Michael Morgan, now the 25-year-old owner of the Iconic Watch Company, sold his first Rolex Submariner at the age of 13 – a sale that was largely due to boredom. “When you’re 12 or 13, you usually get bored very, very quickly,” Morgan says Entrepreneur. “So within six months [of buying it]I knew I wanted to sell [the vintage Submariner].”
How did a 13-year-old end up selling expensive watches part-time? Morgan says that from a young age, around eight or nine years old, he had a fondness for “old things.” It started with Porsches – “I could find out everything about them.” But kids can’t go out and buy a car, so Morgan started collecting coins, stamps and fountain pens before turning to watches.
Image Source: Courtesy of Iconic Watch Company. Michael Morgan.
“I always liked watches,” Morgan remembers. “My father had some nice watches. When I was about 10 years old, I started reading about watches all the time. Pocket watches first. And much like coins, stamps, and pens, I realized that pocket watches aren’t really that useful. And from then on I spent most of my time reading about watches. [The book] Vintage Rolex became the focus.”
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Morgan pored over the pages of this book every day and eventually bought his first vintage Rolex Submariner at the age of 12, trading in a few watches he owned and using some savings to make the purchase that would launch him into his side hustle bestowed. “I remember it cost me $3,500, which seemed like a huge amount at the time,” Morgan says.
Morgan listed the watch on an online forum for an “optimistic” $5,500 – and was somewhat surprised when the piece sold within two days for $5,200. Then “the light bulb went off”; Morgan realized that his hobby could become a real moneymaker. Although it wasn’t possible for the young entrepreneur to run the business full-time at the time, he saw the venture as something fun that could help him buy more watches.
“[When I said] “Actually, I’m 14 years old,” he said, overwhelmed. And in the end he actually became one [regular customer].”
A few years later, Morgan knew that his side business as a watch salesman was the right thing to do. It was already taking up most of his time and “school was definitely secondary.” Morgan sold watches during his lunch break and regularly brokered transactions worth $50,000 or more, he says. Despite his early successes, Morgan didn’t take calls at the start of his career because it would reveal his age.
“I had a customer who was interested in purchasing two watches, so I knew I had to call,” Morgan recalls. “I’m on the phone with him right now. I was fine and at the end he asked me how old I was. I meant: oh God. I said him [I was 14]. At first he thought it was a joke. [But when I said] “Actually, I’m 14 years old,” he said, overwhelmed. And in the end he actually became one [regular customer].”
While being a young entrepreneur wasn’t without its challenges, it did come with one major benefit: “A lot of people want to help you when you’re young,” says Morgan.
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By the time he was 18, Morgan was no longer interested in college, but his parents encouraged him to go. He ended up interviewing at the University of Southern California. The first conversation didn’t go well, Morgan admits; The interviewer asked vague questions that didn’t showcase his business acumen. But his father arranged a second interview so Morgan could discuss his business, and at the end of that meeting Morgan said the interviewer introduced him to USC. Morgan was excited to attend and enrolled, but as his junior year came to an end, balancing his workload as a student and business owner was no longer possible – and he wanted to focus full-time on watches.
“There are probably 30 active people searching all the time [for vintage watches]. So the competition has become extremely tough.
These days, age is no longer Morgan’s biggest business challenge: that would be sourcing the vintage watches he sells. “The problem is that we’re dealing with old watches and there aren’t that many great pieces out there, and as time goes on, more and more people are looking,” Morgan explains. “When I started, there were probably five to 10 big people in the US who were actively buying vintage. [Now], there are probably 30 active people constantly searching. So the competition has become extremely tough.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Iconic Watch Company
Morgan says he has developed a reputation for sourcing some of the rarest vintage watches – especially Rolex watches – and has flown all over the world to acquire some of them. “A highlight would be finding the lowest serial number and possibly the first known Rolex GMT-Master from 1955, found via an Instagram DM, with a history dating back to Walt Disney,” he notes. Morgan loves hunting and admits it’s all about “finding the next great watch.” [him] go there every day.
Morgan’s commitment to the company has contributed to the company’s success: he has sold thousands of watches to customers around the world, and as of 2017, annual sales have exceeded $10 million, with a focus on private sales. And a notable recent transaction? He sold a 1970 Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Ref. 6263 “Paul Newman” to a prominent collector in Asia for $750,000.
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Passion allowed Morgan to grow his watch business from a side hustle to a company with more than $110 million in sales. Therefore, the entrepreneur encourages all young, aspiring entrepreneurs to find their own watch business – and integrate it into their own ventures. “Use your passion if it can turn into a business,” says Morgan. “It is a very fortunate opportunity. It makes all the hard work that comes with running your own business a lot more fun.”
This article is part of our ongoing series highlighting the stories, challenges and triumphs of being Young Entrepreneurs®.