Vintage Shops in New Orleans

[Spoonage]

I may be headed to New Orleans in about a week. Are there any good vintage watch stores down there that typically have a good selection that should be visiting?

Particularly interested in a Sea Dweller or Submariner.

[Horologer]

Quarter Past Time located in the French quarter comes to mind.

[Beef]

Originally Posted by Horologer

Quarter Past Time located in the French quarter comes to mind.

Yes and they are incredibly over-priced. They do usually have an great selection of Rolex, including lots of 1920-50s models. Lots of fun to look at!

[Spoonage]

Awesome! I'll be sure to check it out.

[dcash0615]

It has been many years since I have been to New Orleans. When I was there I believe there was a store across the street from Hotel Montelone on Royal St in the French quarter that had vintage Rolex watches. If you go be sure to stop in at the lobby bar at Hotel Montelone. The bar is a carousel that is constantly moving very slowly in a circle. Very cool.

Originally Posted by Spoonage

I may be headed to New Orleans in about a week. Are there any good vintage watch stores down there that typically have a good selection that should be visiting?

Particularly interested in a Sea Dweller or Submariner.

[Spoonage]

Thanks all. For those that are familiar with Quarter Past Time, is there plenty of room to negotiate or are they pretty firm on prices?

[Beef]

They used to negotiate but I never got them down to a price I thought was on the high side of reasonable. Most of the watches didn't have a price tag attached, only an inventory number. When you asked "how much," they'd say "make me on offer." A bud told me that was so they'd have flexibility in pricing between tourists and their regulars. He was one, I was a tourista.

But, it's a great place to look. They used to have a large inventory of gold bubble backs. There was a guy named Sy LaSalle that had a shop on Magazine St. that always had some nice vintage Rolex. I bought a 1675, a Rootbeer and a 5513 from him. But that was before the levees broke a few days after Katrina (Katrina pretty much just lightly brushed the city, while it devastated the Mississippi Gulf Coast) I haven't been able to find him since. Done several searches for you, to no avail.

[Spoonage]

So back from my trip to New Orleans and unfortunately, Quarter Past Time was closed the entire time I was there. I called to see see if I could schedule something in before I left but that didn't work out.

I did visit some of the other antique stores there and saw a few Subs and a Sea Dweller, but they were asking ridiculous prices. No box or papers, no service history, definitely needed a service, bezel wasn't functioning, and case was not in the greatest condition. Still wanted $7,800 for it. I politely thanked him for his time and left.

[Smirk1010]

Quarter Past Time is definitely worth the trip. It has a larger selection by far than any other watch shop in New Orleans. The prices can start out pretty high by I have never had any issue whittling them down to reasonable market value. The shop owner Julio knows his watches so if you are looking for a steal this isn't the place. I have purchased a 50s Bubble Back and a 80s Bark President from him with zero issues. They have a small selection listed online at www.quarterpasttime.com but a vastly larger collection in the store.

[Vlad]

Absolutely visit Quarter Past Time. Julio knows a lot about his watches and watches in general. Excellent selection of not only Rolexes, but also Omega's and other brands. I bought a number of watches from Julio a dn love each and every one of them - actually, I don't believe I ever sold anything I purchased there. Also, besides watches, Julio has an amazing collection of Bakelite radios.