Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with collectible watch expert Douglas Kaplan of Bob’s Watches an online and retail store company that buys and sells used watches. Not just any kind of watches. Bob’s specializes in luxury watches: Rolex, Patek Phillipe, Omega, Cartier, Audemars Piguet, and other which can go for mre than $100,000. There’s one famous Paul Newman style Rolex that was found inside a second hand sofa. There’s also the Omega moon mission watches.
[Applause] hi my name is Kathy Bissell welcome to the Golf Show 2.0 my host Gary Van Sickle is also with me and our guest this week is Douglas Kaplan who is from Bob’s watches now many of you like like me and like G watch the Antiques Road
Show and we see people who have Rolex Watches or some other kind of a watch that that their great-grandfather had and they find it in the box and it turns out it’s worth a gazillion dollars and Douglas you can probably tell us what ones are worth something and what ones
Aren’t and why you decided to dip your toe into golf by signing Kurt kyama and Patrick Rogers great thank you very much for the time today I appreciate meeting K Kathy and and and Gary um it’s nice to be with such a great of of golf offish
The fans um and I’d like to talk a little bit about why Bob’s watch is who we are and and how we uh ventured into getting into the golf world I think we really pirated something very very unique um I personally have been in the watch business about 26 years um started
Off uh my career um living in Japan actually I was a Japanese interpreter for the Japanese government um I came I studied that in college I came back to the United States um and I always wanted to do something uh fashion uh oriented actually and I got hired by a watch
Company that wanted me to be the bridge between uh Japan and the United States at the time um so I always felt uh from the beginning of my career that I would be um enjoying luxury items fashion items I really like that that category uh but bridging different audiences was
Always sort of my um career path uh in whatever I did um so moving from International uh I ended up prior to Bob’s watches at Swatch group and I was the president of one of the brands there and we did uh the first sponsorships of College athletics by a Swiss watchmaker
Uh it was a brand with Swatch group called Meo and we sponsored for the first time the official timekeeper of any us University we did Stanford we did UCLA U USC University of Miami University of Texas so all of the football games basketball games it gave
Me a little bit of a foundation for sports and the power of of a timekeeper a Time piece um so I felt very confident that Sports and watches were always a good fit for whatever uh watch company I was working with and um when I moved over to Bob’s watches about four years
Ago um our CEO Paul Altieri who was based at the time in Newport Beach we have our headquarters there um very very Avid golfer living in Newport Beach um recently we just opened an office in Naples Florida I’m based in Miami Florida I mean what could be three
Better cities for golf lovers than these three cities and this is part of where where Bobs was based there’s nothing more sad fying in golf than looking at your watch and telling your opponent time’s up on your lost ball search that’s you need to watch for golf
I don’t know if it’s a second Ru minutes but exactly that’s a great feeling when three second rule or or what however long it is um but I’ve always had an appreciation for the importance of time and the importance of um how it connects to your your daily lifestyle uh and the
Sport connection to just brings everyone together and I saw with Paul a very close connection that um what’s missing uh in the in the golf world you know where where he was an avid fan was um looking at the current level of sponsorships um and I saw an opportunity
For for golf with Paul that we wanted to pursue and what was that opportunity the opportunity was that um Sports give very very good visibility for for branding um Rolex is been a Powerhouse in terms of associating itself with the grandest sporting competitions whether it be PGA
Golf uh U tennis with the grand slams also with Formula 1 uh Global eyeballs um limited number of players for example with all of these whether it’s tennis whether it’s Formula 1 and whether it’s golf is that you have the opportunity to follow just about a hundred players
Where you can have a direct attachment with that type of sporting event um if you go with football if you go with basketball you’re talking about a much larger player uh uh roster and also um it’s hard to distinguish between the team and the actual player sometimes so
Golf is a very very unique sport we felt uh to to enter another thing about Bob’s watch is is that we’re the largest uh online reseller of Rolex and other luxury watches in the world we have an audience of over 750,000 people getting our watch information every day
We’re a retailer online uh during covid you know we were open 247 uh being based online primarily and a majority of our business is Rolex so a lot of our fans are golf fans sporting fans and the and the connection with Rolex gives us somewhat of an upward advantage in being
Affiliated with a sport that is also sponsored by Rolex but we’re not a brand we’re not a brand we’re a retailer a retailer allows something very different in the sponsorship world to players to spond to our partners our ambassadors is that we have the option of giving a
