Bob's Watches
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Logo | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Timepieces |
| Founded | United States |
| Headquarters | |
Number of locations | 1 |
| Services | Resale |
| Revenue | $45 million, USD (2018)[1] |
Number of employees | 24 (2014)[2] 30 (2026)[3] |
| Website | bobswatches |
Bob's Watches is an online marketplace for the resale and trade of watches, with a focus on Rolexes. It was one of the largest watch reselling websites in the United States in 2016.[4]
The company was founded in the mid-1990s by Bob Thompson in North Carolina as a local seller of various watch brands and models.[5][6] Thompson retired in 2010 and sold the business to Paul Altieri for $8,000.[7] Altieri relaunched the website, with a focus on reselling Rolex watches.[5][7] From the beginning, its website listed the price that the company would be willing to pay for each watch alongside the price for which the company would sell the watch.[5] In 2014 it began offering buyers and sellers of Rolex watches the ability to post selling and buying prices, creating an exchange.[8]
From 2010 the company had a retail storefront and main offices in a small shopping center in Huntington Beach, California.[5][9] In November 2018, the company moved to a retail storefront and headquarters in a 10,000 square foot, free standing office building in Newport Beach, California.[10] Carol Altieri is Chief Operating Officer.[5]
By 2017 grey market sales of luxury watches were "upending the global watch industry," according to Barron's; exports of new watches from Switzerland fell 10% in 2016 and there was a glut of inventory of new watches, driving prices down.[11]
