Right before his store’s 40th anniversary, Leon Adams of
Cellini Jewelers discusses the future and his favorite new watches.
As temperatures drop and the holiday season approaches, family time becomes a priority. For Leon Adams, the owner and founder of Cellini Jewelers, his family has always come first. In 1987, when he sought to expand his business out of the lobby of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, who could he trust with day-to-day operations?
Luckily, his younger brother was coming of age and looking for a way to get started in the industry.
“We needed to have more exposure on the street, because within the hotel you’re somewhat limited toward tourists,” says Adams. “My brother and I had the idea [to] open another store with another family member so a manager could be there all the time.”
Next month, as the original boutique in the Waldorf-Astoria celebrates its 40th year of business, renovations will begin on the world-famous hotel, forcing the location to shut its doors permanently. The staff will be moved to the Madison Avenue boutique, located between 52nd and 53rd Streets in New York, as Adams looks for a larger location for a new flagship store. That boutique, however, is not expected to open until December of 2017.
Cellini first opened when Adams, then a 21-year-old veterinary science student fresh out of Harpur College in Binghamton, New York, realized that medicine wasn’t the right path for him. After looking around New York for business opportunities, he discovered an empty space in the hotel’s lobby and jumped on it.
“The gemstones are what really drew me into the business,” says Adams. “Watches were a secondary aspect, which being male and in my twenties, these mechanical marvels interested me, and piqued my interest more after we began developing the watch section.”
Nowadays, Cellini carries more than 40 watch brands, but at first there were only three: Audemars Piguet, Omega, and Corum. At the time, the same company distributed Audemars and Omega, so Audemars was brought in as the high-end brand, while Omega was targeted towards the entry-level consumer. At the time, Corum was predominantly known for women’s timepieces.
“Most of the brands that we carry we’ve had on our premises in excess of 25 years,” Adams says. “We are very loyal to the brands that we carry; we’re not the kind of company that just brings in something because it’s hot. We’re in it for the long term.”
His first watch was an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Two-Tone that he purchased between graduation and Cellini’s opening day. At the time, he preferred smaller timepieces, so the watch actually came from the women’s collection and measured between 33 and 35 mm. Now that he’s older, he appreciates larger watches, but isn’t a fan of the trending, mountainous timepieces that often appear on the wrists of CEOs who frequent the shop.
“As I get older, my eyes aren’t as good as they used to be,” explains Adams. “So bigger watches are better now. Something in the range of 40 to 42 mm is the maximum I can wear.”
His taste has also developed more towards simplicity and cleanliness, citing A. Lange & Söhne, Laurent Ferrier, H. Moser & Cie., Greubel Forsey, and de Bethune as a few of his current favorite brands.
“Some of the independents are making very fine, simple, classic timepieces with superior movements,” says Adams. “One of my absolute favorite recent releases is the Richard Lange ‘Pour le Mérite’ with the fusée and chain power transmission. I really like the Galet Square series from Laurent Ferrier. I recently got delivered the new Greubel Forsey Signature 1, which is quite a magnificent timepiece. I think de Bethune makes some spectacular and simple watches, but then they also go to the other end and make some crazy things as well.”