If you scroll through Aaron’s Instagram stories, you’ll see rows of vintage watches lined up under diffused light — each one photographed cleanly, listed with a short caption, and usually claimed within a few days.
⌚ Side Hustle: Vintage Watch Reselling (Arrows Vintage)
💰 Revenue: Up to $15,000 per month
🗓️ Started: As a hobby (pre-business)
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“I didn’t plan to start a business — I just kept learning which watches people actually wanted to buy.”
Arrows Vintage Watches looks polished now, but it didn’t start with a website, an audience, or even the intention of becoming a business.
In recent months, that little grid of watches translated into a $10,000 profit — not bad for something that began as selling pieces from his own collection.
Aaron now lives in Brooklyn, though he grew up in Miami. Before watches, his world was politics, policy, and communication — nothing that pointed toward a career in vintage timepieces. That outsider background is a big part of what makes his story compelling. He didn’t come up through jewelry stores or watchmaking school.
He grew up around watches because his dad collected them, but the instinct for spotting condition came earlier. Selling Pokémon cards and sports memorabilia taught him to notice edge wear, print variations, and the small differences most people overlook; skills that transferred naturally once he started paying attention to watches.
Years later, he became active on watch forums, spending hours comparing listings and tracking auction results. He helped other collectors verify originality, and somewhere in that routine, he realized he was already doing the kind of work dealers rely on. What began as a hobby gradually started to feel like something more — the early shape of what would eventually become Arrows Vintage Watches.
How He Launched Arrows Vintage Watches
Aaron didn’t set out to build a watch business. In the beginning, he simply sold pieces from his own collection to fund new ones. “I would sell items in my personal collection to finance other watches,” he said. It was a low-risk way to test demand and learn which watches actually moved once money was on the line.
The first watches he bought specifically to resell were Seiko Dolces — inexpensive to buy in bulk, reliable, and easy to service thanks to their quartz movements. They gave him early practice in pricing, photography, and resale without the downside of costly mechanical repairs.
His first listings went up on Reddit and eBay. He photographed watches with whatever lighting he had, wrote straightforward descriptions, and priced items to sell. There was no brand, no website, and no long-term plan beyond learning how buyers responded to different watches.
For a while, he focused on wholesaling to other dealers. It kept inventory moving, but it slowed his ability to build an identity. “I was doing a lot of wholesaling and figured I didn’t really need an Instagram,” he said. Looking back, he sees that as a mistake. Watches are visual, and buyers expect clear, consistent photography from someone they trust.
He didn’t build a website until recently. “I only just built my site about two months ago,” he said. That shift changed how the business worked. Instagram (@ar.ro.ws) became the first place where new pieces appeared, while the website gave buyers longer descriptions, more photos, and the option for payment plans. Reddit, eBay, and auction sites still play a role, but now they function more as sourcing and research tools than his primary sales channels.
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How He Sources Watches — and the Mistakes New Sellers Make
Most of Aaron’s inventory comes from online marketplaces and auctions. “I would say 70 percent of my watches come from online marketplaces and auctions,” he said. The rest comes from people who already know his taste and send things his way. “Personal networks and people who know the sort of watches I buy are my greatest asset.”
When he evaluates a watch, he starts with the traits that determine long-term value: dial condition, originality of hands and crowns, correct printing, lume consistency, and whether the case shape matches known examples. Only after that does he consider liquidity — how quickly similar watches tend to sell — and whether parts are easy to source. “Condition, originality, and dial quality come first,” he said.
The mistake he sees most from new sellers is buying watches they personally like rather than watches the market actually wants. “My biggest red flag is buying watches I love thinking that they’ll sell well,” he said. His audience knows him for certain brands, like Universal Genève, so those pieces move quickly. Someone without that audience might hold the same watch for months. Understanding which watches have active buyers takes time, and skipping that step leads to expensive lessons.
Universal Genève is a good example. Aaron personally loves the brand and has spent years studying its 1960s models, which means his audience now trusts him on those pieces — they tend to sell quickly. But outside that niche, a similar watch might sit for weeks. The difference isn’t the watch itself; it’s the expectation and buyer base he’s built over time.
