As a younger, avid collector of luxurious watches, Austen Chu mentioned 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 instructed me that the dial received dented throughout delivery,” Chu recalled. And he believed it.
However now, the 26-year-old says he is aware of higher.
“I do know that is undoubtedly bullsh*t … it was dented beforehand,” he instructed CNBC Make It.
“If I wasn’t so loopy about watches, I most likely would have left the area 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 price $80 million, all of which have been authenticated by in-house watchmakers, mentioned Chu.
Began in 2020, the startup not too long ago 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 interest right into a money-making enterprise.
Rejecting ‘purchase low, promote excessive’
On the subject of beginning a profitable enterprise, Chu’s philosophy is easy: Begin a enterprise to unravel an issue, he mentioned.
The hole that Wristcheck fills has all the time been “very clear,” Chu mentioned.
“The enterprise mannequin of the standard secondhand watch market may be very … usually it is ‘purchase low, promote excessive,'” Chu defined, including that sellers have been often getting the brief 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 luxurious watch market is what he calls a “dinosaur trade” that may be “intimidating” for the youthful era to get into, Chu mentioned.
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 offer extra transparency and accessibility to his friends.
“It is one thing that I want I had. We are attempting to give you a tech resolution … that permits the subsequent era to develop into extra within the [watch] area in a protected method,” he added.
For one, transaction charges are decrease. Public sale homes sometimes cost 26% from a purchaser as much as 12% from the vendor, he mentioned.
In distinction, Wristcheck makes a hard and fast price of 8% from the vendor and 4% from the client — however nonetheless permits customers to bid for watches they need to personal.
A brand new era of watch-lovers
“You understand if you love one thing a lot, you are additionally serious about it subconsciously if you’re asleep?”
That is how Chu describes his infatuation for watches, which began when he was a baby — and solely received deeper in his teenagers.
“I used to be 15, I fell into the rabbit gap of researching, spending each waking second mainly 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 nice watches is a interest for older people. The truth is, he insists the youthful era has extra “wrist consciousness” now — because of the introduction of Apple Watch.
In our day and age, all the pieces is form of momentary. However with a watch it is one thing that may form of final perpetually, it is one thing you’ll be able to truly cross on to your children.
Austen Chu
Co-founder and CEO, Wristcheck
“That was an enormous turning level … It all of a sudden went from the lecture corridor having possibly 10% of the category carrying one thing on their wrist to love over 50% unexpectedly,” he mentioned.
“That was a second that instructed 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 posh market by 2030, as a consequence of a surge in wealth creation and the affect of social media.
Wristcheck is attracting a tech-savvy, youthful crowd, mentioned Chu, and 43% of its paying clients are below the age of 30.
“In our day and age, all the pieces is form of momentary. However with a watch it is one thing that may form of final perpetually. It is one thing you’ll be able to truly cross on to your children,” 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 to this point.
The startup mentioned it is skilled “75% year-on-year development” in its whole worth of consigned watches, and claims to have been worthwhile in its first 12 months. Chu didn’t share the figures when pressed.
Austen Chu (left) along with his co-founder Sean Wong.
Wristcheck
