Lonely Wrist: All Things Watches & Horology
Lonely Wrist dives deep into the intricate world of watches, unearthing the stories, craft, and passion behind every ticking piece. From timeless classics to modern marvels, this podcast winds through the history, mechanics, and cultural significance of timepieces. Whether you're an avid horologist or just someone who admires the beauty of a well-crafted watch, Lonely Wrist offers a unique perspective, uniting enthusiasts and curious minds. Join us every episode as we explore the art of watchmaking, discuss the latest trends, and interview watch industry experts, all while appreciating the silent yet profound voice of every watch's lonely wrist.
Lonely Wrist: All Things Watches & Horology
Roman Sharf Discusses the Evolution of Luxury Bazaar and the Grey Market
Join us as we sit down with Roman Sharf from Luxury Bazaar, who shares his incredible journey from starting in his basement to becoming a leading gray market dealer. Roman's story is one of resilience, discipline, and a relentless pursuit of excellence, We also discuss his hit YouTube series, "Grey Market," and its impact on the industry.
Curious about the ever-evolving luxury watch market and the importance of character in sales? Roman breaks down the significance of emotional investment in driving high-end watch sales, even among affluent clients. We delve into his strategic move to diversify Luxury Bazaar's inventory, balancing high-end timepieces with more affordable options. Gain insights into the shifting dynamics between the gray market and primary market, and how transparency has become a vital component in building customer trust post-COVID-19.
Looking ahead, Roman shares his vision for the future of Luxury Bazaar and his personal aspirations. From developing a groundbreaking product set to revolutionize the watch industry to considering an eventual exit from the business, Roman's plans are both innovative and forward-thinking. He emphasizes the importance of family values and leaving a legacy, envisioning a future filled with travel and philanthropy. Whether you're a watch enthusiast or a business-minded listener, this episode is packed with valuable insights and inspiring reflections.
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All right, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Lonely Wrist. Today, sitting in front of me is none other than Roman Scharf from Luxury Bazaar. What's up, brother? Hey how are you Blake? Good, good, thank you. First of all, I want to thank you publicly, on the record. You know, obviously, you're a behemoth in the industry and you're coming on such a small show like mine, so thank you for spending some time with us and thank you for uh for coming on.
Roman Sharf:That's pretty awesome. I actually prefer. I actually prefer to go on smaller channels, if you will, uh. The reason for that is because I feel like the audience on some of the smaller channels is very tuned in to what we do, you know. So often you'll find me on join some of the lives of some of the smaller youtube channels over time, just because it's just cool to kind of shoot the shit with the guys and and you don't get all along with questions and I've tried to do live on my own channel a couple times and I feel terrible because I get a thousand questions and you know scrolling down in a minute and I'm just like I can't really answer everybody.
Roman Sharf:So all good yeah, thank you.
Blake Rea:Yeah, we have some mutual friends. Obviously. We've met each other on on the watch hangout with JJ and Ali and um, and we just have a bunch of mutual friends.
Roman Sharf:So JJ is probably the one I joined the most, just because it's such a key group of guys and everybody's into specifically watches, no drama. You can just really talk about the market watches and anything else in life, because we all share common interests.
Blake Rea:Yeah, yeah, the passion for watches. Tell me what drew you into the world of luxury watches and how did you transition into becoming, like a gray market dealer.
Roman Sharf:So I guess you could say, to start backwards, I was a gray market dealer right out of the gate, right? What brought me into the industry? A sheer accident where a gentleman approached me 20, almost two years ago now uh, actually it's been 22 years, uh and said hey, roman, you know all this computer stuff because my background is electrical engineering, computer science. I'm like, well, mind you, this is at a time where e-commerce as we know it wasn't really there, it was mainly ebay. Some websites were starting to pop up here and there. You know the days of netscape and lycos and you know aols and all that stuff, right? So, um, he, I'm like, well, it's a little more complex than that. I, you know kind of badass and programming and all kinds of stuff. He's like, well, yeah, whatever, he had no idea. But what he did know is that, you know, people started to sell expensive products on ebay and he was a great market dealer and he said what if I give you some stuff and you guys throw it online and it sells? You know, here's your cost, you keep the profit. I told him, he's out of his fucking mind. Who the hell's gonna buy $10,000 watches on eBay?
Roman Sharf:Right, it was my wife, obviously that chimed in and like no, no, I think it's a good idea, we should give it a shot. Mind you, I'm working for fortune 500 company. At a time I'm commuting two hours each way, so four hours a day total to new york city. Uh, my wife is six months pregnant. I'm like, yeah, sure, let me take on this too. And uh, the rest of the state's history, you know it's three years on ebay and then we, you know, built our own website and kind of took off from there, if you will. But it was great from the very start, right?
Blake Rea:And I read that Luxury Bazaar. You started from your basement, Literally from my basement. And obviously you faced a ton of challenges to get to where you are today. How did you stay so resilient?
Roman Sharf:So I guess it goes back to my background. I came here at the age of 13 as as a refugee. My dad had four bucks in his pocket and I was raised in an apartment about the size of my office now and About 400 square feet give or take. And you know, when I got here it was just like I well, my dad brought me away from communism into the land of opportunity. Can't really fuck this up. Don't let this be a waste kind of thing, right? Because my dad, you know he wasn't going to have a stellar career, starting, you know, at the age that he came here and no language, if you will, and it was just one of those things that, like I always had something, not something to prove, but something to gain, because I knew if I was standing still and not taking an opportunity that was given to me by coming over here, it would be a shame. And I, literally 13 years old, I got my first job and I never looked back.
Roman Sharf:I joined the military, which gave me a lot of discipline, I should say as a human being. Right, that's what military does. It does teach you discipline quite well. And after I got out of the military, I went to school and got into corporate. You know, I got a little bit of corporate experience and figured out that discipline, how to work with people, how to sometimes lie through the teeth to their face because you don't like them, but they're your boss, right? So a lot of politics, corporate politics, but it's that push forward where it's not about the numbers, it's not about the dollar amount, it's about greater achievement. You can be better every day, right like the dollar amount.
Blake Rea:It's about greater achievement. You can be better every day. Right, let's transition into like youtube, like gray market series, like how did that concept kick off? Like, honestly, I've been a huge fan of your, your series and, um, a lot of the stuff that you were doing um kind of motivated me in a way to kind of do what I'm doing here at lonely wrist. Um, what motivated you to start a youtube channel?
Roman Sharf:it wasn't it wasn't more, it wasn't. It wasn't like a motivation, it was more of a path. So, uh, luxury bizarre went through a bunch of different phases as a company and one of the phases was, uh, we got into predominantly wholesale and again, most people imagine wholesale as me selling 100 watches at a time. Sometimes that happens, but for the most part it's B2B. That's what allowed the company to hit that $100 million a year milestone when we went heavy duty into wholesale for a good six, seven years where about 85, sometimes 90% of our business was B2B and the rest was retail. So, sort of gotten away from the retail side of things and push more towards wholesale to get the numbers up, make more money. If you will grow the company and uh, the two don't really go well together, you know it's it's either one is the primary or second. One is the primary because they tend to take away from each other, right?