For that reason, he resists the term “flipping.” “I don’t ‘flip’ watches,” he said. “I buy items I’m personally interested in and rarely sell something I wouldn’t wear myself.” To him, flipping is transactional; curation is reputation.
He encourages beginners to treat their first year as research. “My biggest piece of advice is to spend at least a year learning about watches,” he said. Some watches are cheap to service because parts are everywhere; others become money pits. That difference only becomes obvious after studying sold listings, tracking auctions, and comparing dozens of examples.
Every now and then, that homework pays off in a big way. In his best month so far, Aaron cleared roughly $10,000 in profit on about $15,000 in sales, thanks in part to a non-running Rolex Bubbleback he sourced in unusually good condition. “It turned out all it needed was a replacement balance wheel,” he said. Once it was fixed, it became the most profit he’s ever made on a single watch.
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Why Transparency Shapes How He Buys and Sells Watches
Aaron doesn’t restore watches before selling them. Instead, he focuses on pieces that already have the kind of honest wear collectors look for — clean dials, original parts, and aging that matches the period. “Part of what I sell is watches with vintage charm that are in honest condition,” he said. If buyers want a refinished dial or a movement swap later, that’s their choice.
He draws a clear line between being a dealer and being a watchmaker. He doesn’t service watches himself, but he handles all the authentication work before anything goes up for sale. He compares it to car enthusiasts. “A car guy can diagnose what’s wrong even if they can’t fix it,” he said. “They can order the part and make sure you don’t get ripped off at the shop.” For him, that means making sure the watch is what it claims to be — that the internal parts match the model, the visible components are original, and any prior repairs make sense for the period it came from.
When a watch needs further inspection, he works with a watchmaker to open the case and determine whether repairs are worthwhile. This matters most for pieces from the 1940s and 1950s, many of which have had replacement parts or touch-ups over time. Some are worth servicing; others are better sold as-is. His job is to make that distinction clear. “I value honesty above all else,” he said.
How Instagram Became His Main Sales Channel
Instagram is where most of Aaron’s sales happen now. He posts new watches to his stories first — often before they ever reach his website — because it’s the fastest way to show how a watch actually looks in real lighting. “I sell a lot by posting to my story,” he said.
What makes Instagram work for him isn’t just visibility — it’s access. His DMs function as informal consulting: people ask about authenticity, servicing needs, or how one watch compares to another they’re considering. He answers every message, whether someone is ready to buy or just trying to learn. “I once had a casual conversation in my DMs about my favorite soccer team,” he said, “and that eventually led to them buying a watch.”
That openness is unusual in a traditionally formal, sometimes gatekept niche. Aaron’s feed balances clean product photos with a playful, approachable tone — including a standing offer that anyone in New York who can beat him in a game of basketball gets a watch discount. Small details like that lower the barrier to reaching out, especially for newer collectors.
Buyers who don’t purchase directly through Instagram usually arrive via referrals or ads and end up on his website, which he built recently. The site gives him space for longer descriptions, more photos, and payment plan options. But Instagram remains the starting point — the place where trust is built before a transaction ever happens.
Over time, those conversations compound. Buyers return because they feel comfortable asking questions and know they’ll get a straight answer. Instagram isn’t just where Aaron lists watches; it’s where relationships form, and where repeat customers come from.
How Much Time the Business Takes — and How It’s Evolved
Aaron doesn’t run Arrows full-time, but it still occupies a few hours of his day. He spends time sourcing new pieces, answering messages, photographing inventory, or updating listings. “A lot of this is passive work,” he said. “Managing the site, checking my listings on marketplaces, looking for new watches.” It’s steady maintenance more than anything; the kind of work that keeps the shop moving even on slower sales days.
Once the website launched, the business shifted from a simple sourcing-and-selling loop into something that required wearing every hat — photographer, copywriter, marketer, customer support, and operations. “If I don’t do it, it just doesn’t get done,” he said.
As Arrows grew, he had to learn skills he never expected to need. Building the website meant figuring out product organization and payment workflows. Running Meta ads required learning how to track results. Moving from quick phone snapshots to a real camera meant relearning photography from scratch. “I came into this knowing absolutely nothing about websites, ads, photography — even just the time it takes to look up how to do these things is an enormous time commitment,” he said.
