An Interview With Jacek Kozubek (Tropical Watch, @watchand)

Back in May, I got a chance to speak with Jacek Kozubek, a watch dealer based in San Diego who specializes in Rolex, particularly the complex world of vintage sport models. You may know him as @watchand on Instagram, or from Tropical Watch, his online marketplace where he sells modern and vintage Rolex, Patek, Omega, and more.

I’ve followed Jacek on Instagram for a few years now, and swiping through a new drop of watches is always a treat. It’ll be an immaculate Paul Newman Daytona followed by a modern Submariner followed by a vintage Explorer that’s turned from black to a light caramel. You never know exactly what to expect, but you know it’s going to be a great selection.

What stuck with me after listening back to my conversation with Jacek wasn't an insight into a specific watch or a pricing dynamic. It was the way he pays attention. He's passionate, he’s observant, and he has a knack for naming what is actually special about a thing, whether it's a tropical Sub, a piece of art, or a watch he has already decided belongs to one of his kids.

The technical depth runs underneath all of it. He can explain how Rolex's materials and production changed over the decades. He can give you current and historical valuations of any reference. That’s the result of selling watches full-time for 20 years. At this point, as he puts it, "the watches are sort of the easy part."

What He Reaches For First

You mentioned you had some watches nearby. If you have anything worth sharing, I'd love to see it.

Rolex Daytona 6239 'Paul Newman' Dial. Image Source: Tropical Watch

This is getting shipped out today. It's a Paul Newman Daytona, black dial… I like Daytonas. Someone once said to me, "why do you sell so many?" I just really like them. Even though they're complex in the design, with the subdials that to some people are busy, they're actually a very easy watch, because they're time only. You never really pay attention to the small sub-second hand anyway. I just look at the time. They're fun, and there's such big variation — they're almost like a subset of collecting on their own.

Rolex GMT-Master 1675 with brown nipple dial. Image Source: Tropical Watch

And then this GMT I just got this week, a vintage 1675 with an Oyster bracelet. It has a sort of sleeve polish — that's why it has that really shiny texture. To get them to this level of wear, someone had to wear it, and they probably wore a sleeve that constantly touched the watch… over the course of 20 years it becomes this very weird, shiny finish. But you could tell, based on the bevels and the spacing between the lugs and the overall case profile, that it's never been polished before. It has some dings, but it's the perfect amount of wear. It's really beautiful.

And this is another one, a gold 1680 [Submariner], a sport watch. The dial has faded to a very intense purple hue. 

Pricing a Watch That Only Some Buyers Will Understand

Talking about that Submariner and the GMT — how do you price something that has such unique or characteristic patina? A lot of that, I imagine, is putting it in front of a buyer who understands the nuances.

Rolex Submariner 1680. Image Source: Tropical Watch

Since we sell so many of them — for example, [gold 1680 Submariners] I'm selling in the range of $35,000 to $60,000. This one I'm listing in the high $50s. I bought it for like $53,500. At that level of pricing, on the higher end, there's more of a subjective, vibe feeling. But it's not like one without patina sells for $10,000 and one sells for a million. The difference for something very fantastic is maybe 20, 30% more than the other ones in the marketplace.

My pricing, relative to a lot of people's, is very cheap. You could find ones on Chrono24 in good condition, less interesting, for more money. Because of the volume of transactions and pieces we sell, we have a very good gauge for where the marketplace is.

And I make mistakes. This week I sold two watches at losses. I lost $7,000 on one and like $1,000 on another. I get really excited about them, and then the market doesn't resonate with the same excitement I have. That's the name of the game. And things shift constantly. People aren't into a particular model, and then six months later, for whatever reason — there's been a lot of hype, a new release, a celebrity wearing them — the same piece could be 50% more. I don't set the pricing. I have to ride where the conditions of the market are.

The Pepsi, Before and After

I wanted to ask specifically about the Pepsi GMT-Master II, pre and post discontinuation. I imagine you've sold a lot of these, taking them in as trades, etc.

Rolex 'Pepsi' GMT-Master II 126710BLRO. Image Source: Tropical Watch

I've sold three of them in the last two weeks — two with Jubilee, one with Oyster — all for under $25,000. Two sold back to Rolex for the CPO program, and one to a private collector. There was hype on them before Watches and Wonders, and before a rumored discontinuation people started saying the prices were ebbing up. They were already in the high teens, low $20s. Then people were asking in the high $20s for a minute. I listed mine in the high $20s, but that was an unrealistic expectation. Everyone hyped up the model, but the buyers weren't really there, so the pricing dropped below $25,000. It's a complex space to be in, because all of a sudden people are offering me that watch — "hey bro, you could sell it for $30,000, I want $27,000." And you're like, well, I listed one for $27,500 and it didn't sell. I actually sold one for $24,500, [another] for $23,500. It's more than you bought it for a few months ago, but it's not at that price point.

No one's buying them for like $30,000. And there's plenty of them in the marketplace. It's not a rare watch, where there are two available and five people want one. It's a pretty common piece.

