Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Eric Ku - From Curator to Creator: A Collector Turned Serial Entrepreneur
1.2k Plays8 months ago
Today’s guest is what you can consider a jack of all trades in the watch industry, Mr. Eric Ku. Eric can be best known as a dealer, collector extraordinaire, and entrepreneur, all within the world of watches. It’s not too often that a collector and dealer finds other ways to become successful in this industry, but leave it up to Eric to take care of that. His businesses stem far beyond just being a dealer, since having founded LA Watch Works, a well known restoration and servicing center, and LoupeThis, one of the watch world's most exciting ventures and auction houses to come about in the last couple years. We chat about the impetus to start all these ventures, and of course, his many piece-uniques from the fan favorite, Cartier. He’s a go to for many things, watches and always a delight to chat with. Alright, please enjoy, this is Eric Ku, for Collectors Gene Radio.
Eric's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/fumanku
Loupe This - https://loupethis.com/
LA Watch Works - http://www.lawatchworks.com/
Recommended
Transcript
Origins of LA Watchwares
00:00:00
Speaker
think a lot of
00:00:01
Speaker
repair places, they're very good on the technical aspect of things, but they don't look at things the same way like a collector or an enthusiast does. And I think that one of the reasons why I started LA Watchwares with Beau, my partner, is that we want to be like that shop that understands the totality of what we're looking at, you know, the technical aspect of a service as well as the aesthetics and kind of historical collector's aspect.
The Collector's Gene: A Deep Dive
00:00:31
Speaker
What's going on everybody and welcome to collector's gene radio. This is all about diving into the nuances of collecting and ultimately finding out whether or not our guests have what we like to call the collector's gene. If you have the time please subscribe and leave a review it truly helps. Thanks a bunch for listening and please enjoy today's guest on collector's gene radio.
Ventures of Eric Hu
00:00:55
Speaker
Today's guest is what you can consider a jack of all trades in the watch industry, Mr. Eric Hu. Eric can be best known as a dealer, collector extraordinaire, and entrepreneur all within the world of watches. But it's not too often that a collector and dealer finds other ways to become successful in this industry. So leave it up to Eric to take care of that.
00:01:15
Speaker
His businesses stem far beyond just being a dealer since having founded LA Watchworks, a well-known restoration and servicing center, and loop this, one of the watch world's most exciting auction houses to come about in the last couple of years. We chat about the impetus to start all these ventures, and of course, his many piece uniques from the fan favorite Cartier and the potential upcoming release of a smaller Bulgari Octofinissimo. He's a go-to for many things watches and always a delight to chat with.
00:01:44
Speaker
All right, please enjoy. This is Eric Hu for Collectors Jume Radio. Eric Hu, what a pleasure to have you on Collectors Jume Radio. Thanks for having me.
00:01:54
Speaker
My pleasure.
From Bakery to Watches
00:01:55
Speaker
So you're one of the more well-known folks in the watch space with your businesses varied across auctions and repairs and dealing and collecting, of course, but what most people may not know about you and which is completely unrelated to our conversation today is that you actually used to have a bakery. I did. I used to own a place called Hopkins Street Bakery in Berkeley. Was that always a passion of yours?
00:02:18
Speaker
I'm not baking per se, but I've always been interested in the food and restaurant sphere. And I thought incorrectly, I should say, that this would be a good way for me to dip my toes into that type of business.
00:02:36
Speaker
I get it. Watches were always a passion of yours though, even before the bakery.
Rolex: The First Love
00:02:41
Speaker
And you have a great story with your first Rolex that you ever purchased. Can you tell me how you got into watches and then how you came to that first Rolex?
00:02:49
Speaker
Sure, I can. So I want to say 1999 maybe. This happened my first Rolex I got after I got a job at a dot com company. First job, I was actually not graduated from school yet. But it was a 14,000 air king with a blue Explorer style dial. And when I bought it, it was 25, 125 dollars exactly.
00:03:19
Speaker
I couldn't get a cent off on the price and bought it with my credit card and I was really excited to have that watch. Later on, I had catastrophic losses in the stock market, sold the watch on eBay, and just kind of went about my business, finished school, started working, and then started becoming a watch dealer, becoming a watch dealer full time.
00:03:44
Speaker
I always thought about that watch and kind of had a, like, I'm a real nostalgic person. Sure. And I fired up like an old Sony VIO computer of mine that I used years ago, and found all the email correspondences with the person that I sold the watch to on eBay. And, you know, re-engaged him, asked him if he still had the watch. He did. And I ended up paying a world record price for an air cane to get it back.
