Timeless Knowledge: Learning About Watches for Jewelry Resellers with Rob! - Episode #62

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Jewelry Resellers Podcast, Your Go To Source for all things shiny, sparkly and of course profitable. I'm your host Desiree, and I'll be your guide on this dazzling journey through the world of reselling Jewelry.

[00:00:14] We'll be diving deep into the art and science of reselling, uncovering valuable tips, insider secrets, and sharing stories from successful Jewelry resellers. We'll explore market trends, industry news, and even discuss how to find those hidden gems just waiting to be discovered in thrift stores estate sales and beyond.

[00:00:37] So if you're dreaming of turning your hobby into a hustle or if you're a seasoned pro looking to stay at the top of your Jewelry reselling game, join me each week for insights, stories and more on the Jewelry Resellers Podcast. Hello Rob. Hi, how are you?

[00:00:57] I am fantastic and I am so thrilled and excited that you are here today because we're going to talk about a lot of stuff that I don't normally get a chance to talk about.

[00:01:10] So I am just really happy that no well reached out and she said, oh, you really need to talk to Rob because Rob is the watch guy and I don't know anybody really.

[00:01:24] Really who knows a lot about watches so I think it's going to be a really good conversation but before of course we get into all those details. I would love for you to introduce yourself and let us know how things came. How things came about up.

[00:01:42] My name is Rob, everybody in the community knows me as junk milk, he all line across all social media platforms and all my reselling platforms.

[00:01:51] I started working on watches in 1987 and in 2000 I was very fortunate enough to land a five year apprenticeship under a master Rolex watch maker had a Rolex authorized repair center and dealer.

[00:02:08] And I've just been at it most of my well all of my old life really and I'm also a bench jeweler. I can do anything from mining stuff out of the ground, I cut Jim stones and I'm my gold.

[00:02:21] In fact, my wife's wedding bands are made out of gold that I'm mine. And watch makers in general are rare but trained watch makers and knowledgeable watch people within the reselling community.

[00:02:37] I know I'm the only one. I mean there's other watch sellers out there but they're not have never met any of them through the general reselling community. Wow, okay so then this is huge because I know as a jewelry reseller.

[00:02:53] I come across watches all the time whether I'm thrifting, whether I'm yard sailing, online auctions, whatever.

[00:03:01] And so I tend to kind of steer away from them because I don't know a whole lot about them and I wouldn't know what is good, what is bad, what is junk, what is not.

[00:03:13] So maybe we should start there because maybe you can give us some basic tips or. One of the most basic tip I can give you about watches is the secondary market for ladies watch it's watches is very limited.

[00:03:30] Especially in the vintage world now because it's tied to fashion and fashion moves quickly. Right. So most of the watches you'll run across are what we call fashion watches, they're not of the highest quality.

[00:03:47] So there's not a whole lot of re-enfashing changes so you know what was hot last year is not hot this year, so you pick up the hot watch from last year it's not going to sell this year.

[00:03:58] Now some of the there's exceptions to everything now there are tried and true watches that will always be worth money. So the top of that list is the ladies Rolex. Right. And you have things like Omega, uh,

[00:04:12] Lungines, E-bell, uh, the big hitters if you see a watch and it has a name of a designer from the clothing world, Fendi Gucci, those types of things, Michael Cores, those watches there's very little resell value.

[00:04:32] So that's my first biggest tip is be very careful with buying ladies watches.

[00:04:40] Okay, so I guess my first question is what about if it is one of those big names but the watch isn't working or maybe you can't like if you see it at a thrift store, you may not be able to test it to know if it's working.

[00:04:55] Is there still value in picking up this? Big hitters, even if they don't work and you can't make a war, there's still good for parts. Even though these watches are the big hitters, they're still tied to fashion.

[00:05:11] And watches and watch companies for the last 50 years, about every 5 to 10 years, they stop producing parts for the older models.

[00:05:22] So if you inherit or you have one of those older watches and you won't it fixed a lot of times the only source for parts, I have to get on eBay and I have to find a watch that has the part that I need.

[00:05:35] And by there I can call the manufacturer's all day long and they just tell me, no sorry, they're no longer available. So yes, non-working watches are absolutely still valuable.

[00:05:46] You're still going to want to pay less for a non-working one is like anything else if it's damaged you don't pay up for it. But it's very much worth your time to take one of those watches to watch maker.

[00:06:00] We're kind of rare so we're hard to find but the best case scenario is you find a jewelry store that has an actual trained watch maker on staff. And talk to them and get their recommendations for it because a non-running ladies Rolex say an all stainless steel model.

[00:06:18] It might only be worth five to seven hundred dollars. However, if you can get it serviced and repaired and open running for an additional five to seven hundred dollars sometimes more I charge a lot more.

[00:06:31] But if you can, you can invest another five to seven hundred in it and you're anywhere from a thousand to fourteen hundred in it. You can then turn around and sell that watch for two thousand twenty five hundred.

[00:06:43] So you make a much more money or you can just resell it as is and you don't make sure that you state that it does need to be serviced and repaired and you don't make your profit move on to the next thing.

[00:06:58] Oh, I knew I was going somewhere. Oh yes. Stay out of the back of the watches people. Please stay out of the back of the watches. The majority of the repairs I do is because somebody else went in there before me and they did damage.

[00:07:16] Oh, some of the damage is two parts that I can't get. They're not easy or they're not cheap to get. So don't go in there and I know changing batteries.

[00:07:27] For the most part is very easy, but when you start talking about the big hitters, big hitters, the e-bails and the olmagas. There are parts in there that if you even touch them, you will damage them and you'll destroy the watch. Oh, okay, okay. So no DIY repairs.

[00:07:51] Pay attention to the names and the branding of the watch. That's your biggest tip. Now that leads me to my next question. How do we know it's an authentic Rolex or Gucci or whatever. That's a big one because there are a lot of fake stuff there. Yes.

[00:08:09] One thing I would suggest everybody do is go to a Rolex authorized dealer. Okay. Trass them a little as watch is on handle Rolex watches and indeed anything any small item of quality or any item of quality.

[00:08:25] They have a heft, they feel to them that the counterfeits can't match. The older Rolex, it feels solid. The corners and edges feel smooth. They may be crisp but they're not sharp. And the watch doesn't rattle in plaque. Okay.

[00:08:47] I've actually had to train myself to stop doing something. I can spot a fake Rolex from across the room. I've had to stop myself from telling people, I'm sorry it's fake and they're like, you didn't even look at it.

[00:09:01] I'm like, yeah, I did when you were coming across the room.

[00:09:04] So what I do now is I just wait, I just hold my time and I let them hand me the watch. I shake it. I look at it and then I hand it back to them tell them it's fake.

[00:09:16] If you've handled a few of them, you'll realize that the difference in the feel of them and even the look. Gold or Rolex does not fade. Doesn't rub off. They don't have sharp corners or little corrosion spitting in things of that nature. They just don't.

