Ironically, all that remained of the original structure was the plumbing. they didn’t call him “Bugsy” for nuthin’! Sixty years later, when I reported for my first shift, the Flamingo had swelled to a property with four towers and approximately 3,500 rooms. He even spent a cool million – the entire budget originally green-lit by the mob – to run individual sewer lines for each of the Flamingo’s 105 rooms. Sadly, the Flamingo I knew had little in common with the palace Ben Siegel had literally spent his life’s blood – and $6 million in mob cash – to build.įrom the solid Italian marble walls to the fancy, art-deco furnishings and the palm trees he’d have trucked in from Florida to shade the enormous, blue-tiled swimming pool, Benny spared no expense. The last five as c hef de partie at Sin City’s only five-star property – not to mention a solid decade at the “Fabulous Flamingo” itself. or perhaps about to make a pass with a pair of dice some long, leggy drink of water had just blown the breath of life.įull disclosure: I’d spent nearly 20 years working like a horse (at times, two) in Vegas resorts. Something that might’ve been spotted on the wrist of a guest at the then newly built Flamingo Hotel & Casino – a high-roller absent-mindedly fiddling with a stack of $100 poker chips. While it was never my intention to ape Siegel’s style or score a clone of his now famous timepiece, I did want a Bulova that was period appropriate. In certain instances, the person who once wore it.Īs the author of a fictional tale about mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, I just had to have a 1940s Bulova like the one Siegel famously sported.īugsy and his Bulova Clinton (photo courtesy revista360)Ĭurrently on display at Sin City’s Mob Museum, Siegel’s 18k solid gold Bulova Clinton features a square, tank-style case and handsome basket-weave bracelet. It’s also about the stories and history embodied by a particular piece. Collecting watches isn’t just about the watch itself. collecting watches is about more than just collecting watches. I haven’t yet had my first cup of coffee, and here I sit in an old bathrobe struggling to collect my thoughts (what precious few I can muster). And no, I’m not trying to go all Jedi mind trick on you.
No, that’s not a Zen koan or something Yogi Berra once let slip. Quentin writes:Ĭollecting watches isn’t about collecting watches. Bufogle is a freelance writer, former contributor to the former Las Vegas CityLife, occasional blogger, and author of the recent memoir King of the New York Streets. In addition to being utterly obsessed with high-end, mechanical watches of the Swiss variety, Quill & Pad’s regular reader Quentin R.