Variety of products to our ambassadors to wear to try and we’re not just focused on one particular brand so one month a golfer might like Kurt Kama might like wearing a Rolex and the next month he might like wearing an Omega and it gives the option I see
Compared they can rotate watches that they wear right but all of them come from Bobs is that’s the that’s right so we hear a lot of chatter that between golfers a lot of them talk about watches a lot it’s something that people like to collect when they win a tournament they
Go out and buy a watch or they commemorate a lot of things so we’re in a great place being a retailer and the first watch retailer to sponsor a PGA golfer but also pre-owned and what’s unique is pre-owned is a real new category right now people are committed to whether there’s an environmental
Decision because they’re not having to buy something new they can buy something that was owned that lasts a long time but also the variety of that’s out there in pre-owned is very accepted by a lot of young people today people are trading sneakers people are trading watches and
Like you said we also have that insight as to what’s a investment piece right what’s a um popular seller today we know the values going up going down and we build that relationship with the customer which is a little bit different than a regular full price
Retailer can go ahead no no no you go ahead well I’m I’m not familiar at all with the high-end luxury watch Market but it makes total sense I mean in golf you have PE you know you have people who buy and sell used golf clubs that’s right uh and you you just mentioned
Sneakers it’s it’s a whole new world out there that I didn’t know existed right but it makes total sense especially when you know these watch golf clubs are expensive but you know watches go up there’s no there’s no ends that’s right that really is uh how how long’s that
You know I think probably a lot of viewers aren’t familiar maybe just tell us a little bit more about the buying and the reselling market and how that work because that’s kind of like a you know well maybe I’m the last to know I don’t know well I think it’s a great
Question I mean Bob’s watches was founded about 13 years ago um it was at a time when the internet was still especially for uh luxury shopping kind of non-existent and um Paul Altier our founder saw an opportunity that to be as trusted and transparent to the online consumer was very very important yeah
And that um how do you know what you’re buying online is authentic how do you know what you’re buying on is at the right price it’s a it’s a challenge because 99% of our customers don’t come in to try on the product or or even return the product they’re very happy
With what they purchase they get what they see and they’re happy with the pricing that it’s at Market competitive levels uh especially with Rolex some of the models we sell that are used are more expensive than the same model new because of supply and demand so we we
Fit a lot of holes where people are trying to satisfy that itch for buying a luxury uh time piece especially Rolex because um it’s hard to find them if you go to any Rolex store today you’ll see for exhibition only and there’s no product available to sell so that’s
Definitely one wave but where it originated from is supply and demand I think that uh Rolex has a very long history of being very durable it’s something that has been passed around from generation to gener generation so it’s something that’s consistently in the market and the internet is a great
Global platform to uh offer these types of products it did take some time for people to get up to speed with buying a luxury product um our average sales about $1,000 so people are uh really willing to buy a luxury product um we interviewed last week Patrick Rogers our
Latest uh um brand ambassador and he was wearing a watch to our meeting and it was his grandfather’s Rolex that his father was given and then on his wedding day his father gave him the Rolex from his grandfather so I said gosh how many stories like this exist
Not just in the golf world but any world I have watches that I have a master in my career um that I brought with me today that um all have a very very strong family story um and coincidentally also have a very um unique Sports story story behind them um
A lot of these time pieces have originated from the needs of sport um I just think Bob’s watches has been very focused on transparency speed and um trust um can I ask you a couple questions here uh based on my long experience of watching Antiques Road Show yes Rolex
Watches come up often in the questions that people say I have this watch that belonged to my father or grandfather and it was hiding away in in someplace and they discovered it and it was a Submariner or something from the 1950s or whatever it is that’s right and and
The uh the thing is that they want to clean it up but they have learned over the years that you can’t you’re not supposed to replace the the glass part on the front of it is that what it’s called the is that it the crystal crystal you’re not supposed to replace
The crystal because it devalues the the watch so I’ve learned that much that’s great and you have to you know you have to ask these questions before you repair a watch now I know Bobs does a lot of watch repairing when you’re doing a repair do you check with the person or