If I only think independently of what I want in my vertical, I wouldn't be able to keep this as a business. Trends change, people jump on things. Cartier had a moment. F.P. Journe is having a crazy moment now — but it's such an ethereal brand that I don't deal with it. Lange is having a moment. So I have to feel out where the space is, anticipate, buy in, try to be competitive enough to make a little bit of money. But sometimes I get caught playing musical chairs — you think there's hype behind something, then you get it and list it and you don’t get any emails. There's no way to really know until you do it.

Editor's update (June 2026): Since Jacek and I spoke, the market has continued in the direction he described. WatchCharts now puts the discontinued steel 126710BLRO's market value around $22,500, with asks closer to $26,000 and clean full-set examples pushing past $40,000.

How 2022 Still Hangs Over the Market

These sort of detached-from-reality asking prices remind me of the market in 2022, from which we’ve seen a correction. From your perspective, is enthusiast demand today similar to during those peaks? Was that just speculative demand that's gone away?

Rolex Oyster Perpetual 124300. Image Source: Tropical Watch

It's a different marketplace. There was a very intense new customer base trying to get into the space — more disposable income, as people did less in other areas, like traveling. And there was a very intense feeling of missing out. I had it too. I had to buy watches at very big numbers and make very little money to keep playing, but it was increasing so quickly it wasn't sustainable. Then things shifted. People who got in late got burned buying new things they realized weren't worth more than they paid. The core people who were into watches are still into watches, but there wasn't that gold-rush mentality anymore.

There was a moment I was telling customers, "Dude, I'm selling this watch to you for like 50 grand, I think it's not worth that. But I bought it for like $48,000 — do you want it?" And that same watch now is worth like high $20s. So things shift.

But watches aren't going anywhere. People are really in love with them. There's this beautiful thing about them, especially the vintage ones, which are very unique and complex and interesting. The market came back to normal, and it's continuing to increase at a steady rate, which is nice. The scary things are when they go too high too fast, or too low too fast, because then you can't anticipate or adjust.

The Mythical Rolexes: Albino and Blueberry GMTs

You've had so many watches come across your desk, and I've read so much lore about a few Rolex references that have this mythical quality — the Albino GMT 6542, the Blueberry GMT. I wanted your take on those.

A white-dial 'Albino' Rolex GMT-Master 6542. Image Source: Hodinkee

Things like the Albino GMT — there's a dealer in the UK… he was featured in an article on Perezcope that pretty much said “we made these watches, they were service dials.” He completely debunked the whole thing. They were cool, they were interesting, and he made one and sold it to Eric Clapton. The hype, the crazy prices being millions of dollars — it's a hard thing to understand. I've never had one, never sold one, never bought one. I see it being sold and bought in some kind of space that seems like a distant place that isn't a real place. It's basically getting sold in Narnia.

Editor's note: The debunking Jacek describes — the Perezcope investigation, the service-dial origin, the example tied to Eric Clapton — is about the white-dial "Albino" Daytona ref. 6263, not the Albino GMT-Master 6542 I'd asked about. The GMT's origins remain their own unsettled debate. His point holds either way: the lore has outrun any settled account of where these came from, which is what makes the prices so hard to rationalize.

Rolex GMT-Master 1675 with MK 4 Dial and 'Blueberry' bezel insert. Image Source: Tropical Watch

The ones I can touch are the blueberries, because I've sold a lot of those. There was even a point where I sold so many that people got mad at me. These inserts, maybe 15 years ago, weren't very expensive. A regular insert cost maybe $200; these were like $300. You buy them, you put them in watches… There were some people saying they were a service insert from the Middle East. But realistically, they came in batches, they’re molecule to molecule in printing the same as Pepsi inserts from that era, in terms of font and production — and they were produced by third-party companies that weren't Rolex. I believe they're real, because the ones that have exactly the same font and print are real, like the Pepsi inserts. So there was a third-party manufacturer making these parts for Rolex. No one gave a sh*t whether they were real or not when they weren't expensive. But when people really wanted them, they got really expensive — the inserts were like $15,000, $20,000. I think I sold the last insert last year for $20,000.

Rolex GMT-Master 1675 with MK 4 Dial and 'Blueberry' bezel insert. Image Source: Tropical Watch

Then a lot of people came out of the woodwork, really upset. "These aren't real." Well, they are. Maybe not official from Rolex, sure. People submitted stuff to Rolex and got letters back — "we don't think these are real." But the funny thing is, the people who wrote that letter were just interns, essentially, who weren't around in the 70s and didn't really understand the marketplace. Even 20 years ago, when I started, the old guard at Rolex was different — the people who worked at the service centers, the people who worked on these watches before they became expensive, luxurious items worth hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars. These were regular watches that people would wear, and there was a much more pragmatic approach to the brand. If you went into a store 15 years ago and there was a Pepsi GMT and you said "I want a Coke one," they'd say, "No problem, we have Coke inserts, we'll put it in for you." Now — and I work with Rolex, so I don't want to disparage them for the position they're in — it's just not the same vibe. I go to these stores and you basically can't buy anything. And that's probably going to be like that for a while, until supply catches up with demand.

