Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Monday 19 noveMber 2018
Watch geeks drive booming trade in preowned pieces

By AMIR BIBAWY took off,” he said, sitting in
Associated Press his parents’ living room with
NEW YORK (AP) — Around Anna Griffin who was his first
two dozen traders sit in an employee and a fellow stu-
open-layout second floor dent at Seton Hall University
of a building in suburban in New Jersey. “We don’t
Philadelphia. Surrounded have a retail store — there
by computer monitors, loud was no actual foot traffic. It
conversation and ringing was all social buzz.”
phones, the energy on this The young entrepreneur,
trading floor is high and the who founded the compa-
commodity is blingy. ny with $10,000 in saved up
At the headquarters of birthday money when he
Govberg, they’re not deal- was a college sophomore,
ing in diamonds or gold but has a larger-than-life perso-
preowned luxury watches, na on social media, with a
of which company sells no-holds-barred approach
about $200 million worth a to roasting iconic brands
year. such as Breitling. Some of
Some 100 miles (160 kilo- his viewers comment that
meters) northeast, 23-year- he needs to lay off the caf-
old Christian Zeron sits in feine or sugar.
his parents’ dining room in The internet has democ-
suburban New Jersey look- ratized horological knowl-
ing at around 30 preowned In this May 31, 2018, photo watches lie on a table in front of Christian Zeron as he talks with Anna edge, much like other
vintage watches. In a few Griffin in Westfield, N.J. Zeron’s company website, theoandharris.com, sells $2 million’s worth of niche areas of expertise like
days, he’ll put them up watches annually. aviation.
for sale on his company’s Associated Press A watch enthusiast can
website, theoandharris. crept up in the last two the bread and butter of sulting firm. Govberg en- spend hours on web fo-
com, which sells $2 million years. The preowned busi- today’s preowned watch tered the preowned watch rums, debating the differ-
worth of watches annually. ness allows shoppers to get traders. “Preowned watch- business in 1983 when he ences between the vari-
Govberg, in the watch a good deal on modern es are coming out of draw- introduced watches to his ous iterations of a $4,500
business for 35 years, and watches like Rolex Subma- ers so fast and furious now family’s jewelry store on Tudor Black Bay (“I love
Theo&Harris, founded only riner, while also offering a that I’ve never seen any- Jewelers’ Row on Philadel- the domed crystal but I’d
three years ago, are part of large selection of vintage thing like it,” Govberg said phia’s Sansom Street. be interested to see it 1mm
the thriving preowned lux- pieces like an early 20th- in an interview in the com- “People weren’t collect- thicker,” says one member
ury watch business. Along century Cartier Tank. pany’s headquarters in ing vintage watches back on RolexForums.com of the
with dozens of other com- Danny Govberg, the Bala Cynwyd, just outside then,” he said, recalling latest “Fifty-Eight” release.)
panies, they are the core of founder of Govberg’s glob- Philadelphia. “It’s a real that he would travel to The explosive growth of pr-
an industry that has explod- al watch operation Watch- disruption coming to our in- Europe to buy used Ro- eowned watch sales has
ed over the past few years, Box, compared the rise of dustry.” lexes and Patek Philippes deeper roots than social
rivaling the new luxury time- preowned watches to the Luxury brands have taken from watch shows. “Little media, however. There’s
piece business in size. “quartz revolution” nearly note. In June, Richemont, shows that you would go an emotional and intel-
“It’s bigger than people five decades ago. the owner of such brands to, almost like trading card lectual appeal to owning
think,” said Reginald Brack, The introduction of battery- as Cartier and IWC, bought shows. Like wristwatch a mechanical device that
executive director and in- operated quartz move- Watchfinder, a British on- swap shows.” could have three hundred
dustry analyst for watches ments in wristwatches took line platform for trading pr- At the turn of the millen- small pieces inside.
and luxury at NPD Group, a big bite out of the market eowned watches. nium, new platforms such Take the ubiquitous iPhone
which studies $2 trillion in share from major automat- “The preowned market has as eBay drove Govberg to — easily replaceable, Ze-
consumer spending across ic or mechanical watch taken some business from adopt his own online strate- ron notes.
20 industries. brands such as Rolex, Ome- the new market, there’s no gy. Ultimately, he founded “If your vintage Omega
Brack said it’s difficult to ga, Patek Philippe, Jaeger- question,” said Steven Kai- WatchBox, a digital plat- breaks, that’s it. It’s over.
quantify precisely the mar- LeCoultre, and Audemars ser, a veteran watch indus- form and app that includes You will never get another
ket for preowned watches Piguet. try executive and founder video reviews and a trad- one like it,” he said. “You
because nobody tracks it Those brands, which have of Kaiser Time, a New York- ing market for valuable are going to remember the
thoroughly. But some esti- since recovered, are now based luxury industry con- timepieces. drinks and the dates and
mates put it at three times The company recently the arguments you had in
the new luxury watch mar- launched a second sea- it. You are going to be sad
ket, itself estimated to be son of “The Classroom,” a that you lost it.”
worth up to $10 billion just in YouTube series that aims “If you went into an IWC
the U.S. to educate watch enthusi- boutique, they may have
“I wouldn’t disagree with asts about the intricacies of 50, 60, 70, 80 watches to
that statement,” Brack owning a watch that could choose from,” Govberg
said. “And it’s only getting be worth hundreds of thou- said. “But in the preowned
bigger.” sands of dollars. space of IWC, you may
Even though watches have Zeron, of Theo&Harris, have 900 watches to
been disappearing from also uses video to offer his choose from.”
people’s wrists with the thoughts on the industry. But the bottom line is that a
spread of mobile phones, He regularly gets hundreds preowned luxury watch in
luxury watches remain a of thousands of views for his great condition is usually a
popular status symbol. In This May 24, 2018, photo shows preowned watches on display four weekly YouTube posts. third of the price of a new
fact, sales have slightly at Govberg’s flagship store in Philadelphia. Associated Press “Social media is where it one.q