How do I tell this briefly? I moved to Southern California in 1976 for my internship in clinical psychology. I completed my PhD and got licensed to practice in California, but in the meantime discovered the beauty of vintage pocket watches at the Pasadena Rose Bowl monthly Flea Market. I saw a great potential in the vintage market for these fascinating and beautiful functional timepieces that you could carry and wear.

I had always been a collector of stuff, first seashells, then stamps, and then coins, but when I discovered these beautiful, undervalued timepieces, I saw a rich business opportunity. Furthermore, these beautifully decorated Elgins, Walthams, and Hampden hunting case watches with a lid that popped open (and with a secret back door to see the movement) would be far more interesting to a pretty girl at a party than trying to interest her in one of my Standing Liberty quarters!

After first selling at flea markets and local antique shows along with modest antique jewelry, I had an opportunity to share a tiny space with a vintage neon restoration guy on what was a vibrant and emerging vintage and American pop culture marketplace on Melrose Ave. My excitement about leaving psychology, and being part of the emergent international Melrose Ave scene, was unstoppable!

These were the days long before the internet and before eBay. The local watch shop was where everyone congregated, often two-deep on a Saturday afternoon, to see the latest offerings. In those days, there were four shops selling vintage watches on Melrose. I had expanded my pursuits from pocket watches to American wristwatches, which were just becoming fashionable in the U.S. in the early ’80s. I credit Sig (Ziggy) Shonholtz not for being my mentor per se, but as a role model for the fashionableness and appeal of 1920s-1950s wristwatch design, aesthetically restored and outfitted with fine straps.

In those days, the market was hot for Gruen Curvexes, Art Deco design by Bulova and Illinois, Rolex bubblebacks and Speedkings, anything pink gold, Bulova Spaceviews and Hamilton electrics! It was all design-driven, to have an ever-expanding collection of cool-looking vintage watches.

The list of celebrities we had the pleasure of hosting in our LA shop could fill pages, and it was, and still is, a thrill when well-known celebs from the music, arts, TV, film industries and beyond came to our store.

Moving ahead 20-plus years, we relocated further west on Melrose to a very upscale fashion and retail area – a far cry from those early days on the “other” Melrose. As anyone reading this knows, the market shifted significantly from the cool design American brands to the larger, more expensive and prestigious Rolex sport models. Our customers were bringing in their rolls of 12 to 20 gold-filled or gold dress watches to trade for one good Submariner. We sold our first Paul Newman for $3,500, the next for $6,500, and soon the market had exploded to $12,500!!!

Since the beginning, we have operated a retail store on fashionable Melrose Ave. I am not a technical person, not a watchmaker, and had no family background in watches. For me then, and now, my passion has been driven by the aesthetic. And towards that end, we have always created warm and appealing retail environments. Our print advertising (discontinued long ago), our store layout, the selection of watches, the fine photography on IG and our website, the no-appointment-needed access in a popular fashion district where customers can look, touch, try on, and learn – these all support interest and demand for our watches.

Of course, we owe a big tip of the hat to Ben, who besides inviting us to contribute to this article, referred to Wanna Buy A Watch? as “LA’s Horological Epicenter” during his interview for Talking Watches with Fred Savage. Quite a compliment, and I’m impressed with how concise he can be!!!

We carry a large selection and variety of Swiss and some American brands, dominated by vintage sport and dress Rolexes. Of late, we have been offering a lot of exceptional condition 1970s and ’80s Day-Date Presidents. Gold bracelet Rolexes have really taken off in popularity with the Presidents leading the charge. As I have said before in our posts, the former CEO watch has now become the fashion choice for both men and women.

Many of our young gun male customers have graduated from the modern Rolex sport models and typically own several. They stop by the shop in their 911s, talk about Porsches and their Leicas, and are sporting a Nautilus or a Royal Oak. They want to know what we have in sport APs and Pateks. Sadly, the cupboard is usually bare, as these watches are hard to come by for us, so we are left selling beautiful vintage Rolexes, Omegas, Vacherons, LeCoultres, Longines, colorful sporty dive watches, vintage chronos, and the like.

Though our shop is currently closed, we are continuing to maintain and post to our website and to our @wannabuyawatch and @wannabuyawatchjewels IG accounts. We can be reached at Ken@wannabuyawatch.com to answer questions or possibly set up a socially-distant face-to-face. We continue to ship domestic and internationally fully insured via FedEx.

Wanna Buy A Watch?

8441 Melrose Ave,
 West Hollywood, CA 90069
 (323) 653-0467