Roman Sharf:So what ended up happening is that, after that was said and done, I woke up one day and I said well, let's do a little recap. In about five, six years I have about $28 million in receivables. This is how much money people owe me, and there were single accounts that the biggest single account that owed me money was $6 million. Right, and these people weren't going anywhere, but there was certainly a high risk. Those same five years I probably wrote off about $2.2 million worth of bad debt expense because people go bad in this industry. Some end up in federal penitentiaries we won't mention any names. But with that said, it happens. It's the cost of doing business and it's all calculated into that. Right, your interest that you pay on the money, because I owe people money too, and the banks and stuff.
Roman Sharf:But it allowed me to grow my business that I said well, this is not a sellable product, because a wholesale business mainly relies on few key personnel that are able to sit there, wheel and deal, grind by and sell. What is a sellable business or product is what the company started to be. So, right before coded, I said you know what? We're gonna flip the script. I I'm tired of thinking about people owe me money and you chase people for money and so on and so forth, and then in turn you owe people a lot of money. It's a vicious circle. I said let's go retail. And I sat down with my CMO at the time this was again before we knew what COVID was, a few months prior and I said we're going to flip the script. But there was a plan in place. In fact, that plan was supposed to happen over two years. Right, because you can't just gradually cut stuff off. Hey, you don't have enough retail business and be a wholesale clients. You can't just cut them off, especially when they owe you money. So we had this beautiful plan together. Then Kobe hit and, if you remember, everybody took a shift about four months, if not more, before the market started to go crazy. Right, there was that period of time where the wheel completely stopped. It was dead, business was down completely and everybody was scared, shitless. So we didn't really have a choice. We were forced to basically flip over instantly almost to retail. And thank God and again, I'm not referring to COVID itself, but thank God, things happened the way they happened during the COVID boom. It helped us tremendously. And the way Avi basically said it to me he's like well, what do you want to do in terms of marketing? I said I don't want to do traditional marketing, pay-per-click Facebook ads and all that stuff. I want to concentrate on brand name recognition Because at the time we have been in business already for 15 plus years. People know the name. They don't see any faces and the brand name recognition tends to get diluted among all the competition. Because, shit, when I started it was 12 guys online selling watches. Today it's 12 million guys. I mean, I'm exaggerating a little bit, but certainly there's a lot of dealers out there. The issue is you can't differentiate between a company like mine or a guy like I was in the very beginning working out of his basement, right? So I said let's do video. I said I'm going to put a camera in front of you, start talking. I said the only thing I'll do is I promise you I'm not doing any stuff. That's expected. I'm just going to tell people how it is and what's.
Roman Sharf:On my best series starter, if you remember and I reviewed watches in a way where, let's say, nobody ever did I would throw watches on my pad and people would bitch and moan oh my god, he just threw down that roller, so not crowned down right. And the one thing I did talk about. I realized quickly that, look, yes, I have the knowledge and I can tell you about, uh, you know how a certain bridge is cut and finished and built or certain complication works. But that wasn't it. What was it is? Mike started talking about market values, historical market values, current market values. What is this? What does this actually work? Right and what are my honest thoughts about a particular watch? What is good of that?
Roman Sharf:From that stem to Q&A session, and then Avi comes to me. He goes to me Roman, I have this great idea. I'm like what's that? My CMO is full of great ideas. We're going to make a reality TV type of show where we're going to take the curtain off and we're going to show people exactly what's going on here every day, how we buy, how we sell, what we do on a daily basis. My response you're out of your fucking mind. If I'm listening world, when I'm paying for and how I'm doing it, who I'm doing it with, he's like no, this is going to be great, trust me. I said absolutely not.
Roman Sharf:About nine months went by and the person we all know that, the artist formerly known as the timepiece jordan, comes out with a date and life series and, mind you, ivy had a sizzler ready for the show, like I hope to do. He's like. He runs into my office screaming and yelling. He's like see, I told you, if you're not first, you last. I told you we should have done this a year ago. And monday morning there's gonna be guys following around with the camera. I'm like, yeah, dude, whatever not happening, I come into office monday morning, it's camera in my face. I'm like what's going on? He's like, no, just don't mind us.
Roman Sharf:And that's how gray market was. And it's been what five seasons or more. Now at this point, and it kind of just said you know what, if we're going to do it again, let's just do it. No holds barred, let's just show it how it is. And here we are so many years later. Right, the show actually has lost steam because what happens? Everybody else, everybody and their mother started doing the same thing, but we still have our core followers and it certainly created enough rapport for us and enough brand name recognition to where people know who we are and put faces behind the brand.
Blake Rea:Yeah, I mean building trust. I mean that's the biggest thing challenge that you have to do online. Like you are a voice, you are an authority, Building trust with your prospective customers. And then not only too, but if you look at, you know reality TV, right, Like the Kardashians or whoever like, arguably or not really arguably but their entire fame and fortune has stemmed from them being a personal figure, like a public figure, and growing with them. Like you saw, whatever right, this happened, that happened. And then all the all the girls are gossiping about it. Like this happened, that happened.
Roman Sharf:And then all the all the girls are gossiping about it, Not so much in the watch industry, Right, but um, the concept is the same If you think about it, if you watch any show, you know I I'm into sci-fi, fantasy, right, and, and I'm into action flicks. I'm not into dramas, stuff that makes you cry. I'm not into horror movies Cause I like to sleep at night. I like pointless actions, stuff like I'm talking about fast and furious, triple x, that type of stuff, james bond, right, but even though that has a little bit of drama.
Roman Sharf:But any show that you watch, you get invested into a character and it can be done. It can be in both positive and negative ways. Like you can literally hate somebody, like there's plenty of people in game of thrones that we hate it, right so. But you can also fall in love with that character, and I use the word love loosely, right, and that's what happens in the gray market show. It's not just me, it's all my staff, it's certain salespeople and, oddly enough, whether hated or loved, the minute an individual thinks about a potential purchase which is a watch, no-transcript. Oh, you fired this guy and then ready goes crazy.
Roman Sharf:And like guys is still a business, we're still fire and higher people. You know it is what it is, but it's very difficult. It's like when a character gets killed off of a shelf. Same kind of thing, except here nobody gets killed, but most of the time. But with that said, it was that very investment into the character, into the daily lives of what we do here that I felt made us most successful. Because, again, I'm not looking to sell you a watch today, but if you've been following me for a while and watching, I'm damn damn sure, I'm pretty sure, that when it comes time to thinking about purchasing the watch, you're going to reach out to us and you see who you're buying from, and you see the company, you see that this is not a flyby operation and you see my bank vault and you see the watches every day.
Blake Rea:So it's a genius move too, because people, like you said, they magnetize towards that character and then they call and say, oh, is Anna there? Can I like? I want to. I want to deal with Anna, I want to deal with whoever you know, lauren A hundred percent there's.
Roman Sharf:There's people that absolutely hate my guts based on the show. They don't even know me. Or you know, there's people that you know hate Adrian, that love to hate Adrian, because he's the petty king, he's the mad, he's the guy that always gets mad because he's so passionate, right. But yet, you know, three months ago, a few months ago, you get a phone call from a guy you know I, I looked the guy up and I'm like this guy's network is in the billions and he called because he saw a youtube show. He's like, hmm, kind of like a cold agent, it's like agent. You know, I've been watching. You're a straight shooter. You do business the way I do business and I want to buy some stuff. I spend a few million bucks with us, right? And it just happens pretty much every time. I wish it happened every day to the tune of a few million bucks, but it does happen. From a $3,000 Tudor to a Skyline Derby unpack.
