Bob’s Watches chief executive Paul Altieri blames (or thanks) the long summers he spent working as a golf caddy in New England for catching the watch collecting bug.
“I would see Rolex watches on the wrists of various club members who I admired, and owning a Rolex became an aspiration of mine,” he recalls.
He was only 14 years-old at the time, but managed to turn his dream of owning a Rolex into a reality and, over the next three decades, turned a teenage crush for The Crown into a lifelong passion; becoming a hugely respected collector along the way, and a successful watch trader.
His passion and entrepreneurship led to Paul acquiring and relaunching Bob’s Watches in 2010 with a goal of creating a secure online marketplace for buying and selling genuine luxury watches at their true fair market prices.
Bob’s Watches focused first on the West Coast of America from its Newport Beach headquarters but more recently expanded to the East with offices opening in New York and Florida.
As every WATCHPRO reader will know, the secondary market for luxury watches has been booming for the past five years, which has prompted geographical expansion at Bob’s Watches and also encouraged Paul to expand his range of watches well beyond his core Rolex brief.
“Watches are becoming more mainstream than ever before, and there is currently a ton of opportunity in multiple different areas of this industry,” he suggests.
“A new generation of collectors and enthusiasts is entering the hobby, and some of the biggest challenges for today’s watch brands will be speaking to this new generation of buyers without alienating existing fans or straying too far from their remarkable histories and traditions.”
