As a younger, avid collector of luxurious watches, Austen Chu mentioned he was scammed “many occasions” 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 bought 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 listing of timepieces value $80 million, all of which have been authenticated by in-house watchmakers, mentioned 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 Better Bay Space fund.

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

With regards to beginning a profitable enterprise, Chu’s philosophy is straightforward: Begin a enterprise to resolve an issue, he mentioned. 

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

“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 an expert, but when nothing, they find yourself low balling you much more.”

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

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 enables the following technology to develop into extra within the [watch] house in a secure means,” 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 mentioned. 

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

“You recognize once you love one thing a lot, you are additionally desirous about it subconsciously once you’re asleep?” 

That is how Chu describes his infatuation for watches, which began when he was a toddler — and solely bought 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 isn’t any programs in college or in highschool that teaches you something about these things, so it needed to be self-taught.” 

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

“That was an enormous turning level … It all of a sudden went from the lecture corridor having perhaps 10% of the category carrying one thing on their wrist to love over 50% impulsively,” he mentioned. 

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

Chu’s hunch was proper. In spite of everything, Gen Z is projected to make up a 3rd of the posh market by 2030, on account 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 prospects are below the age of 30.

“In our day and age, all the pieces is type of non permanent. However with a watch it is one thing that may type of final ceaselessly. It is one thing you possibly can really cross on to your children,” Chu added. 

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

Chu co-founded Wristcheck throughout 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 progress” 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.