KEEPING A WATCH ON TRENDS - OJ in the Hollywood Magazine

_________________________
By John Pacenti
_________________________

f O.J. Whatley were a wristwatch, he'd run fast. Really fast. Whatley talks about high-end timepieces at a pace that would make a second hand seem stuck. But he has turned this passion, and keen business sense, into WatchUWant, a Hollywood seller, trader and buyer of exclusive watches.

The former stockbroker-turned-software sales engineer now deals in almost any exceptional watch, but he specializes in an oversized, Italian-designed, Swiss-made sports watch known as Panerai.

While most new watches are like cars, depreciating almost immediately once they are put on the wrist, most Panerai watches increase in retail value because athletes, CEOs, rock stars - and their wannabes - have become obsessed with them in the last several years.

We have Fortune 500 CEOs who won't be able to sleep tonight unless they know their watches will be on their doorstep tomorrow morning," says Whatley.

WatchUWant, with six employees, made $10 million in sales last year, according to Whatley. We want to get to $24 to $30 million per year," says the married father of two, who likes to listen to John Mayer and watch The Sopranos.

Whatley's interest in watches started when he won $16,900 on the Wheel of Fortune while in college and bought himself and his father Rolex Submariners. He started WatchUWant six-and-a-half years ago after "borrowing" from his mother's credit card to buy his first Panerai watch. He sold it for a profit of about $1,500.

On this day, he wears a discontinued Panerai Pam 165 44mm Marina Automatic. Only 400 units of this model ever were made. It retailed at $4,900 and Whatley estimates it can be sold today at $6,900.

"Rolexes are mass produced. There is nothing really collectible about them. But when there are only 500 of a watch model made, people want them," Whatley says.

Panerai also makes special editions for movie stars like Sylvester Stallone and Brad Pitt. These extras hit the market at a premium price. And accessories like specialized bands - vintage bomber jacket, anyone? - or the ornate display boxes are just as much in demand.

Whatley does have his challenges growing WatchUWant. He is moving the business from a long-time eBay presence to his own internet site and the business remains rooted in his own wheeling and dealing. " A vacation is a major financial hit." he says. But his customers remain extremely loyal.

Michael Pliskin, who is the associate dean at the Temple University School of Dentistry in Philadelphia, says he trades, buys or sells on average 25 watches a year with WatchUWant.