Teddy Baldassarre: Bringing a Passion for Watches to the Everyman

Luxury mechanical watches have long been a niche interest rather than a hobby open to the casual shopper. Until recently, everyday shoppers had to admire luxury watches through the locked glass of boutique windows, or by paging through glossy magazine spreads. High-end timepieces, a time-honored mark of wealth and prestige, were reserved for circles of private collectors and amateur horologists.

Enter Teddy Baldassarre, the well-dressed YouTuber and chronometry enthusiast whose channel began reviewing rare and luxury watches in 2017 and has since grown to serve an audience of over 1.5 million subscribers with more than 1,400 videos. Out from behind the camera, Baldassarre has also expanded the Teddy Baldassarre brand into online and physical retail, operating a luxury watch retailer in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.

Ranging from ten minutes to half an hour in length, Baldassarre’s video reviews and interviews have brought the previously obscure world of luxury timepieces to the masses, giving anyone with interest a window into an expensive yet fascinating hobby. The videos convey a sleek, professional, friendly atmosphere. Whether reviewing a $500 mechanical watch or a six-figure collector’s piece, Baldassarre’s goal is consistently to help viewers understand the context behind that particular watch and why it matters. This behind-the-scenes look at a unique industry has drawn a diverse audience, some of whom may have never considered the hobby before.

Before Baldassarre’s channel, collectors largely gathered on Internet forums and enthusiast blogs, or shared their interests through trade publications devoted to the hobby. There was pre-existing video content, but much of it catered to experienced enthusiasts. Produced by and for lifetime hobbyists who already had a deep grounding in horology (the science of timepieces), the videos were often filled with jargon, and few were devoted to the questions that first-time buyers were likely to ask.

Noting this gap, Baldassarre made it his mission to produce resources for first-time collectors. “I have never forgotten the feeling of exploring watch collecting for the first time,” he recalls. “Helping others from around the world experience that same moment is an honor.”

His videos, with titles like “What $500 Buys You in Watches in 2026,” “Best EDC Watches - All Budgets Included,” and “The Best Dress Watches from Major Brands,” all serve to introduce first-time buyers to the fundamentals of the hobby without intimidating them. The videos welcome newcomers, offering context and buying guides that answer practical questions. At the same time, Baldassarre’s videos still serve lifetime enthusiasts with his depth of research and high production quality.

Building on the popularity of his YouTube channel and Instagram, Cleveland-born Teddy Baldassarre opened his first brick-and-mortar retail location three years ago, at Crocker Park in the Cleveland suburb of Westlake, Ohio. Earlier this year, Baldassarre moved the shop to a new Flagship Boutique in Westlake, which opened in March at 167 Market Street. According to the company, the boutique is four times the size of the previous location and has added brands including IWC and Tudor to an existing selection featuring Omega, Grand Seiko, and Breitling. He reports that his luxury watch boutique has sustained double-digit growth in revenue since launching. Baldassarre also states that he now leads a team of more than forty full-time employees and offers selections from over fifty brands, in addition to an active e-commerce store.

For Baldassarre, the store is the physical fulfillment of an old dream of sharing his beloved hobby with a growing body of enthusiasts. It’s significant that his pursuit of this dream began with building an online library of reviews and interviews, rather than building the store, as it is the passion for the hobby that Baldassarre most hopes to share. His videos encourage both excitement for getting a new watch and making informed decisions rather than impulse buys.

“My guiding principle in both content and retail is to make watches more accessible,” Baldassarre explains. “I want to create content that I wish I had access to when I was first getting into watches, and a retail store that mirrors the same feel.”

To that end, his store’s programming revolves around events to showcase new luxury watches, some of which have drawn significant crowds, Baldassarre says.

The decision to open a second location came in response to demand; Baldassarre shares that customers had begun to fly in from around the country to visit the store after consuming some of the video reviews available on his channel. He calls the expansion of the store a “dream scenario,” allowing him to open the doors of the hobby to still more enthusiasts.

“The fact that this whole scenario was achieved in my hometown of Cleveland has made it all the more special,” Baldassarre shares.