[00:09:39] And for the most part, if you see the second hand ticking, that's going to be a fake watch.

[00:09:46] That doesn't mean they're either way around that if it's sweeping smoothly that is real watch because all mechanical automatic wind watches have a smooth sweep where the Rolex made them are some knockoff Chinese company made. Okay. That's not indicative of a real watch because it sweeps smoothly.

[00:10:07] So, and but the endo when you're going to buy one, nobody's going to sell your Rolex for cheap.

[00:10:17] And if you're going to pony up and buy a Rolex, you need to have them meet you at a Rolex authorized dealer or jeweler that you trust that you know is knowledgeable and have them verify the watch for.

[00:10:29] Up to and including opening the back and making sure that it actually has the Rolex movement. Okay. There are Rolexes out there that sell for tens of thousands of dollars and you're not going to buy one of those for $200 from a yard sale or a state sale.

[00:10:49] So, if you see one offered and you know that that's a Rolex Daytona and it's worth. You're not buying that for $200. Nobody who knows what that watch is going to sell you that watch for that price.

[00:11:02] So, it's most likely fake and if they don't want to go meet you at a jewelry store or an authorized dealer just let it go. It's not worth the risk. Okay. Okay. Now, what about because I've heard this too like the number four on the Rolex is like.

[00:11:19] That's not the card. Oh, cardier. It's not always the number four. But in the guy, one of the Roman numerals, one leg of it is going to spell out Cartier. Okay.

[00:11:34] To be sharp and crisp so you need to have a small jeweler's loop or a small five X or 10 X power folding loop. So when you see one mark Cartier first thing you do is as you look for the hidden name in the numbers.

[00:11:50] So yeah, that's a good one. That's one of my I forgot to mention Cartier is being one of the big hitters.

[00:11:55] Yes, why just remember I think I read that somewhere like you're supposed to check the number four and I thought it was on Rolex but you're saying no, it's on. No, it's Cartier. Okay. Google it folks and you'll see what I'm talking about or we're talking about.

[00:12:09] One of the Roman numerals on a Cartier watch will always have one leg of it that spells out Cartier in a really small print or it's not printed on there. It's actually carved into the marker. Oh, okay. Okay. Wow, there's so much to learn about about watches.

[00:12:29] Unfortunately, there is because there's so many fake self here. All right. So what about like the watch band? Like the bracelet. Okay. The bracelet is what it's called for something.

[00:12:44] For high end watches, we don't call it a band unless it's leather and then we prefer the word strap. But for an all-metal watch, we call that a bracelet. A bracelet. Okay. Okay. And I'm a X has a band of Rolex has a bracelet.

[00:12:56] Okay. Okay. I get it. I get it. So what do you need to look for as it relates to the bracelet? Um, I don't have one handy.

[00:13:06] I have a little bit of a shop set up here, but you want to check the bracelet and make sure it's not all stretched out. And just wait to do that. It's close the class. Hold the watch up by its face.

[00:13:19] I must have a wristwatch leg right here somewhere. I can see five or six pocket watches with no wrist watches. Hmm. That's okay. If you want to grab one, little way. Okay. Here's one that doesn't have the bracelet or the strap on it.

[00:13:40] This is an old vintage, grew in watch. But what you want to do is you want to hold the watch like this so that the bracelet would come out horizontal. If that bracelet flops down that bracelet is stretched out and needs to be replaced or repaired,

[00:13:56] especially on a Rolex because on a Rolex about 40% of the price of the watch is based on the bracelet. So if it's a thousand dollar watch, $400 of that is in the bracelet.

[00:14:12] So if you get one like this and there's no bracelet and they're telling you it's a thousand dollar watch, you can easily tell them, no, it's a $600 watch without a bracelet. Okay. Just to give examples of numbers. Okay. So like I said, there's so much to learn.

[00:14:31] Now what tends to have a higher resale value than is their particular brands? Obviously I'm guessing it's men's watches. Is there certain styles or designs? Currently the biggest style of watch in the men's world is what we call tool watches. These are useful watches beyond telling time.

[00:14:55] Diving watches, chronographs. They're the ones that have the multiple dials and you can push a button. They got to build in stock watch. What we call tool watches or sports watches. They have rotating bezels on some of them or they'll have extra information on the bezel.

[00:15:12] And those tend to be more popular even than the solid gold wristwatches these days. So those, if I tell you to look for dive watches and chronographs, don't go out and buy every in Victor you see. Okay. The Invicta watches, don't buy those at all.

[00:15:34] There is not a watchmaker on this planet who has anything good to say about an Invicta watch. They follow a part faster than you can put them back together.

[00:15:44] And if you buy one and resell it online, you're taking a very big chance of getting a negative feedback or an eye net or a return. So they're really not worth investing your time effort money into.

[00:15:59] And it's funny you say that because I have seen Invicta watches many times in jewelry lots. You know, they're getting right in there. They, here's the deal. If it sells on one of the televised shopping networks, no while. Okay.

[00:16:17] That's the biggest retailer of Invicta watches is the shopping networks. And you know a designer of fine jewelry is on their way out when they start selling on the shopping networks.

[00:16:33] Yeah, but you know what they have such a huge following, you know, the people, you know, people love their shop on there and they're getting it's very much tied to fashion. So big chunky rose gold plated watch with seven dials on it. Maybe popular today.

[00:16:50] But six months from now, it's going to be an all white watch with no extra dials but it'll have stones on it that sparkle. And then the one that you bought previously is no longer worth anything.

[00:17:05] So fashion changes very quick. There are no matter what the weather's clothing or jewelry or watches, there are tried and true things like jeans and denim never goes out of style black dresses never go out of style.

[00:17:21] Yeah, you're Rolex date just that's the basic Rolex it's too tone tells you the time and the day of the month never goes out of style.

[00:17:32] The fancier you make something the more tied to fashion it is, the easier it goes out of style and the faster the value of it drops right right. And also the quality as well because those are the ones they get mass produced.

[00:17:49] Yes, and they get knocked off, you know, those are the ones that you see all the fakes and and all that stuff. So it's just like clothing. Yeah, just like jewelry saying it's kind of thing.

[00:17:59] The quality of the the the more simple thing is the more well crafted simplicity but outlast and outperform. Unneeded unnecessary complexity, every time more complex you make something to easier it is to break the harder and more expensive.

[00:18:18] It is to repair whereas the more simple you make something well crafted simplicity is very trustworthy very dependable. Doesn't break down and even when it does it's easier and less expensive to repair. Okay, and the same whole's true with jewelry.

[00:18:37] You know a solid gold wedding band nothing is ever going to happen to that. You take the same amount of gold and you add about 40 diamonds to it in a bunch of filigree. You just walking through a doorway and bumping your hand and you can destroy that ring.

