Bulletin Board 28

Style advice from the world’s best-dressed journalist, a better way to bid on watches, and a Fornasetti starter piece

THE EXPERT

Eric Ku is the co-founder of the innovative watch auction website Loupe This. An antidote to the resell world’s prevailing landscape—with Wild West eBay listings on one end and stuffy Swiss auction houses on the other—Loupe This takes physical possession of every watch it sells, ensuring that each timepiece is vetted, inspected and photographed before it hits the block. It also handles shipping, making the entire process that much easier for the consigner and the buyer. We picked Eric’s brain to learn how Loupe This came to be, why auctions shouldn’t be dominated by the clock, and the story behind one very special Cartier. – Eric Twardzik

What was your introduction to the watch world?
I had always loved watches from when I was a little kid. I just loved like the mechanical aspect of watches. And I always had some sort of an attraction towards watches as objects from when I was four or five years old. I think the first brand that I subconsciously even knew about was Rolex. And the reason being is that they always had these great national advertisements, and we always had National Geographic magazines in the house. So, it was ingrained in me at a very young age that Rolexes were really cool watches that symbolized human achievement.

When did you get the idea to start Loupe This?
We started working on it around the beginning of COVID. My partner Justin Gruenberg and I had been talking about it for quite a long time prior, but you know when you're in lockdown, and you got nothing to do, you might as well work on these projects that have been on the back burner. So, things really ramped up in around 2020 when COVID happened.

Where did its concept come from?
Both my partner and I frequent the big auctions in Geneva for watches. They're seasonal, it's like the spring and fall typically. We just felt that there was a lot of downtime between auctions, and that we wanted to have a daily auction site where we could bring some of that excitement to people any day of the year at home. You create things to solve problems that you see. And the problem that we saw with the traditional auction model is that it just takes too long. It takes too long to get paid for consigners—it can be several months to over half a year. And there's also a lot of bloat. The commissions at auction houses are 27% or more. And our model is very transparent and easy, and we do [commissions] at 10%. So, it's a way of streamlining and making the process more efficient, both for buyers and sellers.

What’s the curation of the listings like?
We pride ourselves on the fact that we have a very varied selection of watches. The most expensive watch we sold was a Crash, which sold for $1.6 million and change. And lower end things are usually around a couple thousand dollars. We think that there's interesting watches at any price point, and it doesn't have to be expensive to be interesting.

The watches we sell are a product of what consignors give us. But we've been really lucky that we've gotten a lot of interesting watches that draw people's interest. This week we sold this little Cartier London Baignoire. Because Cartier just relaunched it for women, it's a really great watch to pull out this time. It was from the original owner, an old lady in London. It has the original box, and it's something really special. That watch, I think, had an estimate of $8,000 to $12,000, and it ended up doing $24,000. Watches like that really excite our collectors. Just something interesting with a story, or something that you don't see too often.

What are some of the other grails that have come through the site?
We sold a Tiffany blue Patek Philippe 5711 Nautilus. It was bought quite recently; it was like $1.2 million. We've sold many rare F.P. Journe watches. Those have become quite popular. And we have a lot of really great vintage and modern watches. A kind of an unheralded watch of the moment, if you will, is this Chaumet watch that was a jump hour and looks like the Cartier one. It's this round, digital jump hour watch that looks like it's from the ‘20s or ‘30s. Those things were one or two thousand dollars a few years ago, but because it looks so similar to a Cartier that's so hot and unobtainable right now, this thing went for like 20,000 bucks. Which is certainly a world record for that model but it's also just shows where the interest is and what the different market dynamics are like.

How many auctions do you have going on at any given time?
We run 18 auctions a week, and that's broken down to Monday through Wednesday. We do four watches a day. And then Thursday and Friday, because the lots are a little more substantive, we do three a day. So, it totals 18 a week. And we do them every day, every weekday of the year, no breaks.

