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Business Insider
19 hours ago
- Business
- Business Insider
A luxury watch collector shares the simple strategy he used to upgrade from a $200 watch to a $10,000 Rolex
Before Greg Petronzi became an expert in repairing vintage Rolexes, he was a luxury watch enthusiast and collector. Petronzi, the watchmaker who owns the company True Patina, told Business Insider he used a simple saving method to build up the funds to buy his first luxury watches while he was still in graduate school. "I didn't have a lot of money, but I had enough that I was able to roll things into watches," Petronzi said, adding that he was working part-time and saving while studying to become a psychologist. He said in graduate school, he eventually was able to afford a $10,000 watch that he "probably had no business having." If someone is looking to start a luxury watch collection on a budget, Petronzi said there are some very cool watches in the $200 range to start with, like those from the brand Seiko. He said companies like Hamilton and CWC also sell vintage military field watches that are interesting and under $500. He also recommended doing a lot of research to figure out what types of watches you actually like. He said learning about the history of watches can make different watch qualities, like the materials used or movement mechanisms, a lot more interesting, regardless of how luxurious the watch is. The best way to learn about watches, he said, is through forums, meetups, and online resources like or larger publications such as Hodinkee. Petronzi said that once you start with a $200 watch, you can wear it and enjoy it while also looking ahead to the next purchase and putting money aside into a watch wealth fund. Once you have another $300 saved up, you can sell the original watch, and now you'll have $500 to go toward a new watch. If you purchase well, you might even make money off the watch you sell, he said. "You do that enough times and before you know it, you have a several-thousand-dollar watch, but you didn't actually spend several thousand dollars because you just rolled it into that watch from your previous sale," he said. The 'Snowball Approach' Petronzi said the watch he had in grad school was a Rolex Submariner 5513 and that it wasn't loud or flashy; it was just a piece he loved and found interesting. He also said he would not have been able to afford it had he not been doing that "snowball approach" of buying, selling, and adding to the pot for years before purchasing it. "I was able to build a degree of wealth in watches," he said. Thinking of his watches as a separate asset class has also helped him justify spending a lot on them, Petronzi said, and he's even made money flipping them. Luxury watches are often touted as an investment by collectors. A study published earlier this year found watches could even be a less volatile investment than real estate or stocks. But not everyone agrees — the CEO of Rolex said last year that he does not approve of comparing watches to stocks. Still, Petronzi said that thinking of your watch collection as a fluid, evolving fund can make getting into luxury watches more attainable, even if you shouldn't technically be able to afford something like a Rolex. Paul Altieri, founder and CEO of watch reseller Bob's Watches, recently told Business Insider about six starter watches that are good for someone starting out in collecting. They included the $6,500 Oyster Perpetual 41-millimeter diameter from Rolex and the $7,050 Santos de Cartier Medium from Cartier. Petronzi said he has maybe four or five watches that he doesn't think he'd ever sell. He has another five or so that he might rotate or trade out for something else. He said his personal collection of watches is still constantly evolving. "Once you have a certain amount of money in the watches, it's like having a separate fund of your own wealth," he said. "And the collection can be alive as you are as well." Do you have a story to share about luxury watches? Contact this reporter at kvlamis@
Business Insider
6 days ago
- General
- Business Insider
I'm a psychologist who started repairing vintage Rolex watches as a side hustle. Now watchmaking is my main gig.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Greg Petronzi of True Patina, a watchmaker specializing in vintage Rolex repairs. He is also a licensed psychologist and professor at New York University. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. I've always had a fascination with watches, starting at a young age. Around middle school, I had a Swatch with a see-through plastic case and an automatic movement. You could see all of the parts of the watch as it was working, and I always found that so interesting. In college, I pursued psychology. That was my practical career path. I got a master's and a Ph.D. Overall, it was a 12-year path to becoming a licensed psychologist. But I never lost my interest in watches. After I finished school, I got into watchmaking, which ended up becoming my main gig. Psychology became my part-time gig, which I never anticipated happening, but it's super exciting. I love both disciplines. I got into watchmaking with an informal apprenticeship Watchmaking was never really on my radar. As a grad student, I started getting involved in the world of watches and meeting other watch enthusiasts through forums and meetups. I made friends with a watchmaker out of Florida named Rik Dietel, who has 35-plus years of experience in watchmaking and specifically with vintage Rolex, which is the niche that I was very passionate about. I started asking him how to fix this or change that on my own watches. Little by little, Rik started teaching me, and it turned into an informal, remote apprenticeship. Over the next several years, while I was working as a psychologist and professor, my skillset started to really develop, and it started to become apparent to me that this might be more than just a hobby. I was working on my own stuff, then friends' watches, then friends of friends' watches. Then I started getting requests from people I didn't know. That's when I said, "I'd better take this a bit more seriously." During the pandemic, my psychology work went remote, and I was able to put more time and energy into watchmaking. I also had an income, which helped me afford the tools. I just recently spent about $15,000 on one tool to do a very nuanced repair. I built up my watchmaking workshop and started to develop a niche in cosmetic repair — dials and hands. Because I started as a watch collector, I understand the importance of preserving the originality of a watch. While a lot of more modern watchmakers have the disposition of "repair and replace," I have the disposition of "restore and retain." I started to showcase my work on Instagram and build trust in the community. I ended up working with some really important watch collectors and dealers, like Eric Wind of Wind Vintage, and auction houses like Phillips. There was a moment when I realized I'd made a name for myself in the watch world: Someone sent me an eBay listing that said, "Watch just serviced by True Patina." I had no idea who the seller was, but I thought, "Wow, my company name is actually carrying so much weight that people are using this as a flex toward selling their watch." That felt really good. Watchmaking can be challenging to get into, but it's really rewarding Watchmaking has more often than not outperformed what the Ph.D and psychology have allowed me to earn, which I'm astounded by and grateful for. If someone's interested in learning watchmaking, I'd say it's possible, but there are some challenges. The tools are expensive, and the formal education options are limited. Most people either find an apprenticeship or start by working for an established brand while slowly building up their own workshop. My pricing varies a lot based on how much restoration is needed. Repairs typically range between $1,000 and $2,000, but some go up to $6,000 or more, especially if a rare part needs to be sourced. I service watches that range in price from a few thousand dollars upward to six-figure watches. It's not uncommon for me to work on a watch that costs $200,000 and occasionally even up to $500,000. Most commonly, they are a few thousand up to $20,000. But what's most meaningful to me is working on sentimental pieces — watches that have been in families for generations. Becoming a watchmaker never crossed my mind as a kid or even as a college student. But all of a sudden, it organically became reality for me, and it's a very, very meaningful and enjoyable existence. Watchmaking is a very rewarding field. It can be very stressful, especially when the repair might not be cooperating the way you want it to, but when things do fall in line, it can be a very mindful activity. You get into this flow where time just sort of ceases. It's kind of ironic.