Blake Rea:And that's what you've kind of transitioned to, because predominantly, like I've known you and I think you've talked about this before and addressed it's that you know you're starting to go down market a little bit because you've been selling these high-end, high horology like aps. I mean, you're getting some of the rarest watches in the world, right, and you're kind of going downwards, right.
Roman Sharf:You're trying to help people buy their first watch, you know, um, so that's them that's more of a business decision, right, it's for those that you know, I've been, I've been doing this for quite a bit and this isn't, you know, a mom-and-pop shop where you can look at watches and buy, right? We do a lot of analysis, specifically a lot of data analysis. I'm a big, big, uh proponent of data. Data doesn't lie, statistics don't lie, right? So I have all kinds of systems in place and reporting in place that I look at. Whether it's weekly, quarterly, monthly, yearly, doesn't really matter.
Roman Sharf:And I look at trends and I compare those trends across three things. So sales, obviously being one of them, inventory being two. Inventory and sales go hand in hand. What am I holding, what am I selling? What's the return on investment over time? I also look at trends. I also look at the speed of the market. I also look at pricing in the market, how it dips and goes up, and I put all those things together and ultimately I made certain decisions and I've always sold lower end watches.
Roman Sharf:But take that with a grain of salt, because posting a $2,500 Omega or a Tudor is not gonna get the same kind of likes as a Grand Complication AP or some Red rare paddock or something of that nature right, because, remember, I put that now in line with what social media does, right? I looked at all the clicks, all the traffics, what goes viral, what doesn't go viral. I look at my website traffic. More importantly, I look at gray market magazine traffic. I see what people are reading. When I'm able to put all that together together, I can come up to certain decisions in regards to, hey, what inventory should I have? Because I can only afford what I can afford.
Roman Sharf:Remember, this business started with twelve thousand dollars, so it's not like I got a billion dollar loan and say, oh, let's go do business right. So, and it was probably six months ago where I said, listen, we have more fifty thousand dollar watches than we have five thousand dollar watches, and take that with a grain of salt, because we do sell a lot of low-end stuff. It's just ago where I said, listen, we have more $50,000 watches than we have $5,000 watches, and take that with a grain of salt, because we do sell a lot of low-end stuff. It's just this time I decided I'm going to double up on it for simple reasons that A, where the market is number one, number two, the amount of traffic that has increased to our website and I started realizing that A out of 100,000 people that visits, how many of those can afford a $50,000 watch versus a $3,000 watch, right?
Roman Sharf:So we're trying to cater to a lower price product, but it's always been the same problem it flies off the shelves best and you can buy it. Sure, you can pick up the phone. It's like, oh, I'd like to buy 500 pre-owned tutors. It doesn't happen, right? So it's within the means that we can procure the stuff, as well as versus the speed that it sells for. And we're still sticking with the rare stuff, stuff the world hasn't seen, and we don't put everything out online in terms of rarity, because the minute you do, the whole world starts throwing your product around, screwing your product around. But, uh, we try to have a healthy combination. But it's all measured against some of the kpis that I told you in terms of it being social traffic, website traffic. Money is another one.
Blake Rea:We never have enough money, don't forget yeah, and that's probably one of the biggest challenges because, um, a little back, a little background on me is I actually worked at an AD, Um and so and so, yeah, like you know, you you buy the product at cost and then you sell it at retail, right, you know that's you guys, you guys, all the ADs discount anyway.
Roman Sharf:Well, not during COVID times, but they always have.
Blake Rea:Yeah, yeah, Um, but well, you hope to sell it at retail, right? Um, but then you know, here you guys are like trying to figure out like market dynamics, I mean trends, like you're buying, hoping that you know you can sell it quickly, or sometimes you get stuck with stuff. I mean it's just, it's a total different world.
Roman Sharf:Agent inventory is an issue for both ADs and guys like us. Right, money is also the same thing. It's the same exact issue. You know, the difference between us and ADs Is we get to choose what we buy. They don't often get to choose everything that they buy, so oftentimes they have to take the whole kit and caboodle when it comes to a particular line and some of the stuff sits and then they have to like, discount it or lose on it. Obviously, the upside is that you get the good shit that sometimes we have to overpay for and you get a significant discount, increasing your margins. But for us it's a never-ending story. You're always going to have agent inventory. It's just the nature of the beast, right, but we've gotten down to a science where agent inventory is minimal, and the reason for that is because of the people that we have here. You know agent in this. You know buying department, or procurement department, as we call it using fancy words. You tend to learn over years, right, and you've done this for 10 years plus. You can buy stuff on the field.
Roman Sharf:The data that's available to, let's say, a singular AD who has a single store is usually based on his market, be it a local market in the city, somewhere where most of his traffic comes through the door. Or for us, it's based on not only just the world, the entire world, because we are the World Wide Web, but also we have social cues, ie traffic from social media. What gets more eyes, what gets people more excited? Our gray market magazine, which is a huge part of our traffic generation. Right, what are people reading and what are they most excited about? So we have a lot more data, if you will, to help us along the way. So it's not really a fair comparison in terms of what to buy, what not to buy. And guess what? We still make mistakes. There are still Roman buys as you've seen, and you know, we're still people.
Blake Rea:We're not robots. Let's take a jump back 22 years. You said you started off in the gray market. What have you seen evolve within the gray market?
Roman Sharf:Where do you see it heading? If you noticed, we named our shell gray market. We did that purposely because the word gray market was a derogatory term in our industry for the longest time. Where do you see it heading? So, if you noticed, we named our show Gray Market and we did that purposely because the word gray market was a derogatory term in our industry for the longest time. Totally, if I told you the amount of business I've done, especially when I was doing heavy wholesale with some of the major brands that are out there, you'd be shocked. And we were always the guys they love to hate because they hated us publicly but behind closed, closed doors. They did business with us because we wrote the checks and we bought the shit that they couldn't sell right, close out. And we're talking about major brands and now the line between gray market and primary market has virtually disappeared.
Roman Sharf:I was in watches and wonders. I walked into any brand I wanted to walk into and CEOs and marketing directors and everybody in there are, like you know, reached the red carpet out to me, say come in, let's talk and I get some advice, and so on and so forth, because the future is already here with the Rolex CPO program, blending the internet with, you know, brick and mortar stores, with the fact that guys like us, we have access to pretty much any brand we want. Today. I mean, minus Rolex and Patek, I would say, everybody else is up for grabs, meaning that we can directly work with anyone. You're starting to see more and more websites like Watchbox or now 1916 Company. You go to their website today you have brand new product online. You have pre-owned product online side by side. This was unheard of. You know, the first time I went to Baselworld which is what it was back then in Basel 2005 or 2006, I don't remember. I think it was 2005.
Roman Sharf:I used to go with an AD who used to hide the fact of who I am. Like he would say it's my cousin from a different country. He doesn't even speak English. What I would do is I would place orders alongside of that AD through these brands of stuff that I would actually pay for. This is how things were done back then, because these were the ADs I was working with and ordering shit from at 10 over cost. The guy came in. He made his 10%. I made an order, placed an order across seven, eight different brands.
