History of MG watches Inc.
Matthew Gross, president of MG Watches Inc., follows in the tradition of five generations of jewelers starting with his great-great grandfather back in Brooklyn, New York in 1910. He opened the first store along with his two sons then 15 & 19 years of age. He passed away four years later leaving the two brothers with all the responsibilities of running the new store.
The first store was located in Brooklyn New York six blocks from a jewelry store owned by their uncle. The brothers displayed jewelry on a board supported by two sugar barrels. If a customer requested an item they did not have they would tell them to wait a minute. One brother would engage the customer in conversation while the other would walk into the store and immediately exit out the back door to the Uncles store and run back with the item.
By the mid 1920's they opened a store in Jamaica and shortly thereafter moved further out on Long Island to Hempstead. During this time they had their ten minutes of fame in that they were held up by the famous bank robber Willie Sutton, an event that made first page stories in papers across the country.
By the late 60's the business was being run by Howard Gross, my grandfather and third generation. At this time they were doing their own diamond cutting in the Hempstead store and averaging a dozen diamond engagement ring sales a day as well carrying most of the high end watch lines of that time. After graduating college in 1971 my father entered the business and is still active.
After college my brother and myself both entered the business. I specialized in the watch end of the business having run an ebay business in vintage watches throughout high school and college. I also worked at the Cartier boutique in Pheonix, Arizona and had traveled to Switzerland to buy rare watches at auction on behalf of clients. After several years in the family business I decided to open MG Watches where I would specialize in the watch end of the business while still keeping active in the diamond end of the business.
MG watches is one of New York's largest buyers and sellers of pre-owned watches. We are active members of the IWJG [International Watch and Jewelry Guild] where we sell to other dealers at monthly trade shows across the country. Every day we are actively buying, selling and trading watches in the New York market and as such are able to offer some of the best buying opportunites available to our customers.