[00:18:52] Right. So that's it. It's also how to do this. I like things more simple and more well crafted and more solid and long lasting. Yeah, you know, and there's also the whole maintenance part of it too, right?

[00:19:07] Like I know because I have a friend like her husband buys her a Rolex every few years he upgrades her Rolex and so she has so far so many times you can upgrade it. Right, so she ends up getting a new one right?

[00:19:22] So but she tells me that you know she takes it in and I guess they service it, they clean it or something for. And so. And cleaning or they kind of get tied together, but they're really two separate things.

[00:19:34] Okay, we take the movement out and we take that movement completely apart. There are no two moving parts left together and that's hundreds and hundreds of tiny little parts.

[00:19:47] Even the tweezers that are fine enough to pick them up can be sixty to a hundred dollars just for pair of tweezers. And the the parts are so small you cannot pick them up with your fingers unless you lick your finger and touch it.

[00:20:00] Because there are screwheads in there that are about the size of a pinhead. So we run that through special ultrasonic cleaning machine through in special chemicals. Then when we put it back together, we wear gloves and we have to lubricate it as we go. Put it back together.

[00:20:19] And in general, they're about five different braids of lubrication in a mechanical watch spread out amongst anywhere from 50 or 60 up to 100 different spots in there. And together all that lubrication up and made one drop out of it if it on the head of a pin.

[00:20:36] And it must be very precisely placed. If you're a little bit sloppy in the oil goes up and out of the little oil and cup that holds the oil,

[00:20:46] that oil will actually travel up and away from the pivot that you're trying to oil in it will drive the watch out. And you'll have issues with it is.

[00:20:59] Oiling is one of the two most difficult things to do in watch repair because if you have to know exactly what type of oil to put in exactly where and exactly how to do so.

[00:21:10] And those oils are not cheap. A little 10 CC bottle of oil can cost me a couple of hundred dollars. Oh wow. Yeah, you can't do it with three and one. Okay, so how does cleaning then?

[00:21:29] Or is that yeah, cleaning oil at just or clean lubricating just a CL like the cleaning part is.

[00:21:39] If you take a watch in and ask them the clean it they'll take it back. Use a toothbrush and some soapy water or jewelry cleaner and scrub your watch up rinse it off, dry it off and hand it back to that's cleaning.

[00:21:49] Service in you're having the watch took completely apart. Okay, all those parts and pieces cleaned meticulously put back together and lubricated and adjusted. And when you get the watch back it should be as close to factory new as possible.

[00:22:05] Oh, okay. Okay. All right. So that's the difference between servicing cleaning and then obviously repair would be fixing whatever is broken. Correct. If there's something that's broken.

[00:22:20] Okay. Okay. Oh my goodness. Like I said, the more the more I learn the more I realize how much I don't know.

[00:22:27] I have to be careful sometimes when I start talking about watches. It's kind of hard to get me to stop and I'll go off on tangents one thing reminds me of something else. No, but that's what we want to do. Okay, it's it.

[00:22:41] Yeah, I've seen so many watches and done so many things with watches. Okay, so then. What do you see like as it relates to reselling? Do you know or what has been your experience as the best most popular reselling watches?

[00:23:07] I mean, I'm going to guess it's going to be Rolex. But you're not going to run across Rolexes every day. I'm in the industry and I probably only buy and resell in a good year. Maybe it does.

[00:23:21] Okay. So it's it's really hard to have a reselling business on that doesn't items a year. Mm-hmm.

[00:23:30] So some of the things you can look for like the little grew in that I showed you earlier, this is what we call a field watch or a sports watch but not a tool watch. It does it's time and this one is probably from the 60s.

[00:23:43] So you'll see a lot of these. Stay away from the time makes those things sell by the pound, but things like grew in Hamilton, blah blah blah. From the 50s and 60s you'll run across a lot of those.

[00:23:54] And if they're running at all and you can get them for less than five bucks, you can make good profit on that. Okay. A pocket watches or another thing? Yeah, you know I just went to the antique jewelry and watch show here in Las Vegas.

[00:24:12] And I saw thousands of time pieces like from all over. Now this is a watch that is not tied to fashion at all. Right. If pocket watches ever got reattached to fashion, their value would explode. But pocket watches are more for the collectors than wrist watches.

[00:24:40] And if you're going to wear something, it has to fit your style or at least modern fashion. Yes and it has to be functional too right. It has to be functional where it does what I needed to do.

[00:24:55] It should keep you within five minutes of time per day on the vintage stuff. If it's a modern watch, it should keep perfect time. This one is probably around 160 years old and you'll notice there's no winding up.

[00:25:10] You actually had to open this watch up and stick a little tiny key down in that hole or wind it up. And to sit it, you would have to do the opposite.

[00:25:21] You'd have to open the front of it and in the center of the hands where the post that they ride on, the end of it is square cut and the same key that would wind the watch up would set the time. Oh, okay. This one, yeah.

[00:25:38] This one, that's what the movement looks like. This one was made shortly after the Civil War. Alright so for those of you listening to the audio version, come on over to YouTube because Rob is doing show and tell.

[00:25:52] It was showing tell but in general people are for pocket watches you want dress watches which will be a little bit smaller and thinner. And the big names to look for and those are going to be Hamilton, Illinois, Belgium and Wulfum.

[00:26:08] Now the same big names are going to be the ones that you look for in a slightly larger watch and these are going to be railroad watches. Now railroad watches cannot be set by the stem.

[00:26:20] So if you pull the knob out one click and the hands don't change, it's likely that that watch is what we call a lever said,

[00:26:28] which means you would have to open the front of the watch and everybody a little lever that you would have to pull out before you could then change the time on the watch.

[00:26:35] And this was a safety feature to keep people from playing with the watch in their pocket accidentally resetting the time and then causing a major catastrophe on a rail line, which was huge concern back in the late 18th. It's the whole reason we have time zones.

[00:26:58] In 1891, there was a train accident that was caused by a guy playing with his watch and his watch had stopped for about four minutes. And the deep old manager ran out told him, hey, the such and such express train is all time you need to get going.

[00:27:16] And the train conductor, more or less, custody, amount told him he knew his business. He gets in his train and not shallotly takes over, takes off from the depot and a couple hours later there's a hit on collision where 190, some odd people died.

[00:27:31] Because his watch was not reliable so we come up with railroad grade watches and standard time zones. Okay, so that's where the name comes from railroad grade. Yeah, railroad grade and it just because it's a pocket watch does not mean that it is a railroad watch.

[00:27:50] You see that a lot. Okay. And also if it has the lid where you have to push the button and the lid comes open, that is absolutely not a railroad watch. You saw it in the old timey western movies, the train conductor would come through checking people's tickets.

[00:28:05] And it took the watch out of his fast hit the button and the lid would pop open pure Hollywood. Those watches were actually illegal on the rail lines. You could not carry one while you worked for the rail yard.