00:04:14
Speaker
I love it. So you became a dealer before you were seriously collecting or were you a pretty serious collector first?
00:04:22
Speaker
I always loved watches. You know, it's funny, the title of your podcast, because I am a firm believer that people are either like, you're either born like a collector or you're not. I collected all sorts of things when I was like a little kid. And this is like carried on to my adult life now.
The Rolex Journey Begins
00:04:38
Speaker
And, you know, I always had an appreciation for watches, specifically Rolex. When I was a kid, I had a subscription to National Geographic magazine for as long as I could remember.
00:04:50
Speaker
And Rolex always had an advertisement in either the back cover or the front inside cover. And I just remember reading and looking at these cool stories and testimonials of people like Louis Leakey, the scientists, Tor Heyerdahl, all these people that did all these great feats of exploration. And it was always sponsored by Rolex. They always had a Rolex on their wrist.
00:05:17
Speaker
So somehow, Rolex as a quality watch was ingrained in my mind from a very young age. And I was always interested in the mechanical aspect of watches. And yeah, I mean, I was always fascinated with watches from when I was a little kid. At what point do you start to become a dealer and establish 10 past 10?
00:05:39
Speaker
It started being a hobby because as a young collector with fairly limited means in my early 20s, you would always have to sell something to buy something new. Of course, I didn't know in the beginning that you could actually make money doing this, but I tried to buy something for
00:05:59
Speaker
as good of a price as I could buy it for and then try to sell it, maybe losing as little money as possible. Then I started looking at these vintage Rolexes and remembering the history of these watches and seeing them when I was much younger. And I realized when I was buying those, I could always sell it for what I bought it for or maybe even make a little money on it.
00:06:24
Speaker
And so, you know, it was like a hobbyist. Those days were kind of the early days of like the internet forums. I was going to these NAWCC shows across the country. There was always one in Pasadena that I think still goes on to this day.
00:06:40
Speaker
And you know, I flew to random places like Akron, Ohio for NAWCC shows before. And you know, it was just a hobby of mine.
Passion Turns Profession
00:06:51
Speaker
And then there was one day where I remember at my last real job, getting like eight or nine FedEx boxes delivered to me at the office. And the FedEx guy comes in my office drops these off. And then, you know, everybody
00:07:07
Speaker
around my office is like, what is this guy doing? Like, why does he have so many FedEx boxes coming? What does this have to do with work, you know? And then I suddenly had a moment of clarity and I was like, you know what? Like, what the heck am I doing here when I should be doing something with watches? So I gave notice that day immediately, went in, rented my first office, leased my first office and never looked back. Amazing. Was vintage Rolex kind of your bread and butter as you were starting out?
00:07:36
Speaker
It was. It was something that I familiarized myself with early on. And it was really like my passion was just about vintage Rolex at the time. I had a very, very, I had like blinders on and had a very, very narrow scope of what I was focusing on, collecting and both, you know, eventually dealing. And that happened to be my world for a very long time in the beginning.
00:08:01
Speaker
Collecting and dealing always comes with stories, and one in particular that you've told involves a Goodwill not too far down the road from me in Phoenix. Without you having to regurgitate because you've told the story so many times, essentially a guy found a very rare Lakultra at a Goodwill for $5.99 and found out it was worth somewhere in the $30,000, $35,000 range, and you ended up buying it from him. Does that stuff still happen?
00:08:30
Speaker
It does still happen. Unfortunately, it hasn't happened with me in quite some time. But it's a testament to the fact that the watch collecting hobby and the watch business in general has become so much bigger that you don't always recognize the names and the people involved. But that was really a fantastic story and I was really happy to be a part of it.
00:08:56
Speaker
It's not too common that collectors and dealers and watches really permeate through this hobby and start other ventures. And you're one of the very few that actually has gone on and partnered with some folks in starting multiple ventures in this space across different sectors.
Founding LA Watchworks
00:09:16
Speaker
And another venture you're involved in is LA Watchworks, which is one of the most well-known service centers for watches.
00:09:22
Speaker
Did you start this based on frustration or was it just a good business opportunity? I mean, the question people always ask is where should I get my watch service? What should I do when I need it serviced, if I need it refurbished, so on and so forth. I mean, it's a little bit of everything. I thought it was like a great business opportunity. I thought that as somebody that, you know, needs to service things quite often,
00:09:47
Speaker
You know, it was something that I knew about because of my involvement with vintage watches. And I just feel like there were not many great places that people can take watches to to get serviced. And, you know, the other thing, too, is that
00:10:01
Speaker
You know, I know as like, let's say a consumer or, you know, as somebody sending watches in for service, right? The most frustrating thing is, is having to explain to a watchmaker, like, look, don't touch the hands, don't do this, be careful with the dial, like, blah, blah, blah, bezel, insert, yada, yada, yada, you know? And, you know, at the end of the day,
00:10:21
Speaker
Like we pride ourselves at LA watchworks for being that service center that like gets this stuff, you know, right and listens Yeah, if you say like hey, you know what these three hands like the second hand doesn't look that great Can you either find a vintage second hand to match the other two?