Roman Sharf:Today it's a different story today. It's you have brands that realizing more and more and more that they need guys like us more than they need the aids. Unfortunately remember before coded, these were dying. They were being squeezed by the manufacturers on one end by doing all this boutique only and opening up boutiques and closing doors, and they were squeezed by guys like us on the. They were discounting the shit that they were trying to sell a full list and the pre-owned market was literally killing them. Then COVID happened. They got a boost. All of a sudden they felt like they used to feel before, and now it's over again and now it's going to go back to the same exact thing.
Roman Sharf:So a lot of these ADs that managed to get pre-owned business off the ground e-commerce business off the ground, social media game off the ground they're going to survive. The rest, they're going to suffer, continue suffering. Unfortunately, unless you're holding Patek or Rolex, an AP, you're not. It's very difficult to survive on Swatch brands today. It's very difficult to survive on most Richemont brands. Right, it's just not. The idea is that the brands it used to be the ADs that were the kings. When I started, they dictated literally to brands what they need to do for them. Now, when the brands realize they can do it on their own and cut out, the middleman again sucks. But the right business decision, right. If I was able to cut out the ads that I used to buy wholesale from and go directly to the manufacturer, it's a good business decision, right same thing yeah, and arguably now, I mean, since rolex, patek, ap, like all these brands are playing games with their customer right, you know games?
Blake Rea:um, it's created more trust in your window, cause you're like hey, dude, I don't have this, I don't know how I can get this, or let me spend some time sourcing it, let me so. Arguably, the trust has shifted from the ADs, who are just fucking lying to.
Roman Sharf:It's not even so much the trust, it's availability right. Like you know, we have no wait list listed everywhere on our gear. Sure, you don't have to wait, you can come and buy what you want, and I'll be very transparent. Listen, there are some watches that say, hey, if you wait a little bit and this, then maybe you won't overpay 10, 20.
Blake Rea:But I have it today and this is what it costs. It's not because I want to make more money, it's because I've paid more for it, right?
Roman Sharf:Sure, but then on the flip side, I can tell them okay, well, your AD will eventually deliver you this, but before you get that, you're going to buy this, this and this and that. Well, this, this and this and that is going to be worth X, plus, your watch is worth X If you add it all up together. You Right, mathematically oftentimes it works out in our favor. And because of the transparency because you hear this on YouTube and Instagram and everywhere else and because you not have people's ear and they actually trust you, they do the math and they're like well, yeah, you're right, I'm going to buy these APs I never really wanted before I get my skeleton. Well, if I pay one and a half X for my skeleton today and sell off the other ones when I add it all together, and if I buy that at retail, I just pay two X, right. So the math is not that difficult.
Roman Sharf:Listen, we deal with intelligent clientele that can do simple mathematics, you know. And then it's also the how relaxed we are. Go walk into a boutique on Madison Avenue or protect belief we are. Go walk into a boutique on Madison Avenue or protect belief. You still feel intimidated because of how these places are built. They were built that way for a reason, and the reason they're built for those words is because there are people that cannot afford that product. They're not going there. If somebody actually walks in there and you still have the guy with the suit and the white gloves, it feels very, very intimidating.
Roman Sharf:And the biggest issue is that 90% of them have no fucking clue what they're talking about. Yeah, many times I heard from clients and I walked into some boutique I'm not going to mention a brand and he's like I'm talking to the salesperson, he's fucking clueless, he has no idea. And, oddly enough, the brand that we're talking about was Hublot, and you know the guy. The guy started asking about you know how people make fun of Hublot and so on and so forth, and then he started asking about the MP line.
Roman Sharf:Well, the guy had no idea how to explain that those movies are actually very complex and how much research and development went into them, what they actually do, and the specific watch was the key of time. I had no idea what it does, you know. So it's like people have thought up with that. They're getting the knowledge up front. That's another thing. They don't have to walk into my store to get the knowledge. They're on my youtube channel, they have to watch me on instagram and they're like oh shit, I already got all that knowledge from roman, so why the fuck would I go into a boutique when I can just buy it from roman, especially when, most of the time, it's bought at a discount?
Blake Rea:Right, right, it's a funny story. So, at least from my experience working at an AD, like we just hired salespeople, like we didn't hire like watch nerds, right. So I kind of got in as like the resident watch nerd, right, but funny story and this kind of is contrasting and just going right back to your point. But funny story and this kind of is contrasting and just going right back to your point.
Blake Rea:I was in Des Moines, iowa, with my friend Chris and he was like hey, let me show you some of the watch boutique. That's what we do, right, watch nerds, we'll go to all the ADs and just see what's up and shake hands and just introduce ourselves or whatever, right, so I go in and they're a Rolex dealer. But anyways, I was looking around around and I was just looking through the showcase and I guess the lady was just trying to start a conversation with me and I was looking down at Balmain Mercier and she's like this is one of the oldest watch brands in the world and I like, was like no, it's not, I know, I was like in my.
Blake Rea:I was like scratching my head, like like how, how can you get away with saying this shit when you don't know what the fuck you're talking about?
Roman Sharf:You know what the funniest thing you can do? To walk into a store that sells Rolex. Ask one of the sales guys to set a skydweller. Just ask him to set the watch and see what happens. It will literally be on their phone trying to figure out how to set a skydwe. When it first came out, I was a victim of that too and I realized, okay, wait a minute, I actually have to look at this strong because you know I'll pick up 99.9 of the watches. I don't know how to set them and work them, but with the skydwell they had that funky way to set it.
Roman Sharf:I'm just gonna have to, that's all yeah, but there's a lot of that going on. But again and this isn't I don't want to talk down on a change there are plenty of issues out there. There are plenty of people that work at a, these others that are uber knowledgeable, that actually love what they do. They're passionate for it. Of course, when you're talking about big brands that you know there's a 40-year wait list for how does a sales person stay motivated like?
Roman Sharf:I walked into ball harbor mall. I guess it's it's rolex, but I think it's maybe a ton of no boutique or now booker boutique, I'm not sure. You know. I spoke to a couple guys and then they're like roman, standing around, twit on my thumbs all day. People walk in, they want to see something. It's display only and I, my job is to sit here and tell them that, yeah, maybe I can deliver you one in three years and go check the guy's purchase history, like what does that make me a secretary, you know?
Roman Sharf:And then a lot of them are saying you know, I would love to work at a place like watches of switzerland or a multi-brand booker, where at least I I can, there's something that I can talk to people about, physically handle and actually sell it to them if they want to. My hands are tied right, so it's, it's, it's, it's it. So it's a sad day and a lot of these guys that used to work for ADs they're applying here. We're looking for salespeople now, and guess what? I have no idea how many applications I've gotten from, you know, watches of Switzerland and Booker and some of these other big places. Because these guys are realizing, hey, they can actually make real money here because the commissions are real, because they're actually able to sell the product rather than telling somebody yeah, see me in three years and maybe then get their commission check.
Blake Rea:You know, right, um, obviously. I mean, you guys are continuing to grow year over year. Um, and you know, you mentioned it that now there's a million and a half gray market dealers. I don't know how many, but obviously, transparency aside, what do you feel like luxury bazaar is doing different and how do you stay competitive with xyz? Right?
