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YouTubers Are Schooling Rolex How to Talk About Watches

Britain’s Adrian Barker mixes expertise and humor on his watch review site.

Adrian Barker, founder of Bark and Jack.

Photographer: Emily Macinnes/Bloomberg

In the white-gloved world of Swiss luxury watchmaking, a floppy-haired Brit armed with a camera, lighting kit and best-mate charm is rewriting the rules of how to peddle Rolex and Omega timepieces.

A former corporate trainer, Adrian Barker has muscled his homegrown YouTube channel into a luxury wristwatch taste-making empire in the space of a few years. A Barker video entitled “I bought a Rolex Submariner off eBay!” has more than 700,000 views. Another, asking “Why is HUBLOT the most hated luxury watch brand?,” has been seen more than a million times in just eight months.