Messages: 2074 Location: Illinois, USA
Registered: February 2009
It was 1 year ago today
Thu, 01 November 2012 10:10
Today is the 1 year anniversary of my acquisition of this one. The 376.0822, named the Holy Grail by the late Chuck Maddox.
For anyone who's bored, I'll share a couple parts of the acquisition story: It was a face-to-face sale at a Chicago-proper Starbucks. I drove down from the suburbs for a 6:45 AM meeting time. Got there early, got my coffee, and selected a table near the door so I could look for the seller, who I knew would be arriving by bicycle. Looked like a nice area, but I wasn't familiar with it at all. I was carrying a boatload of cash and several of my nice watches, so I was feeling a bit apprehensive...but I had done my homework on TZ regarding the seller and had decided to make this leap of faith.
The seller arrived and we introduced each other. He immediately put a box on the table in front of me. It contained Grail #1...the first time I had ever seen one in person. Wow...what a presence!!! He took a watch off his wrist and also put it on the table. It was Grail #2. Jaw-dropping! He encouraged me to look them over and then promptly took off!...to way across the store, to order and fix his coffee. As I inspected the goods, the thought occurred to me of the risk he was taking. I could have easily bolted out the door, driven off, and caused a really bad day.
He returned, and we had a fantastic conversation. I showed off my goods which he seemed to enjoy, and snapped a few pictures.
Eventually the thought caught up with me that I needed to pay him for the Grail I had selected. So I pulled the envelope full of 100s out of my pocket and pushed it across the table. He picked up the envelope and tucked it away in this pocket or fanny pack, I don't quite remember, but I do remember this: he never counted it! Wow, I thought! Eventually it was time for both of us to go to work and we parted.
We had both taken pretty descent leaps of faith that day, him arguably more than me. But we had a great time in the process. And for that I have to give much credit to the Timezone.com Forums that allow us to share our interests, check out each other's history, and gain confidence in each other as collectors, buyers, and sellers. Thank you and big hand(s)for TZ!
- lpoirier