Interview Honza Hroch: Owner of ValueYourWatch

Jurica Krajacic
Jurica Krajacic
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Our goal here is to bring interesting stories from interesting people in the luxury watch industry to our audience. We’re honored to have a fellow entrepreneur in the tech and luxury watch industry to be our guest today. 

Hi Honza, welcome to Watch Signals. Thank you so much for taking the time with us today.

Ari: Could you share a bit about who you are and what you do?

Honza: Thanks for having me. Yes, I move from the Czech Republic to Hawaii in 2005 to attend a college on a tennis scholarship and somehow I got stuck here. The reason might be that my wife is from Hawaii and does not really want to leave.  I like to spend a lot of time with my two kids Dominik and Zoe, play tennis or hiking at the Hawaiian mountains.

Ari: How did Value Your Watch begin?

Honza: a very good friend of mine, Pejman Ghadimy the founder of Watch Trading Academy suggested to learn the art of the watch trading. After working on the trade for a while I realized, that there are watch marketplaces, but not the one I would like to use the long term.

Ari: Why did you start ValueYourWatch.com?

Honza: I am passionate about helping people and make them feel great. Why not create an online platform where people are able to sell or buy watches. In either case, it will benefit the users. When they are selling they will keep more money than on other platforms. The only fee would be the processing payment fee, but if they get paid directly by wire or cash, there are no fees. For the buyers, it’s very beneficial that the platform does not have selling fees, because it allows them to get the best price possible from the sellers.

Ari: What was the biggest challenge when you first started?

Honza: Like any marketplace, the challenge is to get enough people to join the platform to list their watches for sale as well as getting enough customers who would like to purchase the watches.

Ari: What makes Value Your Watch competitive to other marketplaces?

Honza: Because we do not charge selling fees or any commission on selling that is something our users like. Also, the fact that we allow our users to connect with each other to create a transparent marketplace is a plus. Currently, we are working on phase 4.0 which will create something very unique for our users. 

Ari: What are your thoughts on the current luxury watch market condition in 2020?

Honza: With all tensions in the air about the recessions the luxury market might get affected in 2020. However, the secondary market might not be as affected as the brand new watches. People will still buy watches at certain price points. Yes, the ultra-expensive watches will get a much higher drop in sales compared to the time when the economy is doing very well. I have noticed that many more people are buying and selling luxury watches than ever before which is great news. The luxury watch market is a global billion-dollar industry and you can literally ship the watch to the other side of the world in less than a week is amazing. 2020 will be a great year for people to buy and sell watches.

Ari: Tell us about your favorite watches.

Honza: I love OMEGA and Cartier watches. I started with OMEGA watches because my friend works for them and I got to understand first hand about the quality of the movements. Plus the history of the Omega Speedmasters the first watch on the moon is amazing.  The selection of various types from OMEGA is great and I can choose any watch for any occasion. 

The second brand I really enjoy is Cartier Roadsters’ large size as well as the Cartier Roadster XL. These watches are amazing and very noticeable and I can wear different straps as well as stainless steel bracelets.

Ari: Most and least expensive in your current collection?

Honza: The most expensive would be the Grand Seiko “snowflake” SGBA011 and the least expensive would be the Vintage OMEGA f300 tuning fork which is a very interesting watch.

Ari: What’s your greatest entrepreneurial achievement to be proud of?

Honza: Running a business especially an online marketplace has so many moving parts, but the thing I am proud of is to have people complimenting me on the platform. 

Ari: What are your goals for your business in the next 12 or 18 months?

Honza: the goal is to take more and more market share from the other online platforms and establish the Value Your Watch as a leading online platform to buy and sell watches.

Ari: A big thank you to Honza for sharing your entrepreneurial stories and passion for watches. I wish you great successes in 2020 for ValueYourWatch

You can visit https://valueyourwatch.com/ to buy, sell pre-owned watches with the help of Honza.

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