[00:28:17] You would get fired immediately if they caught you with one. Oh, wow. So there's so much history behind this like. It's amazing how much history American and world history are tied to the watchmaking industry. Navigation.

[00:28:38] We could always find out where we were at on our what latitude we were at by using a simple tool called a sextant to take a measurement of the sun. And it would tell you where you were at in relation to the equator north or south.

[00:28:53] You could do that very very accurately what you could not do is tell where you were at on the globe on the longitudinal lines. Until I came along who there's actually a documentary out there and it's called Laundryton.

[00:29:07] And it was about a clock maker who come up with a watch that would keep time well enough to where if you knew what time it was and London, which is where the prime meridian, which is the opposite of the equator.

[00:29:22] The prime meridian runs through London on one side of the globe and is the international date line on the other side of the globe.

[00:29:29] So if you knew what time it was in London and you could set your time locally by taking a measurement of the sun, you could tell exactly when it was noon and you could set that watch to noon.

[00:29:39] And you took the difference between the two times you could tell where you were at on the longitudinal lines out the globe. So even things as simple as getting a ship from the UK to the North American continent with any amount of reliability and accuracy dependent on watches.

[00:30:03] Wow, this is so fascinating, Rob. World War II, D-Day, we just had the anniversary of D-Day. That military operation would not have been possible without extremely accurate watches. Everybody knows these days if you pull the stem out on the watch the watch stops.

[00:30:27] Well before World War II, that was almost completely unheard of. And it was military operations that told the watchmaking industry we need to watch to do this so we can set every single watch to the exact same time to the second.

[00:30:45] And you've ever seen a military film and they're like, we're going to sell the intent 98 count down and then they say mark and hit the watch button.

[00:30:54] They were synchronizing their watches or they were about to start something because the enemy had our radio codes and frequencies they could hear us.

[00:31:03] So in order to do a military operation and everybody be where they were supposed to be when they were supposed to be, they needed to watch that with hack, we call it a hack lever.

[00:31:15] You could stop the watch at noon, everybody stops their watch at noon and they when somebody says mark, everybody starts their watch. Now everybody's on the exact same time frame to the second. So even though you're like, D-Day would not have been possible without watches. That's so amazing.

[00:31:40] Now are there any parallels between watches and clocks? I know this isn't. Yes. I'm just thinking about history of clocks and then obviously. It's simply a portable clock. Right. The biggest difference between a watch and a clock, a clock is stationary. Okay. When you move a watch.

[00:32:06] Gravity affects and you move any timepiece, a watch or a clock, gravity affects it. And the whole thing is a clock is a clock that goes to the clock. A clock becomes a clock, it's a clock, when you move a clock. The clock stops.

[00:32:20] A watch has to be able to if whether it's in your pocket or on your wrist, above your head straight out straight down. I loved, I loved it has to continue to run and keep time in that position. So those are the biggest.

[00:32:36] right back to Longitude. Watches did exist back then but they were thought of more as a novelty or a toy. In fact, most watchmakers in those days were actually toy makers and probably made more money making toys than they did making watches. It wasn't until the importance

[00:32:54] of what you could do with a watch was discovered that watchmaking became more and more respected. Okay. Wow. Like I said, this is so amazing. This is so amazing. All right. So before we get into the

[00:33:12] whole bent jeweler stuff, are there any more like tips that we need to be aware of as it relates to watches and just being aware or maybe sharing your predictions of how you think

[00:33:25] watch the ability is much like any market. The tried and true slow climbers are investment grade watches we would call them you'd say anything that's tied to fashion is especially fast fashion. Yes. Stay away from it. Right. Good solid, reliable names, brands and styles. Go ahead

[00:33:53] and buy them. Pick them up. And if you're going to spend big money before you spend one, big money take pictures and call a friend go to a dealer go to a jewelry store get it verified

[00:34:05] before you spend that money. Well, I'm glad that I know you now because if I see something out there, I'm just going to send you a pick. Hey, I do that for a lot of people. I get pictures

[00:34:19] almost daily on Instagram and people contact me. Hey, is this anything or they show me a table full and they're like, can you see anything on this table that I should be looking at?

[00:34:28] I'm always happy to help. I've always got my phone on me so find me on Instagram, John Monkey and yeah reach out to me if you ever have any questions or watch it. Oh wow that's

[00:34:42] amazing. I mean you gave us a whole lesson just now. You want to stretch this out? I could tell you two three more stories. This is related. Oh yeah, yeah. I mean, you know without Mickey Mouse

[00:34:55] we'd have never had a timex watch. Really? Really, and truly. Now, you know, a lot of people do have the the Mickey Mouse watch, you know, worth the hand. And most of them that you find will not

[00:35:07] be worth a lot of money. Back in the early 1930s we the United States and indeed the globe was going through the great depression and one of the companies affected by that was a watch company

[00:35:19] called the Inger Saul Watch Company, which had a pretty long history. But it's the early 30s were in the depression and they filed for bankruptcy and they had an office on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. Walt Disney was walking down the boulevard one day he sees their office

[00:35:41] and he has this bright idea. Maybe I should get my cartoon character steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse put on one of their watches. So he stops in and asks him if they could do it and they're like well

[00:35:52] sure we can do it. We make a few bucks for we have clothes and doors. It was so wildly popular that it literally during the great depression saved the small company and pulled them up out of bankruptcy

[00:36:08] and by Mickey Mouse. Now this company continued on and they produced lots of character watches. So if you ever see the old watches and they have a character on it, it's probably made by Inger Saul.

[00:36:21] Well in the 1950s they changed their name to US time and then in the late 50s, early 60s they changed their name to timings. So without Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse we would have never had

[00:36:36] the time X watch. You would have never heard the phrase takes a looking and keeps on ticking. Yes I remember that I remember that and it's funny because I have found those Mickey Mouse

[00:36:48] watches. I think I found like at least three or four of them. Oh yeah, well they're wildly popular. They've been in steady production since 1932 so you know approaching a hundred years

[00:37:02] on how long Mickey Mouse watches have been made? Yeah and a lot of people get excited when they find them because they think oh you know I'm going to make 40. Yeah I'm going to make hundreds or

[00:37:13] thousands of dollars. Yeah very few at some of the very early ones are worth money if they're all original and they work and they look good and then some of the bigger name brands that made

[00:37:22] them like Saco. Orus which is made by Saco but full branded Saco Mickey Mouse watches especially the men's version are worth money. I do believe that even Rolex made them so yeah and Snoopy watches

[00:37:40] are the same way but if you find a Snoopy watch any of those early Snoopy watches are worth big money. Omega just released a moon watch with Snoopy on it and that rascal is well north

[00:37:56] of a hundred thousand dollars. Oh really wow that's so crazy. A lot's a little stories like that about what's just kind of great yet tell us like what the world will move on to the