Do you automatically not repair something that is going to devalue the watch that’s a great question um I think that there’s a bit of twofold there um one like the car industry or whatever sometimes you have these barn finds you know where um completely untouched we
Had a customer that found a Rolex in a sofa that they bought it’s known now if you search the Rolex sofa watch you’ll you’ll see a story about us from from I think it was in Rob report a woman found a um a Rolex in her sofa that she
Purchased and and uh I think she purchased the sofa for $200 or $300 and uh it was valued over $100,000 the watch um and it was in that very good condition but yes you’re right you don’t want to Doug I have to go check my sofa I’ll be right back
Right go find some quarters as well and um but um there that’s a a lot of that takes place in the Vintage category which is you know 25 to 30 years and and older where you like to see those scratches and the original components and not a factory
Replacement dial or Crystal like you said or the worst would be an aftermarket Crystal of a non Rolex manufacturer that makes repair parts so we’re always very very much about authenticity um no aftermarket parts and also period correct parts that if we are correcting or repairing something it’s
Used by the correct period when that watch was first manufactured it sounds like Patrick Rogers was the perfect guy for you to to snag based on the story with the Rolex did how did you get hooked up with Patrick and did you know about that Rolex connection before you even talked
To him or did it was that just a surprise in that meeting well it it’s a great question um we were you know you work with the agents first to talk about the different personalities and he selected a watch originally that was quite vintage because he wanted to buy a watch
From us and it was on a leather strap and I said wow this is a small watch it’s a leather strap this very different from the the the normal Rolex sport user you would think an athlete would choose yeah and then you got to learn a little
Bit about his style so we were a little curious about how his style was very different from most people that would just put a a samarit on their wrist or a large watch or something like that but it wasn’t until he came in the office and he was wearing his grandfather’s
Rolex that he started talking all about the tradition and the history and his family of that Rolex connection so I realized one-on-one learning about the person is very key um you had just mentioned Kathy about scratches and everything and my impression in the golf world was that all of these sponsors of
The golfers every year they give them a new set of clubs they’re sponsored by this ball this club this iron this thing and Patrick pulls out this putter that he’s used since Stanford University and it had scratches it wasn’t polished for every tournament it blew my mind it blew my mind that why
Wouldn’t Ben crenchaw putter you know Ben crenchaw had had a putter uh uh they call it is it little Ben Gary that he called it yes and um I don’t think you’d pry that out of his hands ever so I really wondered about the connection between the game and every
Year all of this new technology comes out but why do players still have that sentimental or convinced opinion that that go-to putter still is the one that’s going to win you know pars and birdies and you know each time he’s out there and that um is very much close to
The love for I guess a Time piece there’s digital watches there’s Apple watches there’s things that will tell your pulse right but people will go back to celebrating a victory with something traditional something of quality and and I think that uh really continued to connect um the the sport our partnership with
Patrick Rogers we had it also very similar to um with Kurt kyama when he went to um the the the open uh in Europe in in in UK and he wore a vintage watch that trip like from the 1960s and it it connected so well
Because it was like the home of golf it was like the the old courses you know and I think it it it played into a story he was telling he felt like it was something worth respecting you know that that has longevity um so I like those
Ties um that watches can can can make with sport um Kurt also sometimes likes green a lot uh and then you see him in a picture he’s wearing green Air Jordans and then you’re like oh I see why he likes this particular type of watch so
Uh I think I think in all um uh the the value and those Antique Road Show types of programs excite people because uh it’s like farest Gump said you know life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you’re GNA get you know
And you you you you look back at these heirlooms of stories um that you want to pass on so I like you have a lot of Rolex resale watches but you also have other watches don’t you that’s right that’s right can you uh run through a laundry list of
Some of the most famous watch names that are valuable collectible and that you see in coming in and out of your stores sure so um I would say next to Rolex the next most popular in terms of demand or volume I would say our audience is probably about
75% men or unisex versus maybe more of a smaller lady size uh I would say Omega comes in number two um very very popular among people who like speed Masters Omega also had a very big play they also do sponsorships in golf and other sports
