1 year after… taking Sabiwatches to the next level

We happily open our Journal with the first article of a series about the birth and growth of Sabiwatches. Bringing some transparency into this obscure market is one of our key drivers and we love toshare our story. If this inspires you, if you have also given a new directionto your career or wish to, comment this article and tell us your story.

A tale of entrepreneurship and vintage watches

It was around 6pm in Paris that day, a light rain was pouring out of a dark sky overthe place Saint Gervais, along with a refreshing autumn breeze, sometimes interruptedby the burden of a passing car. The bags in my hands were heavy, but I couldbarely feel them, being exhausted and still confused by a mix of happiness and frustration. Sabiwatches.com had been launched almost one year before and I wasjust going out of our first watch fair as exhibitor.

The fairwas not exactly a success in term of sales (it was not a success for our fellowdealers either) but had been a great opportunity to meet our followers, makeconnections and still close a few deals. A striking Angelus had left our handsthat day, as had a very cool Marvin, whose story has been related on the excellent blog moonphase.fr.

It’s been a week now and as the first birthday of the launch is getting closer, it is more than early enough to open a new chapter.

Started as a side business, built around my passion for vintage watches, Sabiwatches has brought me a lot of feedback, usually positive, but also quite amusing.

So you’reselling watches ? What brought you into this ?  Do you own many ?

Do you intent to go full-time ?

How cool, I wish I had a hobby I could make a living from…

Taking yourcareer to a new path is an exciting adventure, but it also drives a lot ofcuriosity, and sometimes misunderstanding. What we intend to do here, because,yes, Julien has recently joined me on the way, is to build a solid andsustainable business. It involves hard work and persistence, but passion makesit easier.

So what now ?

Over the past year, Sabiwatches has sold more than 80 watches, generated a gross revenue of over 100k€ and proven its rentability. But a few steps are still to be passed to reach our medium-term goals:

• Improveour level of service to offer best-in-class experience to our customers andfellow collectors,
• Become referents in our field by offering to the community the knowledge we have gained over years of collecting,
• Grow a brand that is widely recognized and supported by an active community.

This is an exciting journey. Entrepreneurship is tough and demanding, but we are passionate people and we strongly believe in what we do.

If you enjoyed the read, leave us a comment or share. We’d love to hear from you and answer any question you may have.