[00:38:13] jewel. Repart of this Ford Motor Company what are they famous for? Cars right. Cars but there were two innovations in industry that he came up with that original Mr. Ford came up with one of them was

[00:38:29] the assembly line. Oh assembly line. Other was paying a living wage. Okay paying wages. This was in the early 1900s around 1910 or so with his Model T Ford he set up an assembly line and he

[00:38:46] paid his people good money. Welfan watch company or the American watch company out of Welfan Massachusetts did that as early as 1857 and they were able to do it because the guy who was credited with interchangeable parts he like Whitney with his cotton gin. Those parts were not

[00:39:10] actually interchangeable. They were a modifiable of him. Welfan actually made interchangeable parts and they got there start because they were able to walk into a business meeting where they were looking for investment capital. Take five of their watches apart dump all the parts in one box

[00:39:28] handed to a watchmaker and he could put five watches together that all ran and operated directly. In order to put those enough watches to keep up with the man they had to set up and assembly line. So a lot of what people think they know about history,

[00:39:46] credited to all these different industries and people all really interlead tie back to the watch industry. Yeah I would have never guessed. I would have never have done that one. That's so fascinating

[00:40:03] like I said it's just you think about these things because it's even like that with jewelry too. You jewelry a lot of it was tied into what was popular at the time and things that were

[00:40:15] happening even in some cases politically or things that were happening in society or culturally or whatever and so it's so interesting that you can really kind of connect all of these things to key moments in our American history or like you said in world history.

[00:40:36] Yeah if you really want to understand anything you got to go back to the beginning you got to understand the history and the more you learn about the history the more you can look at the modern equivalent

[00:40:47] of these things of anything really and see what's made quality and what's stayed tried and true and what deviated too far off the beaten path. Right, right that's so amazing.

[00:41:06] So amazing. You need to teach a class Rob you need to teach a class. I was actually offered a teaching position at a well-known jewelry college and I turned it down. Really? Well the jewelry school was

[00:41:22] in a very remote area that I knew and didn't want to live there and I have a military background I am not a teacher I'm an instructor and there's a big difference and with a way I teach as I

[00:41:38] instruct I bark an order and it gets followed which doesn't lend itself well to a classroom setting. Well, nowadays you can teach online and I think a lot of us would at least I know me.

[00:41:53] I would appreciate that because sometimes I need structure it helps me learn better and I don't get as distracted right when you're focused on it this way in the last 37 years I've probably had

[00:42:07] a dozen or so apprentices have only had one of those apprentices go on to become an actual watchmaker. Oh wow. A lot of people think that they don't understand that there's a whole process

[00:42:24] it's not just about putting a battery in the watch you got to know how to open it without damaging it you got to know how to check the seals you're in there and replace them if they need to be

[00:42:36] and be able to recognize that you need to know if the old battery leaked how to clean that out without destroying the watch. There's not just putting the battery in the watch there's a whole

[00:42:50] list of tasks and knowledge that you need and skill because with it and the same thing goes with jewelry there one of the I've mentioned this that oiling watch was one of the two hardest things to learn

[00:43:05] and teaching the other one is polishing. Oh wow. Just because something is shiny does not mean it was polished correctly. In fact you can do way more damage to a watch or a piece of jewelry

[00:43:19] by over polishing than you would have if you just left it alone. Oh, and a lot of times I start my apprentices and well all the time I start my apprentices out trying to teach them how to

[00:43:33] polish which is a very dirty job but it's a very demanding job and it requires a very close attention to detail. So you know what you just reminded me of a question too like how should we

[00:43:48] care for our watches you know especially the big name one they mentioned like how what's a good make sure they stay in good condition and all that. 50 plus years ago people were taught watches specifically but jewelry too it's the last thing you put on before you leave.

[00:44:09] So first thing you take off when you get home. Right. Don't wear it out in the yard working in the garden don't wear it man if you're working on your car or your motorcycle. Take it off put it in the house

[00:44:21] but the biggest thing about taking care of a watch is preventative. Don't introduce it into environments that it's not designed to be in. Right and there's no such thing as waterproof it is actually illegal in the United States of America to claim that a watch is waterproof

[00:44:39] is only water resistant. Okay. It is your responsibility to maintain your watch and a dry environment I don't care if it is a die watch. It is a die watch you need to have a tested regularly before

[00:44:53] you go diving and with the modern dive computers that we have I don't even suggest wearing a watch to die with. All it takes is bumping that watch just right and you will compromise one of the

[00:45:07] seals and if you're depending on your life when you're 60 feet below the surface of the ocean you're going to be in bed shape. Right. You're watching people still do it but they understand the risk

[00:45:19] most of them. So first off just don't don't take it into dirty bad environments. Secondly keep it clean and if you need to clean it make sure the crown which is the winding

[00:45:33] of or the setting knob is pushed all the way in if it's a screw down model make sure it's screw down firmly but don't rinse it down super tight. A damp toothbrush mildly warm soapy water

[00:45:45] scrub it off rinse it off immediately padded dry if you'll just do that right there and the same go to hold true with jewelry. You'll just do that little bit of maintenance. You're watching your

[00:45:58] jewelry will last you much, much longer. Little look better too. Yeah and I know a lot of people store their watches in jewelry in sometimes the original box that it came in. Yeah and little you

[00:46:12] know those velvet pouches and stuff like that. Well, those velvet pouches have an anti-tornish agent in them. Oh, especially at silver items. So you get that little blue bag from Tiffany and you've

[00:46:25] got your silver jewelry and it that blue bag actually has an anti-tornishing agent in it. Oh okay, I didn't know that. That's good to know. And if you do have gold and silver jewelry stay away from the

[00:46:38] liquid jewelry cleaners. The stuff where you dip it in there and then you rinse it. Yeah. Those are either ammonia based which I like or acid based which I do not like. They don't actually

[00:46:48] clean the jewelry or the metal as much as they removed the surface layer of it. And if you accidentally forget and you leave your jewelry in there it will make it look horrible. It can also for

[00:47:02] rare and expensive stones like opals, pearls and emeralds. It can destroy them. Yeah yeah and even like stones like even when they're not expensive like rhinestones and stuff. Oh yeah. Liquid.

