TIJT instructor meets a racing legend at NY show

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Editor’s Note: TIJT instructor Frank Poye, along with other TIJT staff members, attended the JA International Jewelry Show in New York this week, where Poye met racing legend Mario Andretti. Here, Poye tells how the meeting came about.

The story behind the photo is like this:

Mario Andretti was attending the Concours d’ Elegance at the JA International Jewelry Show in New York. This section of the show was an exhibition of fine watches from the famous watch brands and was held in the Crystal Palace of the Javitz Center. Mario had just arrived and, being a race fan all of my life, I enjoyed meeting and talking to him. A nice touch was that I was introduced by the man who was inspired to develop the Concours d’ Elegance in the first place, Bert Kalisher. Bert publishes the international luxury magazines, “Chronos,“ “Watch & Clock Review” and also “Pen World.“ (Not a bad way to meet somebody and start a conversation.) Mario was not only very keen on watches but was interested in our course of watchmaking at PJC and asked a number of questions. He said he had a Tiffany watch that needed work and I seemed like the person he ought to send it to, then asked for my card. What a thrill! I enjoyed that quite a bit. It’s fun to have somebody you admire show an interest in what you do. It made me feel sort of giddy the rest of the afternoon.