Recently, I had a friend of mine who is an entrepreneur in the multimedia space pitch me on a series for his watch lifestyle channel. It’s titled “A Day in the Life”, and the vision is to give folks both in and outside the industry different perspectives of those involved in the value chain of the watch business. So for example, “A Day in The Life” of… A Watchmaker, A Jeweler, A Watch Trader, A Manufacturer, and so on. He felt that the perspectives of these people were interesting to a large group of watch enthusiasts from all backgrounds.
We agreed that there is high demand in learning more about the watch industry, but until platforms like Watch Trading Academy came along, the interesting details of the industry have been kept opaque, secret, and quite frankly shared in a boring way.
So, we decided to record “A Day in The Life” of a Watch Trader the other week. It got me thinking about how many times I’ve been asked by enthusiasts, students, and you guys in the Watch Trading Academy Group, to share what a typical day looks like when you’re trading watches full-time. You want to know what activities are being done, how much time is being spent on those activities, and if you’re spending your time in a productive manner. I don’t blame you. When starting out, it can seem confusing. Sometimes it’s helpful to observe someone who’s doing it already to take away ideas and adapt them to your process.
The truth is, everyone is going to spend their time differently as they discover what works better for them when trading watches. For me, over the course of 8+ years of doing this, it was an evolution. At first, when I was doing it as a part-time hobby, I would spend probably 2-3 hours a day just researching watch brands, learning about horology on Google/YouTube, and looking at watch listings within my budget to flip for some profit. When Watch Trading Academy was released, I would digest all of the content on the platform and Facebook group along with my own research.
Now watch trading consumes my life, and not in a bad way. Of course there are tasks and days that are a lot less fun than others, but a majority of what’s involved is a blast, and something that’s made almost everyday amazing. So what does a typical day-to-day look like for a Watch Trader? I wanted to keep it realistic, so I broke down what a standard schedule looks like on a rotation of 3 different types of sample days. The activities are sometimes subbed in and out of the schedule. Some days are totally different than these examples. The intent is to share what’s involved so you can get some ideas, confirm your own affirmations, and/or know what you’re getting into if you want to make this more than just a side-hustle.
Day 1 (Standard Day)
8:00 – 9:30 AM:
Wake up, breakfast, plan daily tasks
9:30 – 10:30 AM:
Post daily instagram content on business IG
Wait for watches to arrive at home office
Respond to e-mails/calls/texts/FB messages from the previous day that were unanswered
10:30 – 12:00 PM:
Photograph watches to sell
List watches on eBay, StockX, Knight Watch website, etc
Text customers about new inventory that’s in
Text customers to broker deals
12:00- 1:30PM:
Eat lunch
Walk the dog
Make personal phone calls for life management (e.g. bank, invoices, etc.)
1:30 – 4:30 PM:
Evaluate watch deals (incoming trades, customer sell-backs, private deals from eBay)
Go to FedEx and ship watches
Work remote out of coffee shop
4:30 – 6:30 PM:
Go to the gym
Dinner
7:00 – 9:00 PM:
Respond to watch trading training students
Answer WTA FB messenger questions, and help WTA Members
Mastermind Calls: evaluate watch deals, make offers on watches, listen to Mastermind call
9:00 – 11:00 PM:
Learn about Audemars Piguet Watch Brand to become a specialist
Read for 30 minutes
Plan next day tasks
12:00 – 1:00 AM:
Check Instagram business page & respond to messages
Check Watch Trading Academy Facebook Pages and Watch Enthusiast Pages for deals, questions, info to learn.
1:00 – 3:00 AM:
Respond to text messages and FB messages about watch trades, watch trading education/info
Day 2 (Active Day):
8:00 – 9:30 AM:
Wake up, breakfast
9:30 – 10:30 AM:
Work out of coffee shop – post watch content on Facebook enthusiast groups & Watch Trading Academy FB Group
Post daily Instagram content on business IG
Brainstorm how to scale Knight Watch Business & make watch trading process more efficient
10:30 – 12:00 pM:
Go to the bank to address business account maintenance
Evaluate watch trades and potential deals
12:00- 1:30PM:
Eat lunch w/a strategic business partner at a restaurant in the city (e.g. A Tailored Suit Company for Men)
1:30 – 4:30 PM:
Meet a person locally to buy their watch in-person (cash)
Go to FedEx to ship a watch that was bought earlier in the week and funds cleared yesterday
Go to watch dealer partner at Jeweler’s Row to get watches polished and pick-up one that was serviced
4:30 – 6:30 PM:
Meet new potential watch clients at Happy Hour of a high-end restaurant
7:00 – 9:00 PM:
Late dinner
Answer WTA FB messenger questions, and Help WTA members
9:00 – 11:00 PM:
Catch-up on e-mails, messages, deals & trades that were actively sent during the day but didn’t have time to respond to
12:00 – 1:00 AM:
Check Instagram business page & respond to messages
Check Watch Trading Academy Facebook Pages and Watch Enthusiast Pages for deals, questions, info to learn.
Evaluate watch deals
Sleep
Day 3 (Passive Day):
8:00 – 9:30 AM:
Wake up, breakfast
9:30 – 10:30 AM:
Home office
Respond to e-mails, messages from last night
Print out shipping labels for watches
Wait for watches to be delivered
10:30 – 12:00 PM:
Respond to Instagram business messages & Facebook messenger notes re: watch trading
Evaluate potential watch deals & trades
Send out monthly VIP e-mail to customers who get insider deals on all watch inventory
12:00- 1:30PM:
Eat lunch at home
Watch business education video on Secret Academy Platform
Watch CNN
1:30 – 4:30 PM:
Send out 25 watch purchase offers on eBay, Chrono24, WatchUWant, TheRolexForum
Review weekly watch deals (WTA Newsletter)
Send e-mails to plan meetings for the rest of week w/ watch partners, strategic business partners, sellers, buyers, etc.
4:30 – 6:30 PM:
Pickup watch FedEx dropped at FedEx location because they missed delivery window
Gym
7:00 – 9:00 PM:
Dinner
Run Watch Trading Academy private coaching call
9:00 – 11:00 PM:
Send personal admin e-mails (e.g. taxes, bank info, bills) to not fall behind on life tasks due to focus on watch trading business all day as priority.
12:00 – 1:00 AM:
Check Instagram business page & respond to messages
Check Watch Trading Academy Facebook Pages and Watch Enthusiast Pages for deals, questions, info to learn
1:00 – 3:00 AM:
Read
Study new language
Sleep
Typically, a day can consist of a variety of these activities. There are times when I’m traveling and making new business connections in different cities. There are times when I attend networking events & conferences to promote business development. And then there are times when I’m just sitting alone at the home office, thinking of how to improve the business and watch trading overall.
It can be amazingly rewarding and fun, but it can also get lonely and engulf you. I hope that these sample schedule breakdowns give you a clearer sense of what “A Day in the Life” of a Watch Trader looks like. If you’re wanting to pursue this as a part-time hobby/hustle, I recommend you set aside a small amount of time daily to learn, and pursue the activities that are yielding the most traction as you’ll be limited in the time you have.
If you are looking to turn this into a full-time opportunity, I encourage you to get very comfortable with not having structure and goals already determined for you. Get used to taking action whether it’s trying to make deals happen, posting on enthusiast groups, networking with watch lovers, or helping others in the watch trading community. All these actions may not provide you immediate return on investment, but I guarantee you they’ll help immensely in the long run. As a watch trader you need to be smarter, more agile, flexible, and operationally light than a jeweler. Any creative ways you can make the process as lucrative and efficient as possible will help you win in today’s watch trading landscape.