[00:47:17] And the one back on them or you get? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You don't want to get any kind of liquid you know under there because otherwise the whole thing gets messed up. Yeah or the glue comes

[00:47:27] loose and the stones fall out. Yeah just a lightly damp soft bristle toothbrush mildly soapy warm water. Brush it off real good quickly rinse it and immediately pad it dry. And if

[00:47:43] it does have those like stones and small areas where moisture can be trapped. Put it somewhere where there's some air moving, a warm area with I don't know like on the window seal not direct sunlight

[00:47:55] but on sunny window seal will air moving across it all on top of a paper towel or something and get it dry. Or even hairdryer low and blow it off. Yeah. Really and truly if you're scared

[00:48:11] to clean it take it to a good jewelry place that has actual dense jewelers and have them clean your jewelry for you. They actually it's actually a good idea to do that and most jewelers don't mind

[00:48:23] because at the same time we're inspecting your jewelry and we can let you know that hey you've got a prong loose or you've got a pin here that's worn almost all the way through if we don't fix it

[00:48:32] now you stand a chance of losing it. Or things like that so you'll be able to stay on top of keeping your eye on the in tip top condition. Okay all right well those are some really great tips and then

[00:48:47] of course don't drop it don't let your kids play with it. Trying to think trying to think what else. Uh those little like um Dremel tools that you can get the little buffing wheels for.

[00:49:02] Do not touch your jewelry with those things. Oh. Don't do it. Yeah I never do most doers will clean and polish your jewelry free of charge so you don't have to go spend money on

[00:49:14] that stuff and do it yourself. Now if you're reselling and you've got a great big box full pick out the best pieces and go take a few at a time your jewelry and have them clean and

[00:49:24] polish them for you and check them over for you. Okay yeah don't come in and don't like a of you know grocery bag full of vintage jewelry on us to clean and polish for you because we

[00:49:38] do have paying customers we need to take care of. So bring up your items at a time we're happy to clean that stuff and check it out for you. All right all right well that's good that's good to know

[00:49:51] all right since this is this is a nice segue then into the jewelry talk so now you said you are a bench jeweler and I may bench. All right so let's explain it. I'm here with gold and setting stones

[00:50:04] files for working silver and platinum and palladium. Oh all right so let's explain that for in case someone's listening or watching and they don't know what does it mean to be a bench jeweler?

[00:50:17] A bench jeweler is somebody who sets out of workbench and does jewelry repair and maintenance as I live before business. We're different you you'll hear the terms goldsmith or silversmith but out there and silversmith is a title that most goldsmith or bench jeweler's kind of turn

[00:50:40] their nose up at because that's considered a hobbyist trade. There are some wonderful silversmiths out there and I don't crochet it anybody throughout they're creating good on you so I don't crochet it silversmiths but we actually have a bench we have tools and we have skills and training

[00:51:00] to make rings to size rings to repair chains, set diamonds and things like that and it is it's a skill and it takes time to learn it. So yeah that's you also will hear the term custom jeweler

[00:51:16] we will custom build you a piece of jewelry to your design and specifications. Yeah that really means it will work with you and we'll talk you in a doing it the right way rather than your way

[00:51:28] some of the ideas I've heard over the years that I'm just like oh oh no you can't do that here's why let me show you a better way and you have to learn how to be politic about that and bring people around.

[00:51:41] Yes I remember reading a story years ago that the rapper Jay Z went into Rolex and he wanted to customize a Rolex and he wanted all of this diamonds and stuff on it and the the Rolex guy said

[00:51:58] you know you're actually devaluing the piece by doing that. Yes and and he's like honestly nobody's gonna want it. Should you decide what if I your Rolex watches? Yes yes and he he tells a whole

[00:52:13] market out there's called but in the watch world it's called the gray market where they do that and they call it a bust battle where they take a basic model watch maybe it's used a little bit

[00:52:23] of and instead of refurbishing it back to original for a watch it's not worth a lot they will bring it out or ice it out and just coat it in low grade diamonds and then sell it for this huge

[00:52:35] markup and there. Right what was it PT Barnon was accredited with saying uh there's a sucker born ever minute to the taking yeah and later on when you know things aren't going as well as they

[00:52:50] were when people were super popular they try to take this ice-telt watch to the market and sell it and get some money and they get really bad news. So customized in the watch world is not a good thing.

[00:53:05] Yes yes and and and in the the article I read Jay's Jay's E said he was so shocked to hear that because he thought by adding all this extra stuff it is gonna be really bad. Right and the guy

[00:53:20] said no nobody's gonna want this should you decide you want to sell it for the loose diamonds and the labor to install them. Yes so I just thought that was interesting. Watch any justice at home

[00:53:32] and that happens a lot. Mm-hmm yeah and then you know on the same note there are watches out there there are things that they're called collabs collaborations you see it a lot like in jewelry

[00:53:45] in jewelry and in watches you will see things like names on a watch like well for instance Tiffany and co. Tiffany and co branded Rolex watches it'll say both Rolex and Tiffany and co on the dial

[00:54:00] and those watches are highly sought after it's not considered a modified watch it's a collaboration between Tiffany's and Rolex and those watches are highly highly sought after. Mm-hmm

[00:54:15] Now some of the old vintage stuff you will see thing names like CDP cock was a big one they were a jewelry company that was ever bit as big if not bigger than Tiffany was back in the day

[00:54:27] and Bailey banks and dill is another one so just because you see only weird names on there these now be fought or a little heard over unknown jewelry companies they were just as big

[00:54:39] as Tiffany back in their days. Mm-hmm. So if you find one of those watches they can command a premium now if it's got you know Joe's used cars painted on the dial that's not such a good

[00:54:56] right yeah or like a von you know I find a lot of a von. Yes. Stuff you know some people love it but it's I haven't really had a lot of vintage glass in my collection. I'm also really kind of big into

[00:55:12] the vintage glass world. Yeah yeah well you can find it every day and a thrift or somewhere. The A-Von perfume bottle shaped like cars and chest and it fessens and horses and yeah you see a lot of that

[00:55:26] of it. And it's a shame because some of that stuff was actually made for A-Von by really good glass manufacturers. Mm-hmm. But as soon as you see the word A-Von

[00:55:42] yeah there's a few people still collecting it but not many. All right I used to have a piece right here handy but I don't have it anymore but it was a piece of art glass and I didn't think it was A-Von

[00:55:54] when I bought it I didn't even look at it just threw it in my cart paid for it and brought it home but you know I get it home and start cleaning it there's A-Von right on the bottom of it. But yeah

[00:56:02] A-Von stuff A-Von jewelry A-Von glass it's very fun stuff if you want to collect it it's variable yeah some of the older vintage stuff is really some of it is really sought after like one of the

[00:56:19] one of the perfume bottles that I know that's really popular that people actually want the A-Von one is the one that is shaped like a mermaid. Yes. Like that one is hard to find but that's the

[00:56:29] one people are willing to pay. Okay it's a popular anyway. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to be a talk where kitchen stuff that hung on like bathroom or kitchen walls. Yes yes those mermaid look up

[00:56:40] chalkware mermaid. Uh-huh and the first fish and the fish. Yes. All of that stuff yeah that's really popular as a matter of fact I was talking about that with no well not too long ago

[00:56:55] and she was saying how how she went to an estate sales she saw it on the wall in the bathroom yeah. She just took it off and she went out front and that's from that much. Yeah that's exactly what