Roman Sharf:well in terms of competitive today, it again all depends on the situation. You're in right. Two and a half years ago, if you asked me about being competitive, my answer would be availability. If you asked me about being competitive, my answer would be availability. If you ask me about staying competitive today, my answer would be price. But take that with a grain of salt, because it's price for what you get. We're very keen, or very, very adamant, about explaining to clients that, hey, I'm giving you a good price and there's still going to be a guy out there that's going to charge you less, but it's a whom you buy from what you're going to get. It's the warranty that comes behind it. It's the guarantee that comes behind it.
Blake Rea:And the fact that we're going to be here five years from now something were to go wrong with your watch.
Roman Sharf:So, yes, I may not. It's still a price thing. Today. People are pricing, shop pricing. It's a buyer's market, but at the same token, it's a buyer's market for me as well when I'm buying right. So it goes hand in hand. But today it's a price thing. People will shop a price. Three years ago, people would call and they wouldn't think about bargaining because they needed to attend other guys behind them willing to buy the same product right.
Roman Sharf:So obviously, staying competitive depends on the state of the market, if you will, and that goes true for any business, if you think about it. Same thing happened with cars, and you know, today Mercedes has given out discounts on their cars. Three years ago they would laugh at you and you'd have to pay $30,000 over a sticker for it, so it's all the same. So, as far as competitive, again, it really all depends on the market. Now the other thing is what differentiates us is not for nothing. Years in the business do matter, you know, and those years in the business remember our industry, the gray market. Internet industry is young.
Roman Sharf:I was one of the first guys online. It was me and a handful of guys oj, formerly of what you want which then got bought over by watch box. You know, essential watches set who actually sold somebody else at this a little while. A little while ago, you had the macy, a prestige watches. You had literally was a handful of guys that were started on ebay and then opened up websites. Some are still around, some are not, and we're able to tell somebody like, oh shit, yeah, I remember because when we first built our website, we were like the reference guy. We were like the wikipedia for watches, because people used to go on there say, oh, what's the retail on this watch? What's this watch? You know, it was like, it was like a thing, and people still remember, and the product that we sell is not something that people buy every week, so that applies to come back. That butt shit. For me, though, when I was still working in my basement, right, because it's a very loyal business too.
Roman Sharf:You know, probably years, years in the business is another thing, and I think exposure today's day and age, it comes down to exposure. It comes down to that social media game that we have. It comes down to us having invested millions into content over the years and having a good team in place and consistently being in faces of our existing clients as well as picking up new clients as we go along. If it wasn't for what we did right before COVID, when I turned on that camera, or when we started doing gray market and doing all those things, if we were still sitting in a traditional marketing sphere, as a lot of the e-commerce websites do, I don't think we would be where we are today.
Blake Rea:Yeah, I totally agree. I know you don't have a crystal ball, but I've always been wanting to ask you this. I mean, obviously, you see, the market is going through a huge retraction period. Rolexes are falling, becoming accessible. Everybody's getting those AAD calls, right.
Roman Sharf:Where do you see the market heading in the next couple of years. So what we've seen is we've seen the correction, right and I can't refer to this as bottoming out, because the market didn't crash and correct it right. True, and I'm going to use the term stabilized and somewhat back to normal. You've gotten some things that happened during the COVID craze that has never happened in the industry before A most of your watches selling over MSRP across a few key brands, right. Obviously, rolex the only watch that was ever sold over MSRP and Rolex was the Daytona.
Roman Sharf:When the Sky-Dweller came out, I actually made the call and said I think this is going to be the only other Rolex that's going to sell over list. Just a cool watch, right, and it was true. But then kind of my prediction kind of got wiped away because everything else started trading over list when COVID hit. Right, but back in the day, wiped away because everything else started trading over this when COVID hit. But back in the day, back in the normal days, you had your Daytona selling over list. You had your gold discounted 10 to 20, 30, sometimes 30%. Your steel stuff was discounted 10 to 15%. It was normal, that was a normal industry. We're going to come out of this, you're still going to have a slew of models and Rolex that are going to stay over that MSRP or at MSRP pricing, right, just because of the nature of some of the pieces they came out with as of late, right. And the rest of the stuff is going to go back to normal. Now your Richmont groups, your Swatch groups, all that shit, always discounted, right?
Roman Sharf:I would call a dealer and be like hey, I need this, llc. Here you go 10 over cost. Dealer cost is 45 off. What's 10 over cost? How much off? Blake, who's your man? So if dealer cost is 45 off and I'm getting and the dealer's making 10% of me, how much off am I getting the watch?
Blake Rea:Well, about 30 usually.
Roman Sharf:No 39 and a half off. It's 10%, so it's 10% over cost.
Blake Rea:Oh, you got you yeah so, so.
Roman Sharf:So let's call 40 off, right, so? And then I'll, in turn, we'll sell it to a client 30 off. It's a rarer model, maybe a little less, maybe a little more, it doesn't really matter, right? And it's the availability from the ad's that has decreased tremendously, because the amount of ad's that are out there that are holding the good stuff has tremendously cut down because you have both the richmond group and the swatch group. What are they? They're selling retail through their website and their boutiques. So these are not really getting either enough. We're getting the right models, so that business model kind of went away as well. We're going to come back to some of it, but not really on the desirable stuff.
Roman Sharf:But pre-owned is what literally took off on steroids right now, and it used to be like oh, pre-owned, I'm going to get this beat up watch, buy a pre-owned watch from us, and you'd be like, oh shit, this thing isn't new. Well, of course it is, because I'm not going to sell you a watch that has scratches on it. I'm not going to sell you a watch that it's not going to work, right, I mean, unless you buy something vintage. Obviously, I always give people the choice like this is how it is, as is calendar might be sticking or something else. I can service the watch. Obviously, we don't polish them, but if you're talking about modern watches, you're going to get a watch that's going to look very new because it's going to be polished professionally. It's also going to be serviced and checked and you're going to get a three-year warranty. So essentially, you're getting a brand new looking watch that's now pre-owned and people have gotten used to that standard.
Roman Sharf:Back in the day it used to be like, hey, pre-owned watch, take it as is, do what you will with it, not anymore, not to stay competitive. Now I have an entire service department dedicated to every single watch. Goes through them, even if it's brand new, to make sure the timing on it is correct and everything is good, and order tests. We go through all the processes Only then it goes online and all the different things. So the future holds. I tell all the other dealers that ask me the same thing, like some of the younger dealers they're all what's gonna happen.
Roman Sharf:I said nobody said the watch business was easy. For those that have gotten used to money falling from a tree during COVID, that's not how the watch industry is. It's competitive, it's not easy and it's not gonna be easy going forward, but the pricing is going to be really dictated with also what happens in the world right now we're in a funny fucking world is on fire right now. You know, I mean politically the country's a mess with the wait for the. We have to wait for the elections to take place. There's gonna be a lot of factors that are going to, but for the most part, you're gonna see it, it's already back to regular scheduled program. When it comes to everything outside of Rolex, let's say Patek and Royal Oak, I'll say right, richard Mille, obviously.
Roman Sharf:But even Richard Mille you have certain models that are produced in higher quantities that are not worth it to buy at the boutique, at retail today in order to resell it. Time of the individual going into a boutique and buying something solely for the purpose of reselling into the great market or a profit are gone. That's where the prices are going to come down and we're going to come back to reason where it should be. You shouldn't have to pay 3X for anything out there, unless you buy some rare vintage watch or maybe a Le Mans Daytona that's been discontinued.
