Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

As a younger, avid collector of luxurious watches, Austen Chu stated he was scammed “many instances” when he purchased timepieces from the secondary watch market. 

“As soon as, I purchased a watch which had a dented dial and the vendor advised me that the dial obtained dented throughout transport,” Chu recalled. And he believed it. 

However now, the 26-year-old says he is aware of higher. 

“I do know that is positively bullsh*t … it was dented beforehand,” he advised CNBC Make It.

“If I wasn’t so loopy about watches, I most likely would have left the house after getting scammed the primary time.” 

Not solely did his obsession with watches assist him overcome these dangerous purchases, the experiences additionally propelled him to begin his personal consignment-based platform for luxurious watches, Wristcheck. 

The web site boasts a list of timepieces value $80 million, all of which have been authenticated by in-house watchmakers, stated Chu.

Began in 2020, the startup just lately bagged $8 million in a funding spherical led by Gobi Companions, a Chinese language enterprise capital agency that manages Alibaba’s Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund and the AEF Higher Bay Space fund.

Chu shared with CNBC Make It about how he turned a passion right into a money-making enterprise. 

Rejecting ‘purchase low, promote excessive’

In the case of beginning a profitable enterprise, Chu’s philosophy is easy: Begin a enterprise to unravel an issue, he stated. 

The hole that Wristcheck fills has at all times been “very clear,” Chu stated.

“The enterprise mannequin of the normal secondhand watch market could be very … usually it is ‘purchase low, promote excessive,'” Chu defined, including that sellers had been normally getting the quick finish of the stick. 

“How is that proper? You are hoping to get good recommendation from somebody who’s knowledgeable, but when you realize nothing, they find yourself low balling you much more.”

The posh watch market is what he calls a “dinosaur business” that may be “intimidating” for the youthful era to get into, Chu stated.

In 2021, Wristcheck opened its first flagship retailer in Hong Kong — the place customers can have entry to a curated vary of pre-owned watches.

Wristcheck

By beginning Wristcheck, Chu hoped to supply extra transparency and accessibility to his friends. 

“It is one thing that I want I had. We try to give you a tech answer … that enables the following era to turn into extra within the [watch] house in a secure method,” he added. 

For one, transaction charges are decrease. Public sale homes usually cost 26% from a purchaser as much as 12% from the vendor, he stated. 

In distinction, Wristcheck makes a set price of 8% from the vendor and 4% from the client — however nonetheless permits customers to bid for watches they want to personal.

A brand new era of watch-lovers 

“You understand while you love one thing a lot, you are additionally fascinated by it subconsciously while you’re asleep?” 

That is how Chu describes his infatuation for watches, which began when he was a toddler — and solely obtained deeper in his teenagers. 

“I used to be 15, I fell into the rabbit gap of researching, spending each waking second principally studying on-line and studying about watches,” he shared. 

“Clearly there is no programs in college or in highschool that teaches you something about these items, so it needed to be self-taught.” 

Chu disagrees with the favored perception that amassing high-quality watches is a passion for older of us. In actual fact, he insists the youthful era has extra “wrist consciousness” now — due to the introduction of Apple Watch. 

In our day and age, every part is form of momentary. However with a watch it is one thing that may form of final ceaselessly, it is one thing you possibly can really move on to your youngsters.

Austen Chu

Co-founder and CEO, Wristcheck

“That was an enormous turning level … It abruptly went from the lecture corridor having perhaps 10% of the category sporting one thing on their wrist to love over 50% unexpectedly,” he stated. 

“That was a second that advised me: ‘OK, watches are going to be cool for my era.'” 

Chu’s hunch was proper. In any case, Gen Z is projected to make up a 3rd of the luxurious market by 2030, resulting from a surge in wealth creation and the affect of social media.

Wristcheck is attracting a tech-savvy, youthful crowd, stated Chu, and 43% of its paying clients are underneath the age of 30.

“In our day and age, every part is form of momentary. However with a watch it is one thing that may form of final ceaselessly. It is one thing you possibly can really move on to your youngsters,” Chu added. 

“I feel that is one thing that additionally resonates with our era.” 

Let ardour drive you

Chu co-founded Wristcheck in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, which was a leap of religion that seems to have paid off thus far. 

The startup stated it is skilled “75% year-on-year development” in its complete worth of consigned watches, and claims to have been worthwhile in its first yr. Chu didn’t share the figures when pressed.

Austen Chu (left) along with his co-founder Sean Wong.

Wristcheck

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