Sigfrid Querol and Silvia Fernández, two anonymous names for practically everyone, but together they form Watches83, a brand that is already beginning to be recognizable to many vintage watch fans spread across the planet.
In addition to co-leading this adventure, Sigfrid and Sílvia are married and have their operations center in Barcelona. Can you be more adventurous?
Sigfrid is a painter and advertising creative. He began his journey in the world of vintage watches more than 30 years ago with his father, when together they visited the most picturesque markets in Barcelona searching for all types of wind-up or automatic watches. Sigfrid is in charge of putting together the Watches83 catalogue. He decides what to buy and sell. He is also in charge of all the company's communication policies, whether graphic or written.
Silvia, is the other 50% of Watches83. She is an advertising manager within the audiovisual market. His training has little to do with the world of vintage watches, but his years of experience in the business sector is what provides Watches83 with the operational structure necessary for clients' dreams to become reality. She is in charge of the logistics and administrative part.
How was Watches83 born?
SIGFRID:As I have mentioned before in Special Watches, all this madness started in May 2015. The reason, the main reason, was a stroke of bad luck: in September 2014 my small collection was stolen. A modest collection, but one that had been building for years. They were hard days. Almost all he had were those watches.
There were pieces of all prices and years, approximately 50. From a Cauny with a large diameter OR plated winding to a Rolex Submariner 5513. After spending a few days digesting that crochet, we decided together with Silvia to create Watches83.
It was part of a healing process. How to start over... If I once managed to collect about 50 pieces, why not a second one? The birth of Watches83, then, has therapeutic purposes. It was turning something unpleasant into exciting.
Why Watches83 and not Relojes27, 35 or 91?
SIGFRID:When we started, we dragged several names from the different platforms where we previously bought and sold.
We had to decide which single account to start selling with. We kept one of mine that had a lot of votes, but we changed the name to make a merger between my nickname and Silvia's. Watches83. After two minutes we change Clocks for Watches. More global. Watches83…
SILVIA:83 is the year I was born. But it is also the year the Internet was created. It was a way of saying Selling watches online. Honestly, over time we have realized that our name was not a great success, quite the opposite. But now it's too late. It's our name
What capital did you start with?
SIGFRID:Once we decided on the name, we made a super investment of €600 each (laughs). With those €1,200 I went to the Encantes in Barcelona to see what there was... I didn't find anything.
So I dusted off my old vintage lover's diary and optimized our resources as best I could. We bought about 15 pieces. Watches with prices ranging from the €25 I paid for a Duward to €240 for the most expensive: an Omega Seamaster from '66. We are talking about October 2014...
Only 5 years ago!!! At that time we only sold on Ebay and we had about 10 pieces permanently for sale. Half a year later, in May 2015, we launched our first website with a catalog of about 20 pieces. It was austere, without a search engine or functionalities, but with great potential for improvement! (more laughter)
What assessment do you make 5 years after your birth?
SIGFRID: Time is always relative. 5 years can be a small period of time or an eternity. In our case, looking back, we see that we have evolved in our way of working and, more importantly, that we do not stop growing. Today we no longer buy €25 pieces, basically because the market has suffered a brutal price increase and those pieces no longer exist (at those prices).
In this world, if you want to make a place for yourself you have to be constantly renewing yourself. We started with a stock of about 20 pieces on our first website, also selling those pieces on Ebay in parallel.
Now our stock is permanently between 170 and 190 pieces and Ebay disappeared from our lives more than 3 years ago. In the beginning we published a watch every 3 or 4 days, while today we publish a watch daily. Our audience has gone from the 67 page views we did in May 2015 (the month of Watches83.com's birth) to surpassing 125,000 page views in this last month alone. In five years the growth has been exponential.
SILVIA:That's what makes us most proud. See that 5 years after the start of this crazy adventure, we are selling all over the world and in many cases customers end up becoming more than just customers. When you sell to someone for the first time, it gives you a brutal rush. But when you do it for the second or sixteenth time, you touch the sky. It is confirmation that you are doing things right.
What is the seal that makes you different from others? Or in other words, what can I find on Watches83 that I can't find anywhere else?
SILVIA:I believe that we have known how to convert a defect into a virtue. Sigfrid is very obsessive, but thanks to his demands on himself it is impossible to offer a service that is not from an 8 upwards. He is on top of all operations, supervising everything, answering messages and making the client feel that closeness. This translates into always trying to offer superlative service.
SIGFRID:I believe that the secret, in addition to pursuing excellence in service, lies in the choice of our catalog. It is a catalog designed for all types of pockets. Many hours of calls, WhatsApp, emails...
Always looking for interesting pieces. In our catalog we look for a balance between simple classic pieces in NOS condition, through chronos with basic Valjoux or Landeron calibers of a more sporty nature, to some iconic pieces. The goal is to have a permanent display of vintage watches for all tastes and budgets. Our offer is a menu of Gastrobar dishes from the vintage clock. And finding that diversity and balance takes time.
Isn't the commitment to publishing a watch every day very slavering?
SIGFRID: You can't even imagine it. Currently the publishing time of the day's clock is automated. But until relatively recently we did it manually. That means that I had to set my alarm at 5:25 in the morning, holidays included, to activate the clock announcement of the day. Even though the night before had been complicated, that was sacred. Oh my goodness! (laughs).
As an anecdote, I will tell you that one Sunday 7 or 8 months ago, we received an email around 6 in the morning from a regular customer. He was complaining because we hadn't published that day's clock yet (?).
This customer sets his alarm clock every day, checks the news from watches83 on his laptop, and goes back to bed. I have to say that he is one of our best clients. And now friend...
Now everything is more well structured. We work two months ahead. For example, the watches that we will index on our website this week will be visible to the public in approximately two months.
Can you tell us what the next new feature will be at Watches83?
SIGFRID: We are working on introducing several changes. The changes are never too obvious. These are elements that you introduce without the user noticing what exactly has changed. Quantity and size of photographs, expanding the files with more fields... Things like that.
Now we are considering continuing to publish one daily watch from Monday to Friday, but publishing two on Saturdays and Sundays. One at 8:00 in the morning and another at 8:00 p.m. But it is something that is still up in the air. We will see.
