From Pokémon Cards to a $10,000 Month Selling Vintage Watches

Trying to make the most of from pok mon cards? You are in the right place. Below we break it down in plain English, with practical tips you can actually use.

Key Takeaways

• If you scroll through Aaron’s Instagram stories, you’ll see rows of vintage watches lined up under diffused light , each one photographed cl...
• Side Hustle: Vintage Watch Reselling (Arrows Vintage) Revenue: Up to $15,000 per month Started: As a hobby (pre-business) Featured Quote: “I...
• In recent months, that little grid of watches translated into a $10,000 profit , not bad for something that began as selling pieces from his...

If you scroll through Aaron’s Instagram stories, you’ll see rows of vintage watches lined up under diffused light , each one photographed cleanly, listed with a short caption, and typically claimed within a few days.

Side Hustle: Vintage Watch Reselling (Arrows Vintage)

Revenue: Up to $15,000 per month

Started: As a hobby (pre-business)

Featured Quote: “I didn’t plan to start a business , I just kept learning which watches people actually wanted to purchase.”

Arrows Vintage Watches looks polished now, but it didn’t start with a website, an audience, or even the intention of becoming a business.

In recent months, that little grid of watches translated into a $10,000 profit , not bad for something that began as selling pieces from his own collection.

Aaron now lives in Brooklyn, though he grew up in Miami. Before watches, his world was politics, policy, and communication , nothing that pointed toward a career in vintage timepieces. That outsider background is a big part of what makes his story compelling. He didn’t come up through jewelry stores or watchmaking school.

He grew up around watches because his dad collected them, but the instinct for spotting condition came earlier. Selling Pokémon cards and sports memorabilia taught him to notice edge wear, print variations, and the small differences most people overlook; skills that transferred naturally once he started paying attention to watches.

Years later, he became active on watch forums, spending hours comparing listings and tracking auction results. He helped other collectors verify originality, and somewhere in that routine, he realized he was already doing the kind of work dealers rely on. What began as a hobby gradually started to feel like something more , the early shape of what would eventually become Arrows Vintage Watches.

How He Launched Arrows Vintage Watches

Aaron didn’t set out to build a watch business. In the beginning, he simply sold pieces from his own collection to fund new ones. “I would sell items in my personal collection to finance other watches,” he said. It was a low-risk way to test demand and learn which watches actually moved once money was on the line.

The first watches he bought specifically to resell were Seiko Dolces , inexpensive to purchase in bulk, reliable, and simple to service thanks to their quartz movements. They gave him early practice in pricing, photography, and resale without the downside of costly mechanical repairs.

His first listings went up on Reddit and eBay. He photographed watches with whatever lighting he had, wrote straightforward descriptions, and priced items to sell. There was no brand, no website, and no long-term plan beyond learning how buyers responded to different watches.

For a while, he focused on wholesaling to other dealers. It kept inventory moving, but it slowed his ability to build an identity. “I was doing a lot of wholesaling and figured I didn’t really need an Instagram,” he said. Looking back, he sees that as a mistake. Watches are visual, and buyers expect clear, consistent photography from someone they trust.

He didn’t build a website until recently. “I only just built my site about two months ago,” he said. That shift changed how the business worked. Instagram (@ar.ro.ws) became the first place where new pieces appeared, while the website gave buyers longer descriptions, more photos, and the option for payment plans. Reddit, eBay, and auction sites still play a role, but now they function more as sourcing and research tools than his primary sales channels.

Related: I Spent $100K Flipping Pokémon Cards. Here’s How It Went

How He Sources Watches , and the Mistakes New Sellers Make

Most of Aaron’s inventory comes from online marketplaces and auctions. “I would say 70 percent of my watches come from online marketplaces and auctions,” he said. The rest comes from people who already know his taste and send things his way. “Personal networks and people who know the sort of watches I purchase are my greatest asset.”

When he evaluates a watch, he starts with the traits that determine long-term value: dial condition, originality of hands and crowns, correct printing, lume consistency, and whether the case shape matches known examples. Only after that does he consider liquidity , how quickly similar watches tend to sell , and whether parts are simple to source. “Condition, originality, and dial quality come first,” he said.

The mistake he sees most from new sellers is buying watches they personally like rather than watches the market actually wants. “My biggest red flag is buying watches I love thinking that they’ll sell well,” he said. His audience knows him for certain brands, like Universal Genève, so those pieces move quickly. Someone without that audience might hold the same watch for months. Understanding which watches have active buyers takes time, and skipping that step leads to expensive lessons.