Blake Rea:Totally. Lamont daytona, that's been discontinued totally. Um. So you guys are in philly, like right outside of new york and, dude, it's hard for me to avoid these stupid ass like tiktok like flipping videos, like um. So what I'm alluding to is obviously social media and sales are now like fully integrated, like a hundred. There's no separation. So what have you seen and how have you seen social media, uh, impact on the watch industry?
Roman Sharf:so here's the thing is that what one has to take into consideration is the kind of eyes that you get onto yourself, right? So our youtube channel has close to half a million subscribers, right? How many of those subscribers are actually buyers, and how many of those subscribers are there for the entertainment factor? The same goes for social media. So the way we look at social media is the following way right, we create an entertaining reel, a trending reel, using something that's trending, like that stupid ass one that they made of me. Hey, I'm a watch dealer. I don't know if you saw that one got like millions of views. It was the cringiest thing I've ever made. But again, I tend to listen to my social media department. So, these viral reels, they'll bring eyes and they'll bring subscribers, right, but it's the product and it's what you post and it's the educational stuff that will bring in actual buyers. So if I took my social media account today, be it TikTok or whatever, and I started doing all these trending negotiations, I would start getting more and more followers. Well, today it's not true anymore, because it got played out. There's too many, right? Yeah? Yeah, because we originated in negotiations, one of the reasons our YouTube was so successful? Yeah, because we originated in negotiations. One of the reasons our youtube was so successful is because we took our cameras to the trade shows and we showed the negotiation. We showed the negotiations on 47th street and then everybody follows suit.
Roman Sharf:Problem is a lot of these people that do these things. They fake them totally and the average joe can't see through it. I certainly can't. I, I know which deal is real, which deal is not. I know half the people that are behind the showcase on 47th Street, but I don't knock that. Whatever works, moses the jeweler Does a wonderful job at that. He sits in the booth the size of my desk on 47th Street. There's people coming in all day, every day. He films it. He's a charismatic guy and people love it and it brings him a lot of business. It's not really about what it is, because today this negotiations that are trending. Tomorrow it's going to be something else. Then there was a stupid where you know the video was somebody falls and you roll across the room or somebody kicks you.
Roman Sharf:They get stuff that actually is trending on social media. People are going to do that and you have to do that. You have to do that to not stay relevant but just get more eyes on you Because it's like a funnel. Right, you have all this traffic that's coming in. You want the stuff to trickle out of the bottom little by little, but you want your funnel to grow. We use that concept in social media marketing and SEO and writing and any type of marketing, even email marketing. But what do I think of that? Some of the stuff is entertaining. Some of the stuff is very. A lot of the stuff is cringe to me because I can see through the bullshit. Right, it's just plus. I know the people behind and I'm just like but if you pay that, call me, I'll send you $30, right, but at the end of the day, I don't knock what these dealers and people are doing, because all they're doing is the same thing I'm doing trying to get fresh, new eyes onto them and grow.
Blake Rea:Yeah, yeah, I cringe a lot when I see that. And yeah, going back to your content on providing value, you know I really resonate with that, like I. For example I think it was a few days ago I watched all of your Watches and Wonders content. I watched the stuff where you were talking with Jean-Claude Biver and the Biver and Pierre and just going back and the Madhouse. I mean the content that you're producing?
Roman Sharf:Did you notice the views on those versus the?
Blake Rea:Grey.
Roman Sharf:Market episodes.
Blake Rea:Because you have to remember the people.
Roman Sharf:The watch world is this big, totally, since we're talking, it's very small, right, I'm showing with my fingers. I forgot that this is a podcast, but, with that said, it's, it's also, you know, would cater to the top richest people in the world for the most part, right, which make up 4% of the population at best, and then it was people that make a hundred grand a year. Out of those people, maybe 1% is actually gonna spend that money on their watches. So we're in a very small world. Don't know that if I took the effort that we put into the production of YouTube, social media and everything else and I, let's say, was doing makeup tips I'd have five million followers from that right now, because that world is so much bigger. Car world also so much bigger.
Roman Sharf:But this is it's those type of videos where you really know that you get in the eyes of those that are watch fanatics. Watch lovers may still not necessarily be watch buyers at that price level, right, and that's why, the minute I do a video that's very nerdy, specific to watches and very technical, it's going to get less views, which I'm perfectly fine with you. Still, though, however, have to do some of that trending stuff because it's a numbers game. I put out a real I'm a watch dealer that got two and a half million views. Well, guess what? Most of the people were just entertained. But there were still a few eyes that I know went into the pool of those eyes that are potential vibes that are actually true watch lovers and I can actually into the pool of those eyes that are potential vibes that are actually true watch lovers and I can actually afford the product, because that's really what it comes down to. Not everybody can afford what we sell.
Blake Rea:Totally, yeah, I, we've got to focus on just creating content just for watch nerds.
Blake Rea:So, since we don't sell watches, you know like we're just all about just creating awareness, growing the community through transparency. And, yeah, you know, to contrast, like I went to a little Ocla in January, like we went and did a little bit of watches and wonders press before watches and wonders Cause to me it was just like people getting these press cycles, like the big brands, they just like turn into zombies or like saying the same shit over, over and over, giving the same presentations, presentations, and they're not enthusiastic by the time, you know, a smaller journalist like me comes in. So the concept was for us to go early and you know we sat down with zenith and we did a factory tour at zenith and we did a factory tour at bouvet and um and the bouvet video still still working on it, sorry guys, um, but but anyways, uh, you know I was like fuck, dude, this is gonna be awesome, like this is gonna get so much attention, like no, no, I mean because, again, consider your audience, totally consider your audience and consider how you put forward that content.
Roman Sharf:You know my uh, watches and wonders video, which is just a general run through that sorry one second. God you know 70,000 views. That was great. You know the singular videos were there, madhouse and our darn and all those things. You know ten, twenty, fifteen thousand views. But again, that's expected. But at the end of the day, is the collective of what we put out. Yes, we're I able to entertain with some of our videos, we're able to show business.
Roman Sharf:There's a lot of people that watch our show from a business perspective that I didn't my industry, but I take that harder multiple times. A lot of takeaways from how to run my own business and I sell fire extinguishers. I'm just using that as an example. Right, sure, sure, but watch stuff. You still have to come back to watch stuff because I'm very passionate about watches 22 years later. I love horology, I love any and all new innovation.
Roman Sharf:I'm getting ready to put out a short video on the, at least not gone free from the beginning of 2001 to today. You know I spent probably 30 minutes an hour of my time putting it all together showing how it evolved over the years. For a one minute video that's probably not going to get a whole ton of clicks, because not only is this very specific to watch people, it's also specific to those that even have interest in. Are not, or they're, silicone diamond across the balance wheels, right, it gets really, really geeky when it comes to stuff like this. But yet I enjoy putting out that type of content, knowing ahead of time that, hey, it's going to get a lot less views than if I was screaming at the top of my lung making fun of a rapper wearing a watch. Right, and sometimes I do tend to make I usually don't tend to make fun of people, it's just there's no need If I don't know them. I tend not to do that.