Where did the idea to end auctions with a “two-minute rule” come from?
I believe that an auction ends with the highest bid and not by time. I think this is a big flaw in the eBay system. If you're buying the stupid crap on eBay, you end up having to snipe it and then you lose at the end. An auction should end with the highest bid, not by time. Because then you have this whole business of trying to game the timing of your bid and all that nonsense. So, the two-minute rule is an easy way for things to close expeditiously, but also ensure that every buyer has an opportunity to buy the watch and the seller gets the maximum price that they can.

Yeah, and then what is your own kind of daily driver watch?
I've been on a deep quest over the last 10 or 15 years buying rare Cartier watches. I have put together quite an extensive collection and I would say more often than not the watch that I wear is some sort of Cartier.

Is there a white whale out there you're still looking for yourself?
The white whale I actually got, I want to say a year and a half or two years ago. It was this one-off Cartier called the Cheich. And it was given as an award for somebody winning the Paris to Dakar rally two times in a row. And it had only happened one time, so there's only one real one out there. And there's a couple prototypes in the Cartier museum, and a replica one that Cartier made floating around. But there was only one that was actually won by somebody. And it was one of those watches, kind of like that John Lennon Patek, we all thought was lost forever. And then it surfaced at an auction two years ago and I had to buy it. So, I did… And after that, everything's gravy. I'm just not out there actively hunting for something that I need, you know?

OBSESSIONS

There are obviously a ton of candles out there, and I get sent a lot of free ones. But really, the only one I ever buy is this one from Fornasetti. Initially I'm buying these more because of the vessel than the candle, but their scents are great–more herbaceous Mediterranean with cedar and sandalwood notes. I’ve liked Fornasetti for a very long time (see our Spring 2024 issue with my story on the atelier), and this candle is a great entry point, in terms of cost, to collect Fornasetti. Granted, it’s not cheap, but the bonus is, you get this amazing vessel that you can store your cufflinks, pocket change, q-tips/cotton balls. There are a lot of different designs, and they do seasonal ones as well. I have several–with dueling pistols, sardines, and my most recent purchase is this bar-themed one. —M.H.

MY UNIFORM

If the position of Most Interesting Man in the World were accepting applications, Frédéric Brun might wish to send his CV. The Marseille-born, Paris based automotive journalist is a contributor to publications including The Rake, The Telegraph and Auto Heroes, and the author of numerous books including James Bond Cars and Steve McQueen: A Passion for Speed. He also acts as a judge and curator for numerous automotive competitions and shows.

As if that weren’t enough, he happens to be a hell of a dresser—and a superb subject for our ongoing uniform series. -E.T.

What is your standard color palette, and does it change seasonally?

You probably noticed I'm quite classic. My standard color is blue for blazers, suits and shirts, but also grey for my suits and most of the trousers (with a navy-blue blazer or tweeds). My favorite suit is a bespoke Hackett (14 Savile Row) double-breasted suit in grey Prince of Wales fabric.

I also love pink shirts. I always have a little something in red, most of the time my cufflinks. From the end of May to the end of September, I prefer beige suits and beige trousers with my blazers, and I appreciate khaki. 

Wardrobe basics? The navy-blue blazer, with grey trousers and a dark blue knitted necktie (or the tie from my club).

Favorites for the following categories…

Trousers: Cadot–made to measure.

Knitwear: N. Peal, Saint James.

Footwear: Aubercy, Crockett & Jones, John Lobb, Velasca, Tod's and Alden.

Neckwear: My bespoke silk knitted neckties by Maison Robert Kerr, E. Marinella silk ties, Charvet naté silk ties.

Outerwear: My favorite ever overcoat is my classic English covert coat in whipcord with a velvet collar. I also favor my Barbour, or my Cadot body warmer, and of course my classic Burberry's raincoat and an Aquascutum trench-coat. For the mountains, a 25-year-old Woolrich parka. 

Travel kit: As lightweight as possible. A cabin travel handbag, never a trolley suitcase–I hate the feeling of being linked to the ground by the little wheels. A bespoke navy-blue DB suit, paired with a spare trouser (grey, beige or eventually white by the sea) as the fabric is very light and neutral so the jacket can be worn as a blazer. So, you can be casual for traveling and formal in the event of a cocktail.