[00:57:05] those things where a lot of people don't think of that. They you know where's the jewelry where's the gold where's the old watches where where are the firearms and where are the big hitters

[00:57:14] money made meanwhile there's a ton of money and all the smalls that are around the house yeah that people just don't think and jewelry is another one I'm they're like oh that's that's fake

[00:57:27] jewelry well no not really it's still a piece of jewelry it's just not made out of gold and we call it I'm having the term for non-precious metal jewelry um non like bolt-on silver-ton uh for jewelry in general vintage no um trying to think

[00:57:56] Benst jeweler and watchmaker not can't thank you oh jewelry term that's terrible oh that's okay I have my moments too but there's a whole genre of jewelry that is not made with precious metals or stuff it's hard I'm gonna google it I'm not

[00:58:23] yeah that's fine that's fine and then watch when you say it all be like oh yeah I totally know what you're talking about oh at least I think it's fine jewelry is made with precious metals and stones

[00:58:42] this is one of those things that okay what like modern contemporary fashion it's like a nice way of saying fake really oh repleta no no um faux um costume costume costume yeah I got it

[00:59:09] okay costume jewelry nobody's ever gonna ask me about jewellery on a pot yes again because I couldn't come over that turn well I was thinking because when you said that I said I'm sure I know

[00:59:21] what he's talking about I just don't know what he's talking about well I don't deal in costume jewelry that very often so I got around it I'm not in that world I'm in the right right

[00:59:31] be a re-world so uh is the term just escape me momentarily well you know a lot of us do sell the costume jewelry right because very popular yeah because in in a lot of cases it's easier to

[00:59:47] oh yeah and because most people are looking for the precious metals they just glaze over the costume jewelry right I've been very tempted lately to buy some of the big jars of costume jewelry at

[01:00:00] the frift stores for 20 or 30 dollars it's just everyone on my pick-up look at I'm like this is all plastic I'm not paying 30 dollars for a draw for a draw for a draw for a draw it's real hit or miss it's

[01:00:10] yeah you have scenes in like YouTube videos I've seen people find some really nice stuff and I hope so really nice costume and rhinestone jewelry name brand stuff and some of it's very beautiful yes yes and you can find you can find some gems in there you know

[01:00:33] there's no doubt about that the problem is is you know how much are you willing to spend and invest to find that one gem because you can buy four or two times into research it exactly and then

[01:00:52] sometimes you're you're gonna get a jar full of 100% junk yes well the same thing reality I have bought big bags and boxes full of junk watches purely for parts and hoping there's something good in there and there's nothing in there even worth using for parts

[01:01:12] right the other hand I once bought a rusty coffee can out of a barn at an estate sale that had a bunch of junk watches and I paid five dollars for it and I knew there was nothing but junk

[01:01:23] watches and there I was just kind of hoping there'd be one or two little minor gems in there I could make 20 30 40 dollars. There was an omega speedmaster watching there they call it the moon watch and it was still in working condition and I sold it for $6,000. Wow

[01:01:44] so it's amazing you know if you we call it treasure hunting. Uh huh. treasure finding so you're not always gonna hit those big jackpods but you're certainly not gonna hit a jackpot if you don't go looking. Right right yes I remember I used to buy those all

[01:02:02] the time you know a few years back and back and back you know a few years back it wasn't as popular as it is now so my goal was always to find at least one piece that paid for the whole box or

[01:02:15] paint the jar. I've heard it recently explained as the 80 20. Yeah. We're 20% of what you buy pays for everything and the other 80% stuff is just pure profit. Mm-hmm. Well and now too.

[01:02:34] Well and the thing is too is you can always resell the junk you know put it in a crafters lot and people will still buy it so you may break even um but you know we don't want to do that to

[01:02:45] break even we want to come out in here. Business to break even you're not breaking even your losing one. Exactly exactly put all that money into a savings account made interest on it

[01:02:58] and did something else with your time and actually made more money than doing what you did. Uh huh uh huh because you gotta take all of that into the you know into account the time you're sorting

[01:03:08] the the the time that you're researching a piece you know nothing about you know and then if you do find something the time it takes to photograph to list to ship it you know all of that so

[01:03:20] the time to learn how to clean this stuff without damaging it. Mm-hmm. You can do more harm with chemicals cleaning agents, solvents and jewelry cleaners than just leaving a little cell at dirty don't use all those harsh chemicals. Yeah that's what I do too. I don't clean stuff.

[01:03:41] I mean I tell people I'm selling it as is may need some minor cleaning. I point out if there's a scratch, tarnish, vertebrae whatever um and most people are okay with that you know.

[01:03:53] Yeah well they have a lot of methods to clean it themselves and they a lot of times people can feel like and actually get a better deal on a piece that needs to be cleaned up to be

[01:04:03] exactly. So they and if somebody out there knows how to do that well they're getting a great deal and they're increasing the value but by doing the work themselves. Yep. And so you need to actually

[01:04:15] good idea don't unless you're an expert at it or you've done a lot of research and a lot of trial in error which means messing a lot of stuff up and losing a lot of money. That's how you get

[01:04:26] an expert. You can get mess a lot of stuff up but unless you've done that don't clean it. Soft cloth light brush leave it at that. Yeah yeah. Oh with the jewelry world that a lot of

[01:04:41] people don't understand. If it is green and you call it jade you better have a lab report. There are no... and there are actual laws about this when it comes to identifying stones.

[01:04:57] If you call something jade and it turns out that it's green glass or it's serpentine or it's anything other than jade either enough right. You can actually have criminal charges file against you

[01:05:09] at wars. Oh we have civil suit brought against you on the other end of that spectrum. You can get in a lot of such a same thing with turquoise. And opals all the gemstones if you call it

[01:05:21] something it has to be that. If you call something the natural pearl you better have a g i a certificate to go with it because 98.793% of all pearl since around 1909 have been cultured. There are very,

[01:05:40] very few purely natural pearls on the market. If you get a stronger pearls and they're all perfectly round and they all have the exact same color and the mustard. There's very little chance of that being anything other than cultured pearls. Right right. Yeah and I just

[01:06:01] because I follow jewelry news too when I was reading not too long ago that now they they want you to disclose the lab grown diamonds as well because they're trying to sell them like if

[01:06:15] they're real. And so the industry now is very much anti the lab grown because some of you are from the start. Yeah and people who love the idea of being able to sell real diamonds

[01:06:31] that were grown in a lab and make in huge profits off of. Yeah. Whereas jewelry people were like no you don't understand a high-grade diamond is exceedingly rare and valuable in your devaluing

[01:06:47] it by creating your lab grown stone as something real and it's not. Yeah and they're not allowed in the jewelry shows anymore. Oh no it's the same thing happened with Moisonite and Cubes are

[01:07:01] only a back in the day. Those were a lot easier to pick out than natural than the lab grown diamonds. Big, big myth in the jewelry world is that diamonds are not rare they're not valuable there's

[01:07:16] the diamond cartel just controls the prices. Ladies and gentlemen that is false it is patently false. There's no truth to that at all. No diamond the mineral which is just carbon is exceedingly abundant however for it to crystallize into something that is of gem quality.