00:10:39
Speaker
or maybe redo that second hand to match it better. Be really careful when you're removing the dial because the lume at eight o'clock is kind of broken. Do this, do that, don't do that. This is our bread and butter. We will do it with a smile on our face and we're happy to do it.
00:10:58
Speaker
I think a lot of repair places, they're very good on the technical aspect of things, but they don't look at things the same way like a collector and enthusiast does. And I think that one of the reasons why I started LA Watchwares with Bo, my partner, is that we want to be like that shop that understands the totality of what we're looking at, you know, the technical aspect of a service as well as the aesthetics and kind of historical collector's aspect.
00:11:28
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's really impressive because as a collector and I know other collectors again that question is where do I send a watch and I'm so nervous because I don't want the hands replaced or I don't want the dial swapped and I don't want it polished or if I do want to polish I don't want it over polished and having someone listen to you and soak in all those little minute details and understand it is so important and is probably why it's been so successful for you guys.
00:11:56
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, Beau has been a wonderful partner. And, you know, I'm just really fortunate that I've been able to be a part of LA Watchworks.
Cartier: A Collector's Focus
00:12:08
Speaker
Absolutely. Let's talk about your personal collecting a bit because your taste ranges from modern to vintage across multiple brands, etc. Is there a brand that resonates with you the most as a collector?
00:12:20
Speaker
I mean, I'd say the thing that I've been focusing on most that has caught my attention for the last like many years is probably Cartier. Rolex is my first love, but Cartier is, you know, for sure my second, if not, you know, like the most like enduring love.
00:12:40
Speaker
I really feel that their forte obviously is designed as opposed to complications and technical merits. But design, the look of a watch is what you see immediately when you look at a watch. And I think it's probably the most important aspect. And I feel like there's nobody else in the business that does things as nicely as they have and for as long as they have.
00:13:04
Speaker
You've garnered a pretty special relationship with Cartier. I mean, you collect both vintage and modern, but I think a lot of folks also know you for your special orders or your piece unique examples that you've done. What was the first special order you did and what was the most recent?
00:13:20
Speaker
The most recent one that I received was a Cloche Platinum with a black dial with luminous indexes and luminous hands. And I got that, I wanna say around September or October in 23. So that was last year. And that was my most recent. My first one, I think it was a Cintre.
00:13:49
Speaker
in platinum with a blue dial, or it was a yellow gold crash with a blue dial. I don't remember which one of those came first, but it was one of those. Pretty cool. The cloches that you just did was
00:14:06
Speaker
really special because of the loom and for being so different from what they usually tend to go for. Was that an easy negotiation process with them? Were they pretty agreeable to something like that? I mean, being fortunate enough to have had a few NSO watches made for me by Cartier. I know there's a certain playbook of things they can and cannot do. Sure. And at the same time,
00:14:33
Speaker
You know, I don't want to design something like way too crazy that just doesn't even look like a Cartier anymore. So my taste is, you know, like fairly vanilla in that sense. And I know like what a Cartier should look like. And it just like certain things like, for example, for that one.
00:14:49
Speaker
I know that when I wear a clothes, for example, or when I'm traveling, I set it on my desk next to the bed and it looks like a little mini alarm clock. I thought it would be cool if it could glow in the dark so I could see it at nighttime. That was a relatively
00:15:04
Speaker
Simple idea. I have this Patek Philippe watch that's nicknamed the Night Watchman. It's a 565 in steel with a black radium dial. Very cool. The backstory about that watch and why it's called the Night Watchman is the original owner of it I think was like a security guard for Patek Philippe.
00:15:24
Speaker
and he had foiled some sort of robbery at nighttime. And as a thank you, Stern told him that they would give him whatever watch he wanted as a reward for helping foil his robbery. And I think he said something to the effect of, I want a simple steel watch with a dial that glows at nighttime. So they made that for him. And it's kind of a similar thing with the glowing at nighttime as the closure.
00:15:51
Speaker
That's cool. It's kind of a fun nod to that. Sure. As someone who does like both vintage and modern Cartier, what's your take on the wearability of the modern Cloche versus the vintage one? It's an irony here because I never really got into the vintage Cloche much because they're really, really, really small. I don't know if you've seen one in person, but I don't know. For whatever reason, I didn't really care for that model that much.