Modern Rolex and the Trouble With Debating the Fun Out of It

Modern Rolex is interesting to me — the way they're moving upmarket and leaning into off-catalog pieces. This year there's the Daytona 126502 with a white enamel dial, technically off-catalog, around $60,000. And then there's the whole debate about the enamel process not being grand feu as they claimed.

Rolex Daytona 126502 at Watches and Wonders 2026.

At the end of the day I'm like, what, who cares? They're making stuff, some of it's expensive, there's so much debate and lore behind it. I look at the new releases and I'm like, oh, that's cool, I'd wear that — and then I go back to work.

It's a layered dial — a little opaque, where the print feels like it's floating a little bit. It's beautiful. Their process is their process, and maybe it doesn't fit the strict criteria of what a classic enamel dial is. I think the pricing of that watch is very high relative to the marketplace. Platinum as a metal isn't that expensive; they're only adding some components, changing the dial and maybe the bezel. I think they're getting ahead of [the market]. Because if they sold that watch for 20, people would sell it for 80 — so they might as well sell it for 50. If people then sell it for 80, at least they made a lot of money on it. I'm searching for something fun and exciting, and when the space gets mired by "is this a true grand feu, a true enamel," it makes it a little less fun.

Chasing the Dragon

Speaking of fun, I've heard you talk about gem-set pieces and your growing interest in them. As somebody who sees so many watches, what comes across your desk that gets you truly excited?

Rolex Rainbow Daytona 116595RBOW. Image Source: Tropical Watch

I think it's just like anything else — when you're younger, the Datejusts are cool, and then sport models, then tropical dials. And then your taste evolves to find that ever scarcer, weirder kind of thing. Some people stop at a certain point. Since I'm around all these watches, touching them all the time — the weird gem-set stuff, like the leopard Daytona or the Rainbow Daytona, or these very interesting stone dials — that kind of stuff is exciting, because you don't see it that often. When you're a kid, you play with a cardboard box and it's super fun. Then you're old, and that's not that much fun anymore. So for me, you have to chase the dragon in terms of what's different.

Patek Philippe 5004 in three metals. Image Source: Hairspring

It's like cars. You go look at cars and it's amazing, but if you're by yourself, driving one on a back road somewhere, that's when you really connect to the machine. Sometimes I buy watches I know I'm not going to make money on, that I just want to see in person and touch and wear — sit with it, look at it, look at it in different light, outside, inside, while the sun is setting. I bought a Patek 5004 this week. I've never had one of those before. I'm paying $475,000 for the watch, and I know — if you bring this out of context, people are going to be like, you're an a**hole. But for me, I've never had that watch. I never had it when it was $200,000 or $300,000, and I have the opportunity to do some trades and spend some money to buy it. I'm curious how it wears, how it fits on the wrist. I want to see it in person. I want to play with the little buttons. For me that's worth breaking even, or losing $20,000, just to be able to hold it.

The Ones That Got Away

This is kind of on that thread. There's a freedom to buying a watch with no intention of selling it or needing to make a profit — you're not worrying, you bought it for you. What are some of the watches that are the ones that got away for you over the years?

That's a good question for a dealer, because inherently a dealer buys and sells watches. The joke is, you don't fall in love. You have to be able to catch and release, and the process of catching and releasing is just as exciting as the process of holding forever. As you go through life, things that were important when you were younger aren't important when you're older. I used to really covet certain cars, and now it doesn't matter — I just want to drive fast. I like art a lot more now. I never really had such a connection to art, but I collect it, and it's a big part of my life.

It's the same with watches. Before, I coveted things that I wanted to hold on to forever. I put together a few big collections of tropical watches, two times — and both times I sold them. Once because I was remodeling a house, and once because I was starting the new company, Tropical Watch, six years ago from scratch, and I needed capital. Through each process of hoarding and letting go, my connection with the product became less… there was just less of a pull.

Rolex Submariner 1680 'Red Sub'. Image Source: Tropical Watch

As my time on this planet is in sort of the middle of what I have, things are getting less and less important. More important to me are the connections between people, with my family. I hold watches like this one — it's a beautiful, unpolished Red Sub (1680). It's terrible because Patek did that ad campaign about taking care of a watch for the next generation, but I truly think it's one of my kids' watches. The feeling of me passing it to them, after having it for a long time, after them seeing me wear it… it's like old friends. There's something about old friends that's extremely special. Even though you meet new people, there are certain people in your life who will always be there. That's what watches like this [1680] are for — I'm wearing it right now, but I know that one day my kids are going to wear it. And hopefully they'll think of me. That gives so much more meaning to an item. It's not just a watch, it's a feeling, a connection, something to connect to a story. That's what I'm searching for. I want to find meaning in things, not just the thing.

The watches are sort of, like, easy. I know what this is, how much it's worth, Dan checked it, it runs perfectly. Whoever buys it is going to be able to enjoy it and make memories. For me, I'm more interested in all the other stuff. The watches are sort of like the easy part.