[01:07:43] Out of, I'll put it this way to get a single one-carrot diamond takes about 15 metric tons of rough crystal carbon to give one gem stone of a quality that'll cut a one-carot stone.

[01:07:58] And it'll start live out as no less than a five-carot piece of rough. So diamonds are gem quality diamonds are rare. So that old myth about diamonds are not really rare and the prices

[01:08:14] control by the cartel there's very little truth to that. Yes the cartel does control diamond and they only release so much of it. But you know it's their market. They're allowed to protect

[01:08:29] their own market. But as I will say this thing where there are bank vaults underground vaults just stock floor to seal and tall with gem grade diamonds that is absolutely false.

[01:08:42] Oh okay yes see I had no idea but I've heard that two for years that a lot of people the general public hears it all the time and to hear a juicy bit of a rumor is easier to get that across than

[01:08:57] truth. It's right saying it's easier to to fool somebody then to convince them they've been fooled. So true. So true. You ever heard the myth or the story that if you wear open and it's not your

[01:09:13] first stone that is bad luck? No I've never heard that. That you can look that one up. That is actual the diamond cartel actually came up with that myth and spread it around. And they hired a

[01:09:25] short story author to write a story about how opals were bad luck unless he was your burst stone. So what that was to turn people off from buying opals? Yeah but there's a reason. It's part of that history we talked about earlier. Back when opals first became really

[01:09:44] available to the general public they all came out of Australia and to this day the best most stable opal still come out of Australia but back in those days who owned Australia the Queen of England.

[01:10:01] Oh! Those are called the Queen of Gems not because they're second to the King which is diamond but because they belonged to the Queen of England. So if the Queen absolutely set fashion

[01:10:18] Victorian area in Paris. It's a Victorian and she owned the opal mine. So the Queen of Gems belong to everybody wanted the Queen the same Gems the Queen had. Oh right! And she owned the

[01:10:31] opal mine so she was perfectly happy with that. At the same time you've got debiers bought up the South African diamond fields. Their diamond cells dropped because everybody will didn't want diamonds they wanted opals. So to combat that they created a myth that it was bad luck to

[01:10:51] wear opals unless it was your burst stone and it worked. It worked so well that more than 100 years later there are still a lot of people out there that believe that. Wow that's crazy.

[01:11:07] So I go down rabbit holes of history learning stuff about my trade and it's amazing some of the stories you come up with. Yes, see and I could just talk to you all day about this kind of stuff.

[01:11:20] Well, excuse me so what else? I guess before I let you go is there anything else that you think we should know as it relates to watches, jewelry gemstones any closing thoughts that

[01:11:44] be careful in your when you disclose thing there are laws out there about gems. You have to disclose any treatments if known, if known part is the loophole. Okay so if somebody a buyer reaches

[01:11:56] that ask you is this all natural you tell them you do not know of any enhancements but it's not impossible. Don't describe something as 100% natural you can get into legal trouble. Right, right.

[01:12:11] Don't become a DIY person when it comes to watches or jewelry. Watch your makers and jewelers are more than happy to help. Yeah, sometimes it may cost you a little bit of money but spending a little

[01:12:24] bit of money is better than losing a whole lot of money. Yeah, or damn it's open. Yeah, damn it's something that you know it's and you're helping another local business guy out.

[01:12:36] Your local business if you're a reseller. So you understand that all the support you can get is important and the same goes true with people in the trades. jewelry trade, watchmaking trade,

[01:12:48] any trade really keep it local. Find somebody you can do business with that you trust and build a good relationship. It'll work out in your favor in the long run. Hey, well I think those are some

[01:13:08] words of wisdom that we need to pay attention to. But this was so great Rob. I just want to thank you so much for spending this time sharing your knowledge, educating us and just helping us

[01:13:25] helping us be better resellers as it relates to jewelry and watches because they're always fragile to serve as if anybody ever needs any help. Don't hesitate reach out to me in general. I'll get back

[01:13:38] to you pretty quick or as quickly as I can. Yes, yes, because you were very, very, very quick to respond when I message you a few times. And I appreciate that. Well, I'm a reseller. So I'm constantly attached

[01:13:54] to my platforms. I know. This is very much tied in with social media. So I'm always there. Yeah, so true. And the other thing is too is like sometimes that's how you're going to learn

[01:14:11] something. You're going to learn something because you'll see someone post something and they'll say, wow, I just found this and it just sold or whatever. I've been a reseller for 27 years and I didn't

[01:14:20] hear the word reselling until about four years ago. I didn't know I was a reseller. Yeah, I know. I know there was a community. Yeah, a lot of people don't know and that's another

[01:14:31] reason why I created this podcast because there wasn't really a whole lot within the reseller community that was jewelry specific, right? So I really wanted to create a resource, you know, in a place where

[01:14:46] us jewelry people and watch people where we can share information and where we can support and encourage and, you know, just learn and share our experiences, you know, good bad and everything in between. Yeah, it's great that these communities are when I first started there were

[01:15:06] even watchmaking for repair tips or how do you do this? Where do I find schematics? Where do I find parts that there was nothing on any social media platform? And just within the last four or five years

[01:15:21] you go looking and it's everywhere. There are tons of watchmakers making videos on YouTube. There are Facebook groups, there are Instagram accounts, there's pages and just a lot of information out there.

[01:15:34] Spend a little time to dig around through that stuff, look around and learn a little bit, but verify what you see because there's a lot of bad information out there on. Yep, yep, so true, so true.

[01:15:46] Before you try your hand at some of that stuff you find online, go talk to a watchmaker face to face first or a jewelry. Yeah, yeah. Well, you can never have too much information. That's what I always say.

[01:15:59] You know, you can you can never know everything. So. But no where do you go look? Yeah, and the more curious you are, the more um like the more you're able to filter out. Okay,

[01:16:12] this I need to pay attention to and this maybe I don't need to know it right now or whatever. You know, so you just kind of learn. You kind of develop your own skill. You're a rabbit hole. You're a learn-wise, making mouse as responsible for making time next

[01:16:27] watchers. Well, hey, that's something we didn't know and now we do. So all right Rob, well thank you so much again. Like I said, I really appreciate your time and your knowledge. I really enjoyed speaking with you and learning from you and um yeah,

[01:16:48] maybe maybe we'll do a part two at some point. Also, I'd love to and thank you for having oh, you're absolutely great for your for a suggestion. Yes, yes, I'll I'll send her a thank you

[01:17:01] probably. You want to talk about it? Oh, I know, I know. Don't worry, I asked her to come on too. So hopefully she's going to come on with you. All right Rob, thank you so much.