Dual Time Podcast

Roman Sharf and Adrian Taskin go through the things that should be illegal in the watch industry, starting with a fake Patek Philippe 5970G a dealer sold us. Our master watchmaker opened it up and found a super clone movement with stamped bridges and papers Patek would never issue. The dealer still argued it was real.We break down AP and Patek buying-history requirements and forced bundles, including the time a dealer tried to make a client pay $30,000 for wholesale "ruby" earrings to get a Rolex Daytona at retail. We explain why the secondary market often beats playing the bundle game, and why bundling with Audemars Piguet is especially risky. From there we talk about the flood of limited editions, Hublot's ambassador strategy and the new Jeff Koons Hublot, and the conversation Roman had with a brand executive about Patrick Mahomes.Then it's watch flipping courses: who's actually qualified to teach one, and what they leave out. We finish with what we'd ban tomorrow: buyers backing out of deals, the "I have to ask my wife" excuse, and Frankenwatches built from swapped dials, washed dials, over-polished cases and restamped vintage parts, sold as original.

On this episode of the Dual Time Podcast, Roman Sharf sits down with Yandretti (@yandretti), the New York collector whose avant-garde taste is so recognizable that "a Yan watch" has become its own genre. They debate whether independent watches have gone too far: six-figure time-only pieces, three-year waitlists and subscription models from watchmakers fresh out of school. Yan thinks the independent watch bubble is about to burst. Roman explains why so many of these brands struggle to make money even when their watches sell for millions at auction.Then Yan opens his case: the first Hautlence HL01 (1 of 88), a Trilobe, a Carlo Ferrara Regulateur with "dancing hands," a piece-unique Fiona Krüger Mechanical Entropy, an MCT Sequential Two, a Moritz Grossmann Backpage and a 1-of-33 Ikepod. Roman gives the dealer's view on watch resale value: real value vs perceived value, his 0-to-5 liquidity scale, and why a watch that takes nine months to sell needs a much bigger margin than a steel Daytona.They also get into Chinese watches vs Swiss watches: the $6,600 ZBL compared with the $1.88M Richard Mille Ferrari, what "Swiss Made" really means, Behrens showing at Palexpo, and whether China could cause a new quartz crisis. Plus Gotham Watch Club, how F.P. Journe went from hard-to-sell to the ultimate flex, and how Roman once cornered the market on limited-edition AP Offshores.

TraxNYC sits down with Roman Sharf and Adrian Taskin on the Dual Time Podcast. Max, the founder of TraxNYC and one of the biggest names in New York's Diamond District, drove down to Luxury Bazaar to spend a day working with our team, then stayed to tell the stories he usually keeps off camera.He gets real about the years he was paying $50,000 a month in interest and offering 25% of his company for a loan, explains why calling out scammers on camera on 47th Street made his sales go up instead of down, what happened when someone sold a super clone using his name, and why "Where's my money?" is every dealer's real catchphrase.We also get his take on the Diamond District today: why the booths are full again, how social media from creators like Benny the Dealer brought the block back, and why only about 20% of his jewelry business happens in the store. Roman and Adrian compare notes with Max on hiring (paid tryouts before anyone gets the job), paying commission on profit instead of sales, building a 50-person team, and how AI is changing what a sales team looks like.Plus: Roman's whiskey bar, the Philly cheesesteak debate, and where Trax sees himself in five years.

On Dual Time Podcast Episode 20, Roman Sharf and Adrian Taskin talk about the dark side of the watch industry. Between them they have more than 20 years of dealer stories. They cover how stolen watches move through the secondary watch market, from Istanbul's Grand Bazaar to dealer-to-dealer trading at Hong Kong trade shows. Roman tells the story of a stolen Richard Mille RM 030 that turned up at our door with the Southampton police. He also explains why we replaced a $200K Richard Mille when an insurance fraud claim surfaced seven years after we sold it.Then come the watch scams: suitcases of cash from Japanese dealers, a $27K Daytona paid for in cash that smelled like weed, dirty crypto, and fake-token schemes hitting 47th Street. Roman breaks down a $365K Rolex "Jean-Claude Killy" with a refinished dial and a Frankenstein Patek Philippe 1518 with a swapped dial and case. He explains why we brought in Adam Golden before getting into vintage, and how to avoid buying a stolen watch: buy the dealer, not the watch.Adrian also surprises Roman with his grail: the Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon 5002 in platinum. They also look at a Patek 5304R open-worked minute repeater and a one-of-two 1980s Audemars Piguet skeleton perpetual calendar in yellow gold. Plus there's the $1M Patek 5104 deal that cost Roman $220K, and the unsolved Hong Kong mystery of a Richard Mille RM 11 sent to the wrong "Man."Is the watch industry cleaner or dirtier than it used to be? Tell us in the comments, and subscribe for more.

