SECOND TICK CO.
Hi there!
I started Second Tick Co. as a lifelong lover of horology and watches, based out of the DC-Maryland-Virginia metro area. I was born in the 90s, twenty years before the smartwatch craze would grab sizable market share from wristwatches, but I remember collecting all kinds of watches from a young age.
Watches, jewelry, coins and trading cards have always been some of my favorite collectibles because they’re very lightweight and easy to collect a lot of. Watches always stood out to me, though. They’re one of the few collectibles that so many people actively love wearing (sneakers too 👟). Watches combine a time telling device with personal style, so when you look at one, you’re telling the time in a more ritualistic way that’s also in line with your self-identity.
As my interest in watches grew, I began tinkering with mechanical movements and learned how deep the world of haute horology (“high horology”) really goes. While I’d work on a vintage Seiko 5, I’d also daydream of pieces like Rolex, Omega, and my personal favorite: Grand Seiko.
But eventually, one day I began to appreciate something about watches that isn’t talked about nearly as much: the identity that a watch helps assign the wearer,
This "identity effect" is that feeling when you look at or put on a watch, bracelet, or other piece and get the sensation of:
“This feels like me”
Different watches brought out different versions of that effect for me. A more sleek dressy watch for a formal occasion that I’d been thinking about for a month, an outdoors watch for when I wanted something that can take a beating but still look good, a simple digital watch when I wanted to keep track of time in the gym without having to deal with smartwatch notifications and pulling my phone out every minute, or a watch made out of wood when I was feeling like I wanted people to ask me about what the hell I’m wearing 😎
I started matching watches to what I was wearing and noticed something else: people noticed them. If I wore the right watch with the right outfit, it could become a great conversation starter. Those conversations sometimes helped me network and eventually led to real professional and business opportunities.
Then I started experimenting with more affordable quartz watches, and I realized something. For most occasions, if the watch fit my energy and my look, I still got compliments; and we’re talking about watches under $100, many of them under $50.
The reason obviously wasn’t the price tag or because the dial said Rolex. It was because I felt natural confidence with the timepiece on my wrist, and I carried myself differently. I liked the way I looked wearing them, and more importantly, I felt like myself wearing them.
I decided to start Second Tick Co. because I realized three things many years ago:
1)
A good watch can complete the way someone presents themselves; a unique, purposeful watch can add a lot to an outfit and to the way someone feels wearing it.
2)
I wanted to build a small business one day that I could feel proud to own; something that makes many people genuinely happy. I’m always glad and excited when someone sends me a picture of a watch they ordered from Second Tick, it makes me feel like I’m doing meaningful work.
3)
I realized that secondhand goods were becoming a burgeoning market and that if I could source pre-owned watches, fix them up, fit new batteries, test them and clean them, that I could offer all of these unique, nostalgic and interesting timepieces to everyone in the United States, while extending the useful life of existing watches and reducing unnecessary waste, at a fraction of the price that many would’ve cost new.
I hope you find yourself well here with a watch that fits exactly the kind of person you are, the kind of person you need to be, or the kind of person you feel like right now.
