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☆ The Fall of the Timepiece Gentleman, the Luxury Watch Dealer Who Ran Afoul of the Feds
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-04 | by ( David Kushner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

Farrer is better known as the Timepiece Gentleman, the flashiest online dealer in the $75 billion luxury watch trade. All he needed was the right name for his luxury watch business — something distinctive, something memorable. In his mind, he pictured what the ultimate luxury watch dealer would look like. To launch his career as the Timepiece Gentleman, Farrer boned up on the jargon of horology, from escape wheels and spring barrels to flinques and guilloches. Despite the staggering size of the luxury watch trade, nobody had thought to market its glamour and mystique.

Persons: Reddit, I've, Anthony Farrer, Farrer, Mark Wahlberg, Marky Mark, Patek Philippes, Sharf, Prada, he'd, Cameron, Travis Baker, chronograph, Richard Chance, He'd, timepieces, Farrer boned, they're, Kevin Hart, It's, Buyers, Darby McVay, McVay, Liz Guilliams, Guilliams, You've, Dallas —, Crimepiece, vouching, Santa Monica, —, Darth Vader, y'all, reselling, Anthony, stiffing, Wesley Stokes, Stokes, Bob Schober, Joe Haden, Richard Mille, Schober, He's, Peter, Paul, didn't Organizations: YouTube, FBI, Timepiece Gentlemen, Watch, Buffalo Wild Wings, Business, Boston Consulting Group, Texans, Craigslist, Lamborghini, Malibu, Downtown, Hollywood, Cleveland Browns, TPG, Ducati, Venice Locations: Venice , California, Venice, backwoods Texas, Reddit, cowpoke, Sherman , Texas, Dallas, It's, Salt, Riding, Los Angeles, In Dallas, LA, Santa, Texas, Downtown Los Angeles, South Carolina, Scottsdale , Arizona, Stokes

☆ Anthony Farrer of LA’s The Timepiece Gentleman accused of scamming $3 million from customers
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Faith Karimi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

According to federal court documents, Farrer’s life started unraveling months before his arrest. His watch business started in Dallas and moved to LAIn court documents, federal agents detailed Farrer’s downfall from luxury watch seller to alleged scammer. Investigators said Farrer pocketed customers’ money from the watch sales and used it to maintain his lavish lifestyle. At times, court documents said, Farrer would send customers pieces that were different from what they’d requested. Court documents state the Rolex actually belonged to another customer who’d given it to Farrer to sell on consignment.

Persons: CNN — Anthony Farrer’s, Farrer, ”, Erica Choi, scammer, “, Anthony Farrer, they’d, who’d, he’d, “ I’ve, I’ve, …, Ciaran McEvoy, he’s Organizations: CNN, Lamborghini, Ducati, Business, YouTube, Office, Central, Central District of, Rolex, US Locations: Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Las Vegas, Central District, Central District of California, Dallas, LA, Los Angeles, California, South Carolina , Colorado , Texas, Florida, Beverly, Swiss, Texas

☆ For TikTok, He Asks You to Talk About Your Rolex or Patek
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Ming Liu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

He now makes his living as a dealer; his videos are not sponsored by watch brands or industry organizations, but he does benefit from TikTok’s Creator Fund, which pays makers based on criteria such as views and engagement. Mr. Nouveau said he was inspired to join TikTok after seeing the success of men’s fashion influencers. He stayed off camera for his first video, which, in 56 seconds, featured a man talking about his 1968 Rolex Day-Date. But by his third post, Mr. Nouveau decided to go on camera. “Quickly I realized that while the ‘Watch Spotting’ was cool, there was an audience who was curious about collectability.”The age of his followers, he said, also was an eye-opener: “Suddenly, all these kids aged 16 to 30 were asking me, ‘Where do I buy vintage watches?’, ‘How do I find a good dealer?’, ‘My grandfather left me these 12 Patek Philippes — what do I do with them?’ An entire generation of young people, the ones that make up like most of the TikTok audience, were being ignored by the vintage watch community.”(According to the market research firm GWI, TikTok is the fastest growing platform worldwide among Gen Zers — except in China, where the domestic version, called Douyin, takes the crown — even though the oldest Gen Zers top out at 25 years old, and the average age of TikTok’s users is 34.)

Persons: Nouveau, “ Quickly, ‘, Zers —, Zers Locations: China

☆ The great Rolex recession is here: How the Fed crushed the luxury watch boom
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-30 | by ( Joseph Wilkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The WatchCharts market index and has slumped 32% from an all-time high in March last year. When the 'everything rally' was in full swing during the pandemic period, luxury watches were no exception. Preowned watch sales reached $22 billion in 2021 – nearly a third of the $75 billion luxury watch market, according to a report from Boston Consulting Group. The Rolex index is up by more than 55% from five years ago. "Luxury watches have performed well, especially over the long term, in comparison with traditional investment categories.

Persons: Patek Philippe, Audemars, Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippes, Piguets, – Organizations: Service, Wall, Rolex, Fed, Boston Consulting Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ Here's why Rolex watches are so expensive and how the brand gained its luxury status
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

With their precision manufacturing, specially sourced materials, and exceptional craftsmanship, Rolex watches have never come cheap, but neither were they out of financial reach for 1960s working professionals in search of perfect timekeeping and technical innovation. "Back then, anybody could afford a Rolex," Hess told Insider. Dealers would buy luxury watches in Switzerland to carry across the border and sell in Italy. That reputation has helped Rolex crush the competition with a quarter of the luxury watch market — more than double that of runner-up Omega. "They all buy the little wannabe Rolex brands in the beginning and finally, when they achieve success, they buy that Rolex."

☆ Swiss watch execs say the market is 'slowing down' — but that just means waitlists for new Rolexes or Patek Philippes are a little less long
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The frenzy for new Swiss luxury watches is softening from its pandemic peak, when exports hit $27.6 billion. "The market is a little bit slower than before," Patek Philippe chairman Thierry Stern told Bloomberg. That doesn't mean watches from top brands are suddenly available to buy — it just means waitlists are slightly shorter. "I see in the past two months, the market is a little bit slower than before," chairman Thierry Stern told Bloomberg. Swiss exports boomed during the pandemic to a record 25 billion Swiss francs ($27.6 billion), but even with the recent softening, Stern told Bloomberg demand still vastly outstrips supply.

☆ Why now may be a good time to buy a used Rolex — if you plan to keep it
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Prices for pre-owned Rolex watches have been on the slide for almost a year after posting record highs. The biggest reason for the price decline, analysts say, was a surge of additional watches to the market. Watch prices quickly followed suit, entering a months-long decline that is only now beginning to show signs of leveling off. But the tumbling price of used luxury watches like Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Patek Philippe can also be explained by a simple economics principle: supply arriving to meet demand. "The price correction was mainly driven by the increase in supply," wrote Morgan Stanley equity analyst Edouard Aubin and colleagues.

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