Interesting perspective, and correct in many respects, but my take differs. Lee is over-the-top abrasive and equal parts ignorant and dishonest. He will say anything it takes to make a sale. It is not a quintessentially New York experience to be bullied and lied to except for tourists who think the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld is somehow charming. It is true that there is always a hapless tourist or three in there getting skinned. Jeff, you are right about the stock -- wildly uneven and sometimes interesting pieces crop up but know your watches inside and out and don't make impulse purchases of models you don't know -- the stock is liberally sprinkled with frankens, and the staff has no clue or won't tell (why anyone would work for Lee is another interesting question). Personally, I don't care for the "experience" and prefer to deal with civility and straightforwardness. I have always feel like I had to wash after leaving Plaza, and never went back after the first couple of times confirmed for me that the "experience" is consistent from visit to visit - but maybe I am just a sensitive guy :).

As an alternative I recommend a meticulous combing of the diamond district (47th between 5th and 6th), where there are watch booths among the jewelers. The vendors vary widely in stock, helpfulness, and knowledge but all are more pleasant than Lee. And I HIGHLY recomend John Criscitello on the Bowery, just north of Canal. He used to be at #88 but just moved a few doors south on the same block - I don't know the number. He is a really decent, patient pleasant individual who does not believe that a sale has to be painful, either in price or method. I don't recall if he had any Heuers yesterday, when I was last there, because I was looking for a dress watch at the time.

: I will make a couple of recommendations, in no particular order.
: First up will be Plaza Jewelry Exchange: 145 West 57th Street
: (between 6th and 7th Avenues; near Carnagie Hall; Russian Tea
: Room; Central Park South)

: This is the most unusual watch destination of all . . . a
: relatively small store, in the "high rent district",
: that is absolutely jammed full of vintage watches, as well as
: coins, stamps, albums, posters, baseball cards, magazines,
: silver, jewelry and other junk, all of it piled from floor to
: ceiling. You must be in a certain mood to even walk in the door,
: as I will try to capture below.

: First, the vintage watches: dozens of trays of watches, primarily
: arranged by brands, ranging from the rarest Rolexes to junk
: brands that you have likely never heard of. Let's take the
: Heuers, as an example. On a given day Plaza will have 20 or 30,
: Heuers (and TAG-Heuers), ranging from the worst Formula Ones to
: some decent looking Caliber 12 chronographs. These will be
: stored in a couple of trays; for a brand like Omage, you might
: see 150 t0 250 watches, in six or eight trays.

: Condition of the watches will be all over the board . . . from some
: really nice ones, to some put together from all the wrong
: pieces. The prices of the watches will not be all over the
: board, but rather they are all marked with sky high prices.
: Let's take a Heuer Daytona, that should be selling for something
: like $1,500. The price tag is likely to say $4,500, and if you
: want to try to buy it, that's how the discussion might start.
: You offer $1,200 / Lee (who seems to be in charge of the store)
: counters at $3,800, and the conversation continues from there.
: At some point in the negotiation, Lee is likely to take a break,
: as he begins the negotiation on buying a stack of comic books
: (or maybe some old coins) . . . you will have narrowed the
: spread on the Daytona, to something like $2,200 ask / $1,400
: bid, and Lee will start up on the comic books, which open with
: him offering $15 [that's right, fifteen dollars], and the owner
: wanting $35. As you ponder the Daytona, and try to resume the
: conversation with Lee, a third from may open, as a tourist (from
: Eastern Europe) walks in and wants to see a brand new IWC
: chronograph, in the box with all the papers, etc. On this IWC,
: the bid and ask might be $8,500 / $11,000.

: So there you have it -- you are trying to buy a vintage Heuer,
: another customer is trying to get $25 for his comic books, a
: confused tourist is piling hundred dollar bills onto the counter
: trying to buy the IWC. You stand among stacks of albums,
: magazines, and boxes of silverware, trying to continue the
: negotiation with Lee. While this is happening, Lee is
: instructing his clerks to do other unrelated things -- like
: arranging to pick up some rings on 47th Street or call the phone
: company to dispute some charges on the monthly bill . . . it is
: nothing short of bedlam. Lee is abusive to his staff; distant
: from his customers; he seems to know little about the vintage
: watches, but there is stands, among hundreds or thousands of
: them . . . weird, very weird.

: Return one year later, and the Daytona is still there, with the
: same price tag. It's absolutely maddening . . . impossible to
: figure out what is really happening in the store . . . what is
: going on in this crazy man's brain? where did these thousands of
: watches come from? Where are they going? How can you ever be
: successful in buying one?

: Here's what they wrote over on Watch-U-Seek --
: http://forums.watchuseek.com/f65/plaza-jewelry-exchange-145-west-57th-street-nyc-264528.html
: Went in there today. They have tons of stuff, but the staff is
: clueless; the showroom rat packed and chaotic. Owner seems
: knowledgeable, but hurried, curt and rude.

: My bottom line: On the crazy, crowded island we call Manhattan,
: this is the craziest, most crowded watch destination of all. I
: have probably visited five or six times over the years; you have
: to be in the mood; you have to have time to waste, as nothing
: happens quickly (or rationally) in this crazy place. Shown below
: is the one watch that I have actually bought there . . . there
: have been five or ten others that I have wanted to buy (or at
: least discuss), but I could not get them to closure . . . in
: most instances, we never got to the first bid and ask. Most
: times, I have left the watches that I had selected, laying on
: the counter . . . walking out is often the best revenge, the
: only esacpe. One thing I can promise: After a few minutes or
: hours in Plaza, the rest of Manhattan will look more peaceful
: than when you entered the store.

: I hope that you will vist, and share your report with us.

: Jeff

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