As a watch nerd, I love to see the stuffy old watchmaking industry try new things. That’s why I was intrigued by the recent changes at Bob’s Watches, a retailer turned website that buys and sells Rolex watches using a very simple exchange model.
Founded by Paul Altieri in 2010, the site was mostly a sales portal for years. Now, however, the company has created a Rolex Exchange, a real-time engine for pricing Rolex watches. Owners can post their own watches for sale and Bob’s gets a cut while buyers can see prices for hundreds of pieces.
First, a bit of background: Rolex watches, unlike most fine watches, tend to hold their value. There is a massive underground of exceedingly obsessive collectors who buoy prices and the brand awareness is such that potential customers are everywhere. A particularly popular Submariner that cost $8,000 retail can usually maintain its value over the years, falling to $4,000 on a bad day but generally staying within 50% of the purchase price. The vast majority of classic watches don’t do this – an Omega or Breitling falls precipitously in value over the years but the price can rise if it’s a particularly nice or historical model. The only other popular brand that truly maintains its value is Patek Phillipe but those start in the tens of thousands.
What Bob’s has done is create a simple market. Buyers can ask for a quote and Bob’s will sell the watch through their site. This gives the seller a better chance of getting a fair price and reduces much of the risk in dealing with an anonymous online seller. Given that almost every watch hobbyist has seen at least one timepiece get “eaten” by FedEx or DHL, it’s nice to be able to pawn some of the risk off on another party.
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