Meet Nikolaus Libby | Watch Dealer and Watchmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nikolaus Libby and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nikolaus, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I kind of started my own business by accident. My dad was an ebay seller and I started going to garage sales with him at 15 years old. I bought a few watches there and turned them over for a profit. This really ignited my passion in watches. I was always self employed from this point until I lived in Europe a few years and worked for a large gray market dealer in Germany. Being there made me realize this was not the best option for me. I wanted to be able to ensure that the customer is getting the maximum value and has the best experience possible. This is what we are trying to provide daily at The Watch Preserve.

What should our readers know about your business?
The Watch Preserve is really focused on delivering value to the customer while I just continue to live my passion. It has required a lot of hard work as any business does, but if you have a formula that is getting results, it is easy to continue on. Probably one of the hardest obstacles I have recently had to overcome was getting the store front moving while keeping the online part of the business at full capacity. This will be worth it in the end, because then I am able to further open up watches and watchmaking to a broader audience. My goal is to make watches an experience for customers with no barriers as many other watch shops have.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live downtown and kind of like to stay in that area or near Montgomery plaza as it is also very close to my house. W Magnolia Ave, where the shop will be, is also very great for walking and there are a lot of awesome restaurants. Thompson’s Bookstore, a bar close by, is awesome for high quality cocktails. Pretty much any restaurant downtown is great . I have been to most of them and it is very hard to chose which is best.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
All of the older dealers and guys that I interact with within the watch community really make a point to support and facilitate my ability to do this for a living. Also I really appreciate my customers that allow me to live my passion everyday. Then of course my business partner and girlfriend Katharina being the structure of the business and life in general. She makes it so that I am able to scale the business.

Website: thewatchpreserve.com

Instagram: thewatchpreserve