Barr and Vanes
are telling this story online, it’s their authentic nostalgia,
understanding of the details and commitment to quality
that people cotton to most.