Personalities
Cool Britannia – Ben Dunn of Watch Brothers London
Personalities
Cool Britannia – Ben Dunn of Watch Brothers London
Ben Dunn’s first watch was a Mondaine, gifted to him by family for his 21st birthday: “I think total wrist time for that Mondaine has far outweighed anything I’ve worn since, it was on the wrist everyday regardless of activity!” An encounter with a watch very close to my own heart though, truly sowed the seed of horological passion for him. “It was my partner’s father’s two-tone Daytona; he rocks that thing everywhere from the beach, to the pool, fixing his car, you name it he’s wearing it! After one family holiday drooling over it daily the fever had set in and my interest in watches took off.”
Once he made the decision to become a dealer, there was no turning back. It wasn’t all plain sailing though. “You know to be honest it was scary as hell. The reality of trying to sell as a new dealer was that there was a significant lack of trust, and fairly so, from buyers. Also, the reality check that often prices you see pieces listed for are not what they sell for. This hurt even more, as I was selling off my collection piece by piece to reinvest into the business. It took me a long time to build a solid base of trust to deal from, I approached this exactly how I wanted to be treated back when I was collecting and buying for my collection; I had to be personable, transparent and responsive – the three things I push for everyday and I hope my clients feel this reflects in the service they receive.”
My experience of dealers is that they all have the one golden moment that sticks in their mind, when they found a special piece that can’t and won’t be repeated. What is Dunn’s? “It’s a bitter-sweet one, as I’ve recently sent it in for service, after enjoying it for over a year, to get it ready to list for sale. It is a Vacheron Constantin Perpetual Calendar in yellow gold, skeletonized with a diamond bezel for that added pizzazz! It’s a reference 43532 and this watch ticks absolutely every box I personally look for in a watch. I stumbled across this gem via an ancient listing eight pages deep on Google images, whilst researching an article on these models. I messaged the dealer who was in the US, the watch wasn’t with them currently and the pictures weren’t great so I left it. Months later I came across the conversation so reached out again and luckily it was back in their shop! After some payment complications it was on my wrist and has remained my number one find, a combination of rarity, price and taste cementing the top spot!”
One thing that is without question, is the fact that the watch market has changed significantly over the past twelve months. From the stratospheric highs of 2021, to a more reasonable position at the end of 2022, what does Dunn feel is the current state of play? “For me it’s buying season, lots of opportunity in the current leveling off. It’s vital to be calculated, not necessarily cautious, and buy intentionally with clear and consistent curation. Neo-vintage is all the rage, still grossly undervalued compared to modern offerings in both rarity, historical importance and craft. Complications such as perpetual calendars are in and sports watches are out with a strong shift to strap models at 36mm or even less. It’s a scary time to be holding modern but a wonderful time to be exploring timeless designs and comps from brands such as VC, Breguet and Blancpain. Green dial steel sub from Rolex, or a 90’s ultra thin yellow gold perpetual calendar from Vacheron? I know where my moneys at and I like to advise my clients the same. Now is the perfect time to explore models beyond your comfort zone, spend time researching, learning and connecting with others and you might just find something out there that you’ve never seen or considered that has everything you’re after.”
AS a UK-based dealer, has Brexit had an impact on you? “Yes, it has had a significant impact on both the buying and selling. It has been a steep and drawn-out learning curve figuring out how to import/export with VAT correctly, but interestingly I’ve found it can give a USP in terms of the pieces you can stock if you’re willing to learn the correct process and do the extra work as you’re then no longer limited to buying in the UK market. However, there are of course a number of cons with the most significant being the confusion for UK buyers looking at my stock, why some pieces exclude VAT and some do not. This extends further to EU buyers as previously these watches would flow seamlessly around the European Union. All of this has been a bit of a headache but now thankfully finding a good rhythm.”
Thanks to _Oxwatch for portrait images supplied for this story