The Small Dealers Shaping the Vintage Watch Business

There’s a stereotype in the world of vintage watches, thanks to a classic cartoon trope. A shady man in a brown trench coat and a hat fit for a gangster approaches you on a street corner. “Wanna buy a watch?” he asks. He opens the coat to reveal several gleaming gold Rolexes dangling inside. They’re either fake or stolen or both. He’s like a greasy used-car salesman. You just can’t trust him.

“The old way of doing things was really speaking down to the buyer,” says James Lamdin, the founder of vintage watch dealer Analog/Shift LLC. “It was like, ‘I’ve got something you want. You want in? It’ll cost you this much. If you don’t want it from me, you’re no good to me.’ ”