Uh as well I would say Omega has a lot of history with it space missions and things with NASA so very big universe after that I would say we carry patk Philipe which is really one of the um the the Trinity of of watch brands in terms of history and uh mechanical
Development and and price valuation P that’s a very old old old brand isn’t it I think the early 1900s um some are older but patch even Rolex was from the mid 20th century it wasn’t from the 17 or 18th century or anything 19th century um so surprisingly
It it progressed you know just after World War II is when Rolex really started uh growing um we have Cartier which is um really hot these days both with men and women um also plays back a lot to historical designs that the tank France and the Santos they come from aeronautical or um
Designs like the Santos like a the window of an airplane or the tank fron which originated from the overview of of a tank a war tank um so you know a lot of them have interesting hisory from their designs uh we also have Brands like orus which are great quality brands
At a at a more um lower price point um but usually our customers are in that uh I would say probably closer to, 1500 plus price point dou if I wear a unisex was does that allow me access to the ladies restroom no I would say I did I
Asked Doug I I would say start a trend but but I think the trend have started already ever since covid uh um PE more and more people have are going towards more subtle classic designs I think even the average size is getting smaller so um there have been a lot of musicians
And actors where they’re showing up at these Red Carpet Events wearing a women’s siiz watch or today in jewelry you know men are wearing more pearls you know you see young people Harry Styles it’s everything game right now I think um and I even noticed even in in apparel
Golfers are switching their brand a bit to be a little more Street fashion or you a little more trying to bring in the new generation I think of you see guys wearing hoodies on the tour now in weather right so I think um I live in
Miami and you know putting a suit on is always a challenge for me these days yeah I moved from the New York area but yeah people want to feel comfortable I think covid was part of it that um you know uh they want to have a comfortable
Suit or a comfortable Fabric or material so I think things are are definitely changing in that uh but you’re you can check our website for for any any size you want we have a the Spectrum there I I’ll give you an example I brought with
Me uh this is a watch um reverso from J lutra um that I have um and when I put it on today it seems small but when I bought it I thought it was perfect um but this watch has a sporting history because it was developed uh in the early
20th century for polo players because when people would play polo they would move the case flip it over and then it would protect the Crystal from being hit by the polar ball yep okay and I actually had I actually had my wedding photo engraved laser engraved on the back of the watch so
This is something that I know my son will eventually receive right um but it has a lot of that pass down Heritage and uh I’ll just know that my son will always have his parents you know looking at him for the when was the last time you played Polo Doug um good point
Um when was was the last time I wore a Ralph Lauren polos b a polo shirt um I guess it originates from that but you’re right sometimes it’s the story that interests you in in products I mean the club that Tiger Woods used or the brand
That he wore I mean all of these I think uh have a certain emotional connection uh ory I always like to say you can dump out a bag of baseballs uh right one of them is Babe Bru’s 714th home run ball which one it’s a baseball if you take away the rest of
The bag and just have that one ball there’s the ball that’s right it it does have a significant is so did you guys see that Kurt kyama had this watch on is that how you connected with him or did you already have a lead
On him or how I mean how did you how did you how how did right bobat find Kurt kyama it’s a great it’s a great question how um being in business you know there’s a financial approach there’s a budget approach there’s a um sort of um demographic approach and and where those
Golfers on the year that you’re looking and your um feeling of what segments um the type of person that you think is appropriate for for your brand um sometimes it’s also geography you know of of accessibility to the golfer um so we wanted to um find someone that that had a following um
But that we could get at a point in their career where where we think they can explode because from a partnership standpoint you’re also looking to make an investment in someone and be committed that it’s gonna pay off in some way that it’s going to give you some brand visibility of course but
You’re also building a relationship of trust that the people that follow Kurt and Trust and F and are connected to his personality can also you know uh connect also to the brands that he stands for or represents um now you giv if if you were giving some advice to someone about what
Kind of watches they should select from Bobs uh what ones are going to increase in value for sure what ones have a decent chance of increasing in value you know what it’s like investment advice should you buy Amazon stock or should you buy right FanDuel stock you know
