There are few more enjoyable activities than walking into your local watch shop, where you trust the staff, and are always made welcome. Such is the case with an excellent shop a mere 9 miles from my home in the beautiful Derbyshire town of Ashbourne. Welcome to Avanti Jewellers.
WatchGecko has recently formed a new relationship with Avanti, which is a family-run, one hundred percent independent shop, that has an outstanding collection of pre-owned watches.
Rolex Window Display - Credit Avanti
The purpose of my last visit was to record this podcast with two of the senior staff, Alan Matkin who is the owner of the company and Sarah White who is the operations manager. During a previous conversation with Alan he and I were analyzing the pre-owned market both regionally, nationally, and internationally. It was only after this conversation that we thought this might be really interesting for the WatchGecko audience to listen to, hence the podcast.
Of course, during this conversation, we did manage to pull out some wonderful Watches and you can see them in an abridged transcript version of this chat appearing soon on the Magazine. We discuss some beautiful and rare vintage Rolexes, Omegas including a fine Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon.
Being shown the Dark Side of the Moon during Interview - Credit Avanti
In the wider conversation, we cover a multitude of topics and below, you'll find some rough timestamps in case you want the fast-forward to something which particularly interests you.
The plan over the next few months is to continually develop a relationship with Avanti. We already have pretty unrestricted access to their stock for photography purposes and WatchGecko’s Head of the Creative Team is already booked in next month for a very special photoshoot to get some high-end images of some of the rarest I'm the most desirable watches (assuming they're not sold).
Interview in Process - Credit WatchGecko
However, the key subject of the podcast is something we hold very dear to our own hearts and is especially relevant to Avanti's business model. It is that we continue to support and encourage our town’s independent dealers in the High Street because it is with them, not the Internet giants, that we can enjoy a truly one-to-one relationship. The big online dealers may offer better discounts and a bigger stock but there is something glorious about going into your local shop, having a coffee, talking to friends while trying on models and (if everyone is happy) walking out with an absolute gem.
I hope you enjoy this recording. If you find it interesting please tell us because Avanti is more than open to discussing other subjects especially if there are any that have particular interest to our readers and listeners.
Watches in Avanti - Credit Avanti