Roman Sharf:Listen, I've done some reaction videos. Those do well, but to me those are more entertaining. But they're also entertaining to me that my favorite one was the david melter one when he said I wear nothing but fake watches and I'm just like, really, dude, don't wear watches at all, like what are you doing? But anyway. So yeah, it's, it's, it's, and remember, everything I'm telling you now is it's also constantly evolving and changing. Sure, not what it is like next to impossible. You just people ask me what's the biggest secret to social media? What is it? What makes it so successful and how are you able to do this and this and that? And I'm like, honestly, you throw shit against the wall. You see if it sticks.
Blake Rea:Just stay within your lane, that's all. Yeah, yeah. So let's transition and talk about the future of Luxury Bazaar. I know there's been some like rumors. I don't know if you've came out and publicly addressed them. Where do you plan to take Luxury Bazaar in the next decade.
Roman Sharf:We're working on a product now to do something, because you have to stay ahead. For the most part, when you're in business, you come out with something. People catch up. You do something else, people catch up, competition catches up. Not to say there's nobody ahead of us, right, there's all the other companies that we are trying to catch up to in certain aspects of the industry. We're working on this particular product that hopefully will launch soon, that I hope will revolutionize the watch industry as you've seen it before, and ultimately, for me, it's an exit.
Roman Sharf:I have gotten to a point where listen, I'm 49. You know, do I want to sell watches the rest of my life? Yes, but maybe not in the capacity. I'm doing it today. I also love travel. I also have three children. I also love travel. I also have three children. I also love history. I also love art and fine wine. So you know, I don't want to find myself five years from now sitting in the same chair doing what I'm doing. I want to find myself, hopefully, somewhere in tuscany sitting in a more comfortable chair and drinking a nice glass of wine. This is my wife. I apologize. I filming. Can I call you right?
Blake Rea:back. I'm sure you say that to her like 20 times a day.
Roman Sharf:Yeah. So with that said again, and that's in order to work towards that exit, I would say I'm looking for a particular valuation, and you know because I want to exit with a bang and it's to me it's never been about the dollar amount.
Roman Sharf:To me it's what will that dollar amount do for me, my family, my generations to come? A lot of the charity work that I do, among other things, and, most importantly, the people that have been with me for so many years. I am not looking to exit big. I'm looking to exit big for everybody that's here Because, listen, I'm not the guy that's going to go buy five Bugattis or a multi-million dollar yacht. For one I get seasick, and two I don't like Bugatti, but that's another story altogether. But it's.
Roman Sharf:I've always said people ask me and I said you know, what I love about the fact that I'm able to make a little more than the next guy is I was able to provide my kids a certain education and put a bigger roof over their head and make a comfortable lifestyle for them all, while raising them to be their own individuals. I have money, they don't, right? So there's a lot of pluses to having a comfortable lifestyle, but the exit part of it. When I I think about the exit, the first thing I think about is, you know, traveling with my wife to places we haven't been to. Yet you know doing more on the charity end of things because I do a lot of charity work right. So there's there's a lot of pluses to it, but ultimately the exit doesn't necessarily. I don't want the exit to be the end of luxury bazaar either, because there are plenty of young talent here that can take over and take the company for the next 50 years, even when I'm not around, right. So that's kind of what I'm looking at now.
Blake Rea:Yeah, yeah, I mean it's. It's quite an inspiring story to where you are today. And and then, yeah, I mean something I've noticed too is as a father. You know from my I'm not a father, but I've watched, I followed you for a while and and teaching your son about entrepreneurship and helping him, you know, with his shoe store and like shoe business and buying the Trump shoes.
Roman Sharf:I got to be honest with you, so with my son it's, you know, a lot of credit to my wife on this as well, because, you know, I have three simple priorities in life, and that's family, god, country, right Typical Republican, if you will. With that said, you know, it's the way we raised our children to be able to have the confidence, to have the ability and the education to do whatever they want to do. You know, my son started his business. He wasn't even 15 yet and he's been in those pretty much on his own since he was 16 years old.
Roman Sharf:A lot of people say, oh, daddy bought him a rolex. No, daddy didn't mark's first rolex himself at 16. Granted, he got a daddy price for it, but he did it himself, right, you know. And by the time my son finished high school, he did a million in business all on his own, without taking a penny from me. In fact, there was a time where I came to him and I said, well, what if he had more money? But you should be able to scale easier. Like, yeah, but I don't wanna take your money, I wanna do it on my own. So I literally talked him into getting a credit card under one of mine when he was 16, so we'd have some extra money to pay for stuff. That's the only thing I've ever did financially for him, but I was there to give him moral support.
Roman Sharf:I was there to give him advice and he turned out the way he turned out because of the upbringing that he had and the values that he has in life, because he shares the exact same values with us and even those of you in Miami today. He is home for every single birthday. He is home for every single major holiday. He does call his mother every single day. He is home for every single major holiday. He does call his mother every single day and he's still 20. He's 21 years old, right and myself included. So you know, him and mom will talk about one thing, me and him will talk about another, but the result is still the same he still talks to his sisters. It's it's very important and I think part of the success and part of the reasons he has such success in the business that he's in is because he was brought up with the right values.
Blake Rea:I'm curious what did you guys ever do with those Trump shoes Hold?
Roman Sharf:on. They're right there.
Blake Rea:Are they there in your office? They're right here. Oh shit, Damn.
Roman Sharf:Now they're sitting there alongside with a signed hat and the market that the president signed it with this. Well, we'd have to meet him because of those shoes. You know the story. Yeah, it's been, it's been, it's been a ride.
Blake Rea:Yeah, yeah. This is probably going to be one of the harder questions that I have, Maybe the next two. But 22 years in business, I'm sure you've done some Epic deals. What is one that sticks out and comes to mind? Whether it was challenging, rewarding, Like what is the most notable deal that you feel like you've done? And you will tell this story for the rest of your life.
Roman Sharf:Oh man, there's been quite a few, but I'm going to say on the wholesale end of things, we went into a partnership with another dealer where we made a three-year contract with a major watch brand.
Roman Sharf:I won't mention the name, but it was a $33 million deal over three years. It turned into a $65 million deal over five years and at the time I went into that deal there was no way in fucking hell I could even afford it. Nor did I know how I was going to afford it, but somehow we got through it, afford it. Nor did I know I was gonna afford it, but somehow we got through it. On the retail side of things, I guess you know most people say celebrity sales or something of that nature. I think it was a sale of a 5402, a serial low number two, double digit number, the first royal oak from 70s that I sold off of my wrist, and it was my personal watch and I didn't want to sell it. But a client came to me and said but I have to have this watch, you'll find yourself another. I sold it for. First one for like 27 000, another one for 45 and the third replacement for the end of the market went up to over 100, where I sold the last one at 100.
Roman Sharf:But the reason I go back to that sale is because that was the time when I realized that I should not own any watches and people always are surprised Roman, do you own any personal watches? And my answer is I do not, because the minute I try to keep a watch and wear it, people want to take it off my wrist and buy it and say, oh, you'll just replace it. Them by and say, oh, you'll just replace it. And I can never replace, uh, the fourth lowest number known of, 5402, you know, in stainless steel original, my favorite brand ever. And I just said you know what. I'm not going to set up myself for being upset, I'm just going to know. I no longer own any of my own watches.