00:16:20
Speaker
But then when the newer one, the CPC-B1 came out, I was actually really pleased that they didn't like jumbo XL the watch. So it's still like kind of small, but you know, bigger than the original. And I really love the size. It's one of the things that I love about it the most.
00:16:37
Speaker
And I also love the fact that, I don't know how many millimeters it is, but the strap is quite narrow. It's just like a really sweet spot in terms of like the size. And, you know, things that they did, for example, like the edges of the case now, they're squared off an angular, kind of like a tank normal, whereas like the original one, it had very soft edges. And I just feel like in this case, the new one is a more smartly and better designed product than the original.
00:17:06
Speaker
Is there a K shape from Cartier that you love the most? I asked your business partner, Justin Grunberg, this question. And he went with the Tank Louis and the Nirmal. I know you have an affinity for all the shapes. You collect them and have a bunch of them. Which one is a standout favorite for you? You know, certainly like the most unique and probably the most cliched answer I could give you on this would be the crash.
00:17:28
Speaker
I mean, I've loved that watch since the 90s, I'd say. And, you know, sure, it's like the hot thing and maybe it's a little too saturated at the moment, but really, I really, really love that design and I have for like a very long time.
00:17:42
Speaker
It's been special for a long time. Yes. I mean, but at the same time, I get the fact that that's not a watch that is really like wearable under like everyday circumstances, you know? Yeah. But if I had to pick one of the classic like Cartier watches that is the most wearable and pleasing for whatever reason, I'd probably agree with Justin and say like the tank normal.
00:18:06
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, you can't beat that design and that shape. I mean, I actually, I quite love the Sintre, but you know, I have kind of smallish wrists and I really love the Sintre. I collect them. I have many examples, but the jumbo size, the length is just like a little bit longer than looks good on my wrist, you know? What do you think about the smaller vintage size Sintres that are about like, I think they're like 19 by 35 or something like that?
00:18:35
Speaker
Yeah, so the Sintray has come in actually multiple sizes. It's not just like a small, medium, large. There's multiple mediums and whatnot. I have a London one from the 1970s or 60s, and it's the perfect size for me. I would say it's probably three millimeters or four millimeters shorter than the Jumbo, and it just fits my wrist like a glove. It's like the sweet spot. That's like the Goldilocks size.
00:19:04
Speaker
Something else that I've kind of noticed with your collecting is that you kind of like to collect in sets, especially with something that you like aesthetically, like the Bugari Octofanissimo, for example. Is that a collecting style of yours that you've had for a long time or is that fairly new?
Collecting in Sets
00:19:20
Speaker
It depends. There's some things where I'm just happy with, you know, one example of a certain design or type of something with the Octofanissimo as a relatively new design. I mean,
00:19:32
Speaker
I've talked about this before. I've talked with Justin, friends, other people, podcasts about this, but like really great iconic designs are very hard to come by.
00:19:42
Speaker
And I feel like the Octofinissimo for me is one of the best recent designs. And I feel like really has a shot of being like an enduring and lasting kind of iconic classic shape and design. I just really like them. The limited edition could have come out over the last few years. I've acquired many of them.
00:20:03
Speaker
And each one is sufficiently unique that made me want to buy it. And again, it's just a design that I really enjoy. And every single example that I've acquired, I've actually really enjoyed. And it was a pleasure to own them and acquire them. Do you foresee them coming out with the Octofinissimo in smaller sizes? I know it's been like a big request.
00:20:32
Speaker
I had actually expressed my opinion that that would be a good idea to do that. And I got a quasi cryptic but not so cryptic response from the stakeholder saying that like, just wait and see.
00:20:46
Speaker
That sounds like it's something coming. I had a really great opportunity last spring to visit the Bvlgari manufacturer and meet the team there and see where they make all these things. And I really had a great experience. And it's kind of interesting.
00:21:07
Speaker
There's a few of these Octofinissimo limited editions that I didn't pick up because I didn't really think they were my taste. But I got to see all of them while I was there. And, you know, I really regret not picking up the original, like, Bulgari sketch. I know they just released a new version of that. But that watch is so beautiful in person. And, you know, it's on my list of things that I would like to have at some point.
00:21:33
Speaker
Pictures definitely don't do it justice, and there's such an impressive group over there that is, I think, starting to gain the traction and appreciation they deserve. But man, an octofinissimo in like 35 to 37 millimeters would be unreal.