Sure well I think part of the being the B the Bob’s family I think it’s we’re not so much of like the ticker tape of the latest up and downs of the stock market in terms of watch prices as much as buy what you like buy what you love
Um we’re here to help you we’re here to buy back from you and maybe you’ll buy something down the road but um I would say when you’re looking for a watch and and for that investment purpose um you’ll notice that you can have two of the same identical watches and one has a
Black dial and one has a white dial yes from the same year and they’re both used in perfect condition where or scratched condition whatever but you might see a different price between one and the other because the market is stating that the white dial might be more popular
Than the black or the 40 millimeter might be more popular than the 36 millimeter um so I think it really depends on um whether you’re interested in finding that particular model that has um everybody’s attention and I call this the square effect of Instagram that brands are restricted to try to Showcase
Their brand through a small daily photo Instagram so and and if it becomes viral or if it if a player is wearing it or something and it’s the watch to have it it blows up that that’s often what people see as what the brand is or that’s what’s popular and that’s what
They want and that’s I guess it’s a one1 in marketing you want to have that Mass Appeal but in the pre-owned Market what would sell as 10,000 ,000 might be retailing at 20,000 because of its limited edition status maybe there’s only a few numbers maybe it’s worn by a certain celebrity so it
Yeah it further pumps it up uh we have some Rolexes where the blue dial is almost double the price of the other models of the same steel steel model um some have special story to it um I have a watch here another watch which goes back to sport your your traditional
Uh Omega Speedmaster but this speed master speed master originated as a as a racing watch racing t for timing but it ended up being selected by NASA for the first trip to the moon oh you know all astronauts still use an Omega and Omega really wasn’t that much aware that they
Were selected because it was a NASA survey of what would uh maintain the conditions in space and this watch commemorate Ates um the 50th anniversary of um the Apollo 13 mission and because the watch was used when they had an electronic failure where the watch was
Needed to make the turn of the capsule back into the into the atmosphere um and this watch in particular has Snoopy on it which is a collectible on the back of the watch and on the back of the watch when you click it it has a small Snoopy capsule which
You’ll see in a minute in a second Snoopy will start appearing here’s Snoopy there wow well he’ll be there I don’t really remember Snoopy in the movie but uh I guess I didn’t watch it back close well maybe it’s not why I’m there Snoopy you see him coming out
Yeah so he’s actually flying his little capsule around got it okay okay so a lot of these stories create demand that the watch companies keep challenging themselves and saying wow it’s limited it took three years to order and people will pay more for that and if it comes
To Bob’s watches earlier than waiting three years and it’s more than what it’s valued at the retailer some customers will buy um now who has the who has the original Moon watches the original Moon watches um I I would say the astronauts uh you know kept a lot of them sometimes they
Auction it off when they get older for a charity or something like that but a lot of those uh famous astronauts like Bose Aldren are still part of the NASA and Omega sort of Hall of Fame and brand ambassadors where they appear at different events so you’ll have uh Cindy
Crawford here Daniel Craig and then you’ll have buz Aldren I mean it’s very cool to be you know surrounding yourself with all those types of people is there a celebrity over over history that stands out of somebody’s watch you ran across like oh this was Charles lindberg’s or woodro Wilson’s have you
Got a a real unusual celebrities watch who came came through Bob’s sure um well I think Elvis Presley had a watch that that came on auction uh it was an Omega watch um that he seemed to have had and gave away so it’s like watches that someone
Received and then didn’t keep are also of some value I found it interesting I also found walking through the Atlanta International Airport there’s a little exhibition on Martin Luther King and in in the little Showcase in the airport is his his watch I think it
Was a Seiko or a boua or something like that um so it’s amazing that certain watches are are are kept in the archives of a lot of these people um I think some of the most famous Rolexes uh imaginable in the auction space are Paul Newman’s um the Paul
Newmana um he was seen wearing um uh and it’s just become an iconic uh collectible hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars but historically the original dial that’s on that watch that he wore from sto I’ve heard was not successful it was dial that many retailers would swap out and
Put in a different one because it wasn’t selling but you get call Newman to wear it you know while he’s racing cars and now it’s the coolest looking Daytona ever and people want to collect it um Steve McQueen also has a Rolex that even