What makes the workload manageable is that the learning compounds. The more watches he studies, the faster he can evaluate new listings. The more conversations he has with buyers, the better he understands what collectors look for. Systems he built for photos, condition notes, and pricing save time each time he repeats the process.
For now, the side-business model works. He tracks expenses closely, keeps detailed records, and monitors which types of watches sell fastest. Those habits help him navigate slow months and understand where the business is heading. “Keeping track of what comes in and what goes out is essential,” he said.
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His Advice for Anyone Starting a Niche Collector Business
Aaron’s biggest piece of advice is to narrow your focus early. The watch market is too broad to learn all at once, and new sellers often jump in before they understand what they’re buying. “You need to know what you are selling front to back,” he said. For him, that meant zeroing in on specific Universal Genève models from the early 1960s — enough repetition that dial fonts, case shapes, and movement details became instantly recognizable.
He recommends studying sold listings instead of active ones. Two examples of the same reference piece can differ wildly in value depending on originality, dial texture, lume color, or whether the case has been polished. Those differences only become clear after comparing dozens of examples across eBay, Reddit, forums, and auction sites. “Buyers are very shrewd,” he said. “They know what they want and how much they’re willing to spend.”
Flexibility matters too. Negotiation, trades, and bundled deals are normal in this world, and handling them well can turn a one-time buyer into a repeat customer. “People know they can buy multiple watches from me and get a discount, offer a trade, or negotiate,” he said. The trust built in those conversations usually pays off more than holding firm on every price.
The biggest mistake he sees is moving too fast. Specifically, buying watches before understanding how difficult they might be to repair. Some watches have parts everywhere; others are expensive or nearly impossible to service. Without that knowledge, inventory can turn into a shelf of costly mistakes. “Patience on the front end,” he says, is what keeps margins healthy when the stakes get higher.
⌚ Aaron’s Playbook for New Vintage Watch Sellers
- Pick one niche and learn it deeply. Focus on a brand or era until dial fonts, case shapes, and lume behavior are instantly recognizable. Depth beats breadth in the early stages.
- Study sold listings—not active ones. Actual closing prices reveal how originality, polishing, and dial texture affect value across eBay, Reddit, forums, and auctions.
- Stick to watches that are already working until you understand how repairs affect costs. Some internal mechanisms are cheap to fix; others can wipe out your profit. Until you know the difference, avoid buying watches that don’t run.
- Ask your watchmaker to take photos of the movement. Over time, you’ll learn what looks original — and what doesn’t — without needing to open the watch yourself.
- Shoot photos that answer buyer questions upfront. Use diffused side lighting to show dial texture, document case edges to prove it’s unpolished, and include close-ups of lume and printing.
- Be flexible with serious buyers. Bundles, trades, and reasonable offers build repeat customers—the backbone of any collector-focused business.
- Call out imperfections plainly. Refinishing, replaced crowns, dial work—state it clearly. Transparency avoids disputes and attracts the right customers.
What’s Next for Arrows Vintage Watches
Arrows is still a part-time business, but Aaron has a clear sense of where he wants it to go. In the near term, he’s focused on improving how he presents watches online, especially through short-form video. He doesn’t consider himself an on-camera person, but video solves problems photos can’t: showing wrist presence, explaining dial details, and helping newer collectors understand what they’re looking at. “It’s not something I’m naturally comfortable with,” he said, “but so much of this business has grown from getting outside my comfort zone.”
Long-term, he wants Arrows to be more than an online shop. “When people ask what the end goal is, I like to say having a boutique,” he said. He imagines a small, curated space where watches are displayed alongside antiques and other vintage nostalgia.
He also wants Arrows to feel more accessible than the traditional dealer model he grew up observing. “The sort of big dealers that exist today, I find a bit boring,” he said. Many focus on the same watches, maintain closed-door offices, and price inventory with heavy markups. Aaron prefers a more conversational approach, especially for younger collectors who are still learning. “I think my business does well with the younger generation and I’d like to grow with that base,” he said.
As Arrows expands, that’s the group he wants to serve — newer collectors who value originality, transparency, and the chance to learn without feeling intimidated. His hope is that Arrows becomes more than a shop: a place that helps shape a more open, less elitist vintage watch culture for the next generation of collectors.
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