00:21:48
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, in fact, in the late 90s, when I was still in college, it wasn't Rolex price, but one of the earliest nice watches I got was the, the Bvlgari, Bvlgari aluminum watch. That was like an amazing design that I fell in love with immediately when it came out, I think maybe 1997 or 98.
00:22:10
Speaker
They're all great, like even the CH35 chronograph, the Scuba chronograph. I mean, those watches are so fun and so wearable and honestly pretty chic too. I agree. I agree. You know, like the solid gold Scuba dive watch that they made in the mid 90s. I mean, that's going to come back and it's a mega. That's another one that's probably on my list of things I would like to pick up. Yeah, because you could get them on the rubber, right? Or you could get them on a bracelet too.
00:22:39
Speaker
Yeah, incredible watch for sure.
Creating LoopThis
00:22:41
Speaker
Let's chat about your latest venture, which is LoopThis. I'm assuming a very similar impetus behind starting LA Watchworks was behind starting LoopThis, a need for something like this in the market. Yeah.
00:22:55
Speaker
The funny thing is, my partner Justin, who you had on the show, he and I have been friends and doing business together for quite some time. And we're always brainstorming of fun things that we could be doing.
00:23:10
Speaker
And one of the things was like an auction website. And we had actually been talking about this for many years leading up to when we actually launched LoopThis. And we always had a lot of our own stuff going on. And when COVID hit and we were with that stay at home order or whatever they called it,
00:23:33
Speaker
I mean that was the time really where we started getting serious about this and started realizing that like we should do this and so Lupus was born at the beginning or right before COVID or during that period. Not only did you guys get that together fairly quickly but you also hit some pretty amazing revenue goals fairly quickly.
00:23:55
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we've been pretty fortunate that we've had a lot of support from the collecting community, both as buyers and consigners. We've had, in our short time, some really noteworthy exceptional sales. We've been really fortunate to be partners in a few really nice
00:24:18
Speaker
kind of like grassroots started charity auction things on the site. And you know, we've just been really fortunate that we started when we did and we've been really fortunate to have the support of the collecting and dealing community as well. Is the team growing over there or is it still just you and Justin for the most part?
00:24:39
Speaker
No, we have a team there. I want to say we have six people right now. And, you know, we're continuing to grow that at like a slow and cautious pace. Because we're a small team, you know, we really operate as like a family. And I think having that fit is really important, you know, working in a office together seeing each other every day.
00:25:02
Speaker
I don't because I'm based in Northern California, but you know, I go down often enough to meet with everybody. But it's just really important that everybody's on the same page and the goals are all aligned. That's how you build like a successful operation. Of all the endeavors that you've been involved in, would you say that
00:25:20
Speaker
Loop This is really the culmination of everything that has been brought to you from your days of collecting and dealing and LA Watchworks. I feel like Loop This is really like the grail project for you guys in terms of everything that you've seen.
00:25:38
Speaker
I mean, in many, many ways, I guess it is, it's certainly as a business, I feel like the most scalable of these things that I've been involved in in terms of like, you know, being able to ramp up and deal with, you know, higher volume of sales and
00:25:56
Speaker
and things like that. I mean, I looked the other day and I guess, you know, we're a few years in right now. We've all auctioned almost 2000 watches and the business has grown really organically and nicely. And you know, we're really pleased with the results this far.
00:26:14
Speaker
Eric, let's wrap it up here with the collector's gene rundown.
Collector's Rapid-Fire Q&A
00:26:17
Speaker
You can answer these questions based on any of the things you collect. This could be watches, it could be art, it could be baseball cards, anything. Sound good? Sure. All right, what's the one that got away?
00:26:29
Speaker
You know, I don't really have any big collecting regrets. I'd say the biggest thing that I regretted that got away was that first air king that I bought, but I got it back. And yeah, I mean, I don't have many regrets and I probably can't really think of anything that I'd say like that I really regret not getting. That's collecting bliss right there. The on deck circle. So what's next for you in collecting maybe something that you're hunting?
00:27:00
Speaker
I'm not hunting anything for myself at the moment. This is a very unusual thing, but I've been pretty satisfied with the state of the personal collection. But you never know what's right around the corner. Any predictions for watches and wonders?
00:27:15
Speaker
I think it's going to be a pretty toned down year. This might not age well because Watches and Wonders is right around the corner and there could be all this really interesting stuff. I've heard similar gossip like other people have. Patek Philippe is coming out with a new sports watch. I don't know what that is or when that's going to happen. Rolex had a really big year last year. I don't know that they can reinvent the wheel again this year or I don't think they want to.
00:27:42
Speaker
Yeah, it