In this episode of the Dual Time Podcast, Roman Sharf and Adrian Taskin explore how wealth changes the way people buy, sell, trade and collect watches. Roman opens with his pick for the most undervalued watch on the market today, the Patek Philippe 5102 Celestial in white gold, and explains why he calls it the "sleeper of all sleepers." He also shows the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore "Marcus" limited edition that shaped his early years in the watch business.In Counter Offer, the hosts answer viewer comments. Roman explains how a vintage Patek Philippe 3450 perpetual calendar with a leap-year "red dot" arrived without the red dot, and how honesty with clients saved the deal. They defend Gérald Genta's legacy beyond the Royal Oak and Nautilus, explain why exhibition casebacks can cost more to make than solid ones, why missing Patek Philippe secondary casebacks can drop a watch's value by 10–20%, why Rolex hang tags and the new wooden hang tags are a headache for dealers, and whether Audemars Piguet or Rolex does better diamond and gem-setting work.The main discussion covers the psychology of luxury spending: how billionaire clients behave compared to new money, why car dealers are the toughest negotiators, why clients in the South are among the best to work with, the "I have to ask my wife" excuse, buying watches from divorce and estate sales, and what happens when collectors go into debt to keep buying. The hosts also break down the true cost of constant trade-ins, the "never satisfied collector," and why the watch flippers of the 2021 Covid boom either built lasting businesses or went broke.They close with the big questions: Is watch collecting a hobby or an addiction? What percentage of your net worth should you hold in luxury watches? And are watches really an investment once you factor in liquidity, dealer margins, and in-and-out costs?Whether you're a first-time Rolex buyer, a Patek Philippe collector, or just curious about the business of the pre-owned and gray market watch industry, this episode is full of real stories, market insight and honest advice from two dealers who've seen it all.

What happens when a dentist starts a watch group chat during COVID? It grows into CP Time, a 2,000-member watch collecting community across the US. On this episode of the Dual Time Podcast, Roman Sharf and Adrian Taskin of Luxury Bazaar sit down with Dr. Albert Coombs, founder of CP Time, to talk about inclusion in watch collecting, walking into boutiques and not feeling welcome, and getting a Patek Philippe 5711 Green at retail only to have the internet call it fake.We also get into the topics collectors can't stop having: should you call someone out for wearing a fake watch? Why do Richard Mille owners get hate when F.P. Journe owners don't? Are people buying hyped independent watchmakers for the wrong reasons? Roman runs the numbers on why the independent business model is so hard. Plus, Dr. Coombs talks about his De Bethune DB27, the CP Time x De Bethune collaboration, his three-watch grail collection (Rolex Daytona "Le Mans," RM 67-02, F.P. Journe), and the Cartier Tank Louis his father bought him in retirement, the watch that means the most to him.

Martin Zilber breaks down what it was like sourcing watches out of catalogs and hotel hallways in the pre-internet era, the $14,000 Paul Newman Daytona that started it all, the watch he sold for $12K that later hammered for half a million dollars at auction, and why he thinks the entire hobby shifted after COVID. They get into whether watches are really "investments," what separates a true collector from someone who just owns expensive pieces, the rise of independent watchmaking as a blue-chip category, and how social media changed the flex game forever. Then it's rapid fire: Rolex or Patek, steel or precious metal, quality or quantity — and his single biggest regret after three decades of collecting.

WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair, "The Nature Boy" himself, joins Roman Sharf on this special episode of the Dual Time Podcast for an unfiltered look at wrestling, money, and the Rolex watches. Ric revisits the viral watch-gifting moment with Roman and opens up about how much of the "Nature Boy" persona was real versus performance. He breaks down what a gold Rolex President meant in the 1980s wrestling world and the spending habits behind his famous line about outspending fans on bar tabs alone. The conversation also covers the business of professional wrestling: who really understood it best, who surprised him, and his list of great wrestlers, before closing on legacy: what he wants said about Ric Flair fifty years from now, and who inherits the Rolex Roman gave him!

Roman and Adrian sit down with special guest Lex Borrero! 24 years in the music business (managing Will Smith, platinum records, a Netflix show) before he pivoted into building 0260 and the Time to Drive festival. They get into how he went from immigrant kid to industry vet to full-blown car and watch collector, why watch guys and car guys speak completely different languages, what's overpriced right now (Porsche) versus what's still undervalued (vintage Mercedes, JDM), grail watches nobody will part with, and why "grey market" became the label for watch dealers in the first place.

Drake just pulled off one of the biggest flexes in modern watch collecting history! A one-of-a-kind, custom-made Rolex covered in blue sapphires that matches his album. Roman Sharf and Adrian Taskin break down what it's worth and why a collector could pay up to $10 million for it.We also cover: whether beauty and taste in watch design is objective or subjective, why Richard Mille round watches like the RM33 and RM61 don't command the same premiums as the Royal Oak, how we spot fake buyers on $500K+ "mega watch" inquiries, what dealer profit margins on luxury watches really look like, the rise and fall of watch flipping post-Covid, and our honest advice for breaking into the watch dealing business, and wholesale vs retail watch trading.