A Universal Genève dress watch, a brand Aaron knows deeply and sells to collectors who trust his eye for condition.

Universal Genève is a good example. Aaron personally loves the brand and has spent years studying its 1960s models, which means his audience now trusts him on those pieces , they tend to sell quickly. But outside that niche, a similar watch might sit for weeks. The difference isn’t the watch itself; it’s the expectation and buyer base he’s built over time.

For that reason, he resists the term “flipping.” “I don’t ‘flip’ watches,” he said. “I purchase items I’m personally interested in and rarely sell something I wouldn’t wear myself.” To him, flipping is transactional; curation is reputation.

He encourages beginners to treat their first year as research. “My biggest piece of advice is to spend at least a year learning about watches,” he said. Some watches are affordable to service because parts are everywhere; others become money pits. That difference only becomes obvious after studying sold listings, tracking auctions, and comparing dozens of examples.

Every now and then, that homework pays off in a big way. In his best month so far, Aaron cleared roughly $10,000 in profit on about $15,000 in sales, thanks in part to a non-running Rolex Bubbleback he sourced in unusually good condition. “It turned out all it needed was a replacement balance wheel,” he said. Once it was fixed, it became the most profit he’s ever made on a single watch.

Related: 7 Best Selling Apps to Get Fast Cash for Your Items

Why Transparency Shapes How He Buys and Sells Watches

Aaron doesn’t restore watches before selling them. Instead, he focuses on pieces that already have the kind of honest wear collectors look for , clean dials, original parts, and aging that matches the period. “Part of what I sell is watches with vintage charm that are in honest condition,” he said. If buyers want a refinished dial or a movement swap later, that’s their choice.

He draws a clear line between being a dealer and being a watchmaker. He doesn’t service watches himself, but he handles all the authentication work before anything goes up for sale. He compares it to car enthusiasts. “A car guy can diagnose what’s wrong even if they can’t fix it,” he said. “They can order the part and make sure you don’t get ripped off at the shop.” For him, that means making sure the watch is what it claims to be , that the internal parts match the model, the visible components are original, and any prior repairs make sense for the period it came from.

When a watch needs further inspection, he works with a watchmaker to open the case and determine whether repairs are worthwhile. This matters most for pieces from the 1940s and 1950s, numerous of which have had replacement parts or touch-ups over time. Some are worth servicing; others are better sold as-is. His job is to make that distinction clear. “I value honesty above all else,” he said.

How Instagram Became His Main Sales Channel

Instagram is where most of Aaron’s sales happen now. He posts new watches to his stories first , frequently before they ever reach his website , because it’s the fastest way to show how a watch actually looks in real lighting. “I sell a lot by posting to my story,” he said.

Aaron lists new watches on Instagram first, where collectors frequently claim pieces within hours.

What makes Instagram work for him isn’t just visibility , it’s access. His DMs function as informal consulting: people ask about authenticity, servicing needs, or how one watch compares to another they’re considering. He answers every message, whether someone is ready to purchase or just trying to learn. “I once had a casual conversation in my DMs about my favorite soccer team,” he said, “and that eventually led to them buying a watch.”

That openness is unusual in a traditionally formal, sometimes gatekept niche. Aaron’s feed balances clean product photos with a playful, approachable tone , including a standing offer that anyone in New York who can beat him in a game of basketball gets a watch discount. Small details like that lower the barrier to reaching out, especially for newer collectors.

Buyers who don’t purchase directly through Instagram typically arrive via referrals or ads and end up on his website, which he built recently. The site gives him space for longer descriptions, more photos, and payment plan options. But Instagram remains the starting point , the place where trust is built before a transaction ever happens.

Over time, those conversations compound. Buyers return because they feel comfortable asking questions and know they’ll get a straight answer. Instagram isn’t just where Aaron lists watches; it’s where relationships form, and where repeat shoppers come from.

How Much Time the Business Takes , and How It’s Evolved

Aaron doesn’t run Arrows full-time, but it still occupies a few hours of his day. He spends time sourcing new pieces, answering messages, photographing inventory, or updating listings. “A lot of this is passive work,” he said. “Managing the site, checking my listings on marketplaces, looking for new watches.” It’s steady maintenance more than anything; the kind of work that keeps the shop moving even on slower sales days.

A typical day’s inventory: watches sourced, photographed, and stored as Aaron manages the busin

Final Thoughts

The bottom line: a little research on from pok mon cards goes a long way. Compare your options, watch for seasonal offers, and never pay full price when a better deal is one click away.

Originally published at dollarsprout.com.