This Ex-Judge Has Been Collecting Watches Longer Than I've Been in Business! | Dual Time Podcast #17

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.

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.

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.