Swap Watch, a secondary market trader based in the affluent East Yorkshire town of Beverley, is opening a physical store in a listed building vacated in 2018 by Haller of Beverley, a luxury shoe shop that had traded in the market town since 1881.
It will undergo a £100,000 makeover to be transformed into a luxury watch shop, according to local newspaper reports.
Rob Ford, owner of Swap Watch, says: “My love for luxury watches first started as a young boy living in Beverley, so I’m thrilled to be able to open my first retail venture here in my hometown all these years later.
“It’s an historic old building which requires a lot of work to make sure it’s fit for our requirements, especially from a security point of view. But it’s a project that excites both John and myself and we feel privileged to be able to bring the beautiful old place back to its former glory.”
Mr Ford has been buying and selling pre-owned and vintage watches wince 1978, although turned his passion into a business, Swap Watch, some years later.
It specialises in hard to source pieces such as Rolex and Patek Philippe steel tool watches.
