About Us
Our Story
Defining Time Since 1991
In 1991, Seth Grossman launched Global Trading at the age of 16. The company specialized in collectible Swatch watches from the 1980s. After venturing into luxury timepieces, Seth founded Essential Watches in 2004. He built and scaled a team to run a large online store, but he recently decided to transition into brick-and-mortar retail by opening 90210 Watches in the heart of Beverly Hills. Seth and our team have worked tirelessly to build customer relationships across the globe through the Essential Watches website and now the 90210 Watches retail storefront. While we may have gone from trading Swatch to Patek Philippe, our personal commitment to each customer remains.
The top selling brand is definitely Rolex. Steel sport models specifically are our bread and butter. The other brands that are most asked about on a daily basis would probably be Patek Phillipe, Audemars Piguet, and Cartier. The secondhand market is very much based on demand and those brands seem to have done a good job of keeping their brand legacy at a high level.
As far as unique entry-level brands go, we get a lot of variety in our inventory through the trade deals we do with our customers. This includes brands like Panerai, Breitling, IWC, Tudor, and TAG Heuer, just to name a few. Our clients might trade in something like three watches at a time to get a single watch they’ve had their eye on for a while. So a lot of our entry-level inventory is from our own customers who have pre-loved their timepieces but are ready for an upgrade or just a change of wrist-scenery. We stock and are willing to take in any brand on trade as long as it’s Swiss-made or Grand Seiko, which is made in Japan.
As for the more unique high end brands, we try to stock as much variety as possible on pieces that are popular and likely to move quickly, but I’m also fortunate that after a couple of decades in this business I have a strong network of dealers all over the U.S and the world who I can reach out to at a moments notice in order to fill an order for an exceptional timepiece like an A. Lange & Sohne, Vacheron Constantin, or even Greubel Forsey.
Additionally, another aspect of our business model is consignment. There are some watches that are so specific that they aren’t what would be considered as “liquid” in the watch world. Meaning, it might be a brand or model that isn’t very sought after. This doesn't mean it’s a bad brand or model but since the secondhand watch market is predominantly built on demand. So if you have a watch that there aren’t a ton of customers for, it might take a while for it to move from my showcase. We always do our best to buy at a fair value so we can sell at a fair value. But if I feel that a timepiece might sit in my showcase for too long, I love offering my customers consignment so that they can make top dollar when we finally get that specific customer for that unique watch. That way I don't have to take anyone to the cleaners and both my customer who is selling is happy and my customer who is buying is happy to have found such a unique piece. It’s a great option for both less sought after lower-end pieces and also for extremely high-end pieces that might take a while to move due to the customer base being small because of the high price point.