Roman Sharf:The only watches that I personally own are those of my wife. I don't own a single watch myself. I sold off whatever I had in my personal collection. I said what is the point? But plus side is I go downstairs, I put on any watch that I want, I can change them out three times a day and that's it. But that 5402 really stuck with me because that's the one that I should have kept. Of course there were others, like a Biondi Holder Tigua that I've owned for $14,000, which is not a quarter million dollars or whatever they trade for. There have been so many watches that I've owned in the past for no money, but I learned from that that you don't look back. This is still a business, and if I held back any of those watches for this amount of time?
Blake Rea:the return on money over years was still a bit more. What? What is it that you find interesting about watches, and, and? And obviously I mean you kind of answered this, but if you were to buy one watch and just say this is my one and done.
Roman Sharf:So here's the thing is that this and this goes back from this stems back to the fact of how I grew up very poor, right, my fuck, you watch? Would it be a Skyrim interview? I got would be. That would be the one watch, you know it's. It sounds cheesy and shallow, right, but I'm in that world and to me, be like you know what, if I'm able to freely write a check for a Skyrim interview on today even on the secondary market on today, they trade for four and a half million bucks let's say, if I can write a check freely without worrying or putting that on my wrist and say this is mine and it's not fucking going anywhere, that would be my flex. I'm not a flexy person in general, but that would be the one watch, because I think that doesn't get any more ultimate than that. I'm not a fan of the grandmaster chime, I'm more of a fan of the sky moon trivia, and that's the one watch. But in general, what was the first part of the question? Say it again oh, uh.
Blake Rea:What do you find interesting and compelling about just watches, just in general so for me it's always been.
Roman Sharf:it goes back to engineering number one. I'm an engineer by trait. It's still fascinating to me till this day how these little magical Marvels work going, dating all the way back to Germany when they made the first room pocket watchers and I think what? 1525 is the oldest one known right now. Right, it's how somebody said there said fuck it, I'm gonna figure out a tell time and I'm gonna miniaturize it so something that people can carry, right, right, so obviously the engineering aspect, then the innovation with it. All right, mind you, innovation has slowed down tremendously.
Roman Sharf:Right, because everything that's been invented has been invented a while ago, but yet you have a lot of brands out there still pushing the boundaries, whether it's use of material, whether it's overall design, whether it's execution, whether it's new complications. You know, when I saw the new sequential chrono from MB&F, you know I was mind blown, right, unfortunately, we've gotten away from that aspect of the industry. It's more geared towards flex now, right, which I find nothing wrong with that. But engineering is one, then history is another. I love history altogether and to see the history, how the brand has evolved, how complications have have evolved, how design has evolved over time. It's interesting and it's also there's no end in sight. You have young watchmakers right now executing, uh, on traditional watchmaking, and you have others that are pushing the boundaries of horology altogether, coming up with shit that like it's. I always use the as an example. A ketchup, right? You?
Roman Sharf:can't reinvent the ketchup packet Like somebody somewhere said you know what?
Roman Sharf:Fuck it, I'm going to take ketchup and I'll put it in these little packets and the entire world is going to use it. Right, that's been done in the watch industry. So to be a watchmaker, to sit there and have the vision to say, you know what? I'm going to change the way the chronograph works altogether, make a completely new chronograph right and hence mcdonald right. It's like you, just it's mind-blowing right.
Roman Sharf:And then again, I'm a watch geek, still inside. I still geek out over new models. I still geek out over certain watches that I get in, whether they're older ones or something I've never handled in my life. It's just, it's a passion. That's really what it translates back to. It's that passion for everything that has to do with horology.
Roman Sharf:And, last but not least, is the people right. No secret, I'm a fan of Max Buser. No secret, I'm a fan of Felix Bonnard and Martin Frey. I'm a fan of Jean-Claude Biver. I'm a fan of some of the newcomers into the industry and what they're doing with the brands, like matthew from. He was not gone, where he took the brand, in which direction he's taken it. Right, because there's still a huge people factor behind me and part of that people factor is also the clientele that I get to meet along the way, from every celebrity, every sports star, from fortune 500 ceos to to the guy next door buying his Omega. Every time you touch an individual that shares the same passion, I feel like it fills you up even more with that same passion.
Blake Rea:It's weird because you meet like-minded people In any hobby, I don't care what it is, if you're a welder or if you're a computer geek. You're going to meet friends in that hobby. That, like you can share your passion with in the watch industry, is one of the most welcoming, in my opinion.
Roman Sharf:It can be a little snotty at times, let's be fair.
Blake Rea:Yeah, yeah. But I mean, some industries are like that, right, you know, because here we are, are here we are talking about obsolete, technically obsolete products, like you know, like nobody needs a wristwatch, like you, you buy it because what do you mean?
Blake Rea:it's essential yeah, for me it is yeah I mean I have almost, uh, I almost like 150 watches right now in my personal collection, um, and uh and anyways. So, so to me it is, and I'm like you know, I I talked to jj and I talked to ollie and they're like you know, they're so curated like their collections are so curated like I don't know how to curate a collection like that, because I want a beater that I can wear, uh, in fucking the bumfuck of hungary, you know like where nobody, you know, nobody knows shit about shit about watches and um, and not have to wear, like you know, like a rolex or you know, a jlc or whatever right like. So for me, um, I would disagree that they are essential but, um, technically that you know, there's no point in having a watch in modern society.
Blake Rea:iPhone.
Roman Sharf:Yeah, exactly, I'm going to have to jump here in a minute. I have a meeting in the next. I can't even see what time it is. It is 12 o'clock, I have a meeting in exactly seven minutes and I still have to use the voice room. I would love to continue this conversation. Maybe we can pick this up on a live somewhere with JJ, or if you decide to go live on youtube, I'll be happy to join. Yeah, I'm sure you have more questions for, so maybe we'll do a part two.
Blake Rea:I just have one question go ahead. Uh, so give your biggest lesson that you've learned business life through the work in the watch industry. If you could leave us on a high note and then go to the bathroom the biggest, the biggest.
Roman Sharf:There's a lot of business lessons that I've learned and I think that going from a basement operation the biggest lesson I learned, going from a basement operation to not running a company filled with management and upper management and middle tier management and employees, etc.
Roman Sharf:etc. The hardest thing for me was to do was to let go right. I would tend to micromanage in the beginning and it's the hardest thing to deal with when you're literally coming out of your basement, you open up an office, you hire a couple of people and you expect them to do the job as good as you, and I realized that you have to be wary of the fact that all people are different. You know human assets is your biggest asset of any company, but you have to be able to utilize your human assets to the utmost of their capabilities, based on what you're paying, with an acceptable margin of error. Otherwise, you'll drag yourself off the fucking wall and recently, when Adrian got into management, he was having that same issue and it was very hard for him because he's used to doing stuff on his own and he knows he's going to do it right, and he's afraid somebody's going to make a mistake.
Roman Sharf:Humans are humans. They're going to make mistakes and he's afraid somebody's going to make a mistake. Humans are humans. They're going to make mistakes, and the best part about it is the type of clientele that we deal with. They will not hold you that responsible. They understand what humans that. People are all humans and they tend to make mistakes. So it's it's it's flipping from micromanagement to real management. That's been the biggest challenge and also the biggest lesson learned.
Blake Rea:You heard it here first guys. Thank you so much, Roman from Luxury Bazaar, Appreciate you spending just over an hour with us. We're going to link Luxury Bazaar here in the description. Go check them out. If you're looking to get a watch, you know where to go. Thank you so much, Roman, Really appreciate your time. Thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure.
