Contributor Content
Emma Clapp
10:18 am, PT, August 11, 2026
A watch creator who turned years of audience building into an independent retail business.
Teddy Baldassarre started making watch videos in 2017 based on a problem he already understood. Getting people interested in watches was the easy part. Understanding trends, fashions, and mechanics was often harder. Much of the watch content available assumed viewers already knew the basics, so Baldassarre began speaking to the people who didn’t.
That choice became the foundation for a much larger business. TeddyBaldassarre.com now combines watch media with authorized retail and operates a physical boutique in Westlake, Ohio. The company says it works with more than 50 watch brands. The business expanded as the audience grew and allowed Baldassarre to take on more projects.
He did not begin with a large investment round or a retail operation. He started with an interest in watches and a clear sense that newcomers needed better information.
Making watches less intimidating
Mechanical watches often attract an audience who enjoy detail, but that same detail can make the hobby feel closed off to beginners. Terms that are obvious to collectors can sound like another language to someone who has never owned a collectible watch.
Baldassarre’s early videos worked because they did not assume viewers already knew the rules. He explained what mattered and why, often starting with the questions someone might ask before making a first purchase. He talked through specific models and spent time on the history behind the different brands. Buying advice came into the mix when it made sense.
Someone could find a video while researching one watch, then watch another about a different brand or price range. Over time, the channel became less like a set of isolated reviews and more like a reference point for people trying to make sense of the category.
Teddy Badassarre’s YouTube Channel still reflects that mix. Newer videos include interviews and longer features, while older videos with explanations remain available for people starting with the same basic questions. A viewer who finds the channel today can trace the subject back through years of coverage and see how Baldassarre’s approach developed along with the business.
Growing without outside funding
Baldassarre says he built his business without relying on venture capital. That meant growth had to come from what the operation itself could support. A company using its own revenue often cannot spend as freely as one backed by outside investors. New hires have to be justified, and larger projects may need to wait until the money is available.
For Baldassarre, that meant adding pieces gradually. Production improved as the channel grew, and the team expanded later. Retail came after media projects had already established a solid audience. This helped keep the business focused on what people were already responding to. It also reduced the pressure to chase unrelated opportunities simply because they promised faster growth.
The company stayed close to watches even as a larger audience created room to branch out. Baldassarre could have treated the channel as a launchpad for something broader. Instead, the business kept moving deeper into the category that had brought people there in the first place.
From media to retail
The move into retail changed the business considerably. A media operation may survive on attention. A retailer has to handle inventory and customer service while meeting the expectations that come with expensive purchases. Baldassarre was entering a different kind of operation from the one he had started on YouTube.
He was not starting from zero, though. By the time retail became a larger part of the company, many viewers already knew his work. They had watched him explain watches before they ever had a reason to buy one from him.
That familiarity mattered because luxury watch purchases often involve a long research process. A buyer may compare models for weeks and change their mind several times before settling on one.
Watch content can remain useful throughout that process. A review may help someone narrow down a choice, while an informative video can answer a question that comes up along the way. The content can still be useful even when no purchase follows immediately. This is why his company reflects the broader operation of media and retail becoming parts of the same business.
Building a company around more than one person
As the business grew, Baldassarre’s job changed with it. His early YouTube channel was closely tied to his image. He was the person viewers saw, and much of the work ran through him. That becomes harder to sustain once a company starts handling retail, a larger media operation, and relationships across the watch industry.
Baldassarre is now listed as founder and creative director. His name is still on the brand, and he remains one of its most recognizable faces, but the operation around him is much broader than it was in the early years.
The company has added people with experience in watch media and editorial work. That gives the content a perspective that does not depend entirely on Baldassarre himself.
For a founder whose audience first connected with him personally, that is an important shift. The company still needs to feel recognizable to longtime viewers, while also being able to operate without every decision or piece of content resting on one person.
Giving collectors a place to meet
The Westlake boutique has also given Baldassarre a way to do something that YouTube cannot provide. It puts collectors in the same room.
The company regularly hosts events built around individual watchmakers and new releases. Recent programs have included in-store events and days devoted to specific brands. Larger events have even happened outside of the store’s four walls.
For people used to researching watches alone online, those events can change the experience. They can handle a watch they may have spent weeks looking at on a screen and talk with other people who care about the same details. The brands get something out of that setting too. Instead of reaching customers through an advertisement, they can meet people who have already taken an interest in what they make.
That side of the business is connected to Baldassarre’s beginnings. His videos gave watch enthusiasts a place to learn and the boutique now gives them a place to show up.
What the business looks like now
The numbers also put some distance between the company today and the YouTube channel that was started in 2017. According to the company website, the business has now sold more than 75,000 watches and served over 65,000 clients. Those numbers show how far the business has moved beyond just drawing in viewers. Customers can now work directly with watch advisors, including when they are looking for models that are difficult to find or not normally kept in stock.
That kind of service fits a purchase that can involve more questions than clicking an item and checking out. Someone spending a high dollar amount may want help comparing options or confirming what will work for them before committing to a purchase.
The authorized-retailer side also gives customers something the media business never could. Watches purchased through Teddy Baldassarre often come with the manufacturer’s full factory warranty. For someone making an expensive purchase online, small details can matter as much as the watch itself. The company is no longer just helping people research what they want to buy. It is also there when questions come up after the sale.
The company is proud of its many positive reviews. For Baldassarre, they may be the clearest measure of what bootstrapping produced. The audience is still there, but there is now a working retail business behind it with a customer who expects service after the video ends.
Growing without changing the subject
Nearly a decade in, watches are still what Baldassarre talks about. What began with videos now supports a large retail business and a team large enough that Baldassarre no longer has to be responsible for every part of it.
For a founder who chose to grow without venture capital, Baldassarre started by talking about something he already cared about. He stayed with it long enough for the job around him to become something entirely different.
From where he began, making watch content, his role is no longer limited to helping people understand what they are looking at. He has built a business that can also help them decide what happens when they are ready to buy. What started as an attempt to make watches easier to understand now carries responsibilities that extend well beyond the camera.
VentureBeat newsroom and editorial staff were not involved in the creation of this content.