If you find um an Explorer two on our uh on our site or an Explorer one Explorer one no I’m sorry it’s an Explorer two it’s known as the Steve McQueen and there are that he never actually wore the actual watch or there’s a lot of things that go into
These histories but yet people kind of get their name attached to it um for for collectors and such so I think it’s very interesting what of fact what effect if any is the uh you know all things technology are making things obsolete you see fewer fewer men wearing wrist
Watches because everybody’s got a cell phone with the time right is that I would think maybe that didn’t affect these old these classic Rolexes at all because they are Classics but has that what has that made the market go up or down or hasn’t it had a factor the fact
That yeah sure please subscribe it’s free just there’s our obligatory plug does that had an effect on the price I think I think that the overall concern in the industry at first um was that watch watches were in decline because of the ease of using a digital watch and all of the
Function um I think that covid uh reversed that Trend a bit as people had a lot of time on their hands and and and maybe money to buy some bubles and things like that so we do we do see that time as having a real peak of website
Viewership and and things like that um but I think that um brands that really showcase their quality and their sort of perpet ual it’s not thinking about the next six months it’s thinking about the next 60 years um is is often how you hear Bernard Arno talk about Louis
Vuitton even in that he doesn’t just think of the next year’s collection he’s thinking how can this family business continue long term and I think this is what differentiates maybe Swiss watch makers from uh maybe fashion uh brands that are doing runways every season just with the new style um Rolex isn’t really
Chang changing it’s designed too much each year um so I think that adds to the value of making an impression on you to hold it long term but young people today are very very curious about um watches uh from a collecting standpoint um vintage has come back in fashion of um
Maybe a more affordable the the watch show in Miami is very famous for vintage watches they had a few weeks ago on Miami Beach where you just see young people just coming in looking for um uh kind of a Hidden Gem needle in the H Hy
Stack of a of a of a of a unicorn type of thing um I also think during covid a lot of factories were shut down for months and a lot of components and assembly were staggered so long that it created a a a created um generated this demand of how
Can I get one as well and if I told you that Patrick Philipe for example made let’s say they make 40,000 watches a year okay how many Rolexes do you think Rolex makes a year would you have any yeah none n none of the world I have no idea Gary one guess
8,000 they make a over a million watches a year wow I was very close but I underbid that’s like you were going for the uh the Double birdie yeah I was I was the last person on prices rise right I bid I bid one dollar that’s that’s exactly
Right right so a million watches at these price points you would think but the way that they market so well makes you feel like every one of them is perfect and every one of them has a real special place but as Paul our CEO would say is every year another million
Rolexes go in people’s draws adding to the the previous year’s million yeah right so there’s the beauty of um pre-owned is that um you might be interested in something from your birth year 1971 1962 you might find a design that the retailer doesn’t have anymore 1887 for Kathy oh come on I
Rec I’m just guessing based on how look if you’re buying your first one you know that there’s going to be a resale value for it so maybe buying your second one is not going to be as expensive if you trade it in kind of like a car that’s
Right and a lot of watches I wouldn’t say keep their value most don’t and most go down dramatically after purchase but if you’re if you like the design and you like the brand and the story it connects it’s the reason to buy but what happens with a lot of these very unique brands
That do appreciate and value it’s because they limit Supply and they stick to that whereas some other very well-known quality Brands if they sold a million this year they’re going to project and build that new Factory so they can handle 1.2 million next year you’re right because they are sometimes
Often public companies where the investors are saying you got to grow your business so when you can always find that incredible watch how is there a supply issue that’s going to grow the valuation of the people looking for that right if it’s ready available limited editions and other things are
Ways to to create that but those are more like blips along the way but everyone is trying to continue to grow their their their overall sales so I feel I feel like we could talk about watches for another hour here Bob there there’s so much to talk about we got to
Wrap it up you much I think you’ve given everyone a reason to keep an eye on Patrick Rogers and Kurt kyama I know next time I see him in a tournament and get the real story it might be a story in there for me how they and we look forward to the next
Tournament with both of them particip so to watch so thanks for joining us today and good luck at Bob’s watches it’s a really interesting topic thank you very much Kathy we’ll see you next time much thanks a lot
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