CALL COLLECT: INTERVIEW WITH GABRIEL BENADOR
If Ahmed “Shary” Rahman is one of the kindest people I know, Gabriel Benador is without a doubt one of the coolest and most modest. Benador grew up in New York with the occasional sojourn to Switzerland, where his family is deeply entrenched in the Swiss watchmaking business. In his early 20s, Benador felt the calling to ditch a life of privilege in Manhattan and volunteer for military service in the Israeli Defense Force. Excelling in basic training, Benador was seconded to the Paratroopers where he saw active duty for several years.
Benador recalls, “It was strange to come back to civilian life afterwards. I remember being on a date with my wife in Geneva. Fireworks went off and I instinctively grabbed her and pulled her to the ground.”
Gabe and I met each other at the 2017 Phillips auction in New York, where the horological universe witnessed the full-force unrestrained bidding war of the Paul Newman Daytona belonging to the eponymous actor and which broke all past watch auction records. (The watch sold for USD17.8 million.) We were sat next to each other and I immediately clocked the Greubel Forsey Double Tourbillon worn on a red rubber strap on his substantial wrist, which I would later learn allowed him to keep this timepiece on during his regular visits to the gym.
Auctions are where you inevitably strike up conversations and talk inevitably turned to the watches we had homed in on. After I expressed interest in the Omega Speedmaster Alaska III, Gabe discretely told me he was eyeing the A. Lange & Söhne Pour le Mérite Tourbillon, which was a watch that had also piqued my interest. However, etiquette dictates that you bow out when someone’s called dibs. And considering he could have easily choked me out I’m relieved that I adhered to this tradition. He eventually won the Lange, and a year on, I now count Gabe as a good friend.
Over that time I’ve found him to be a fiercely brilliant businessman. He runs his family’s office that includes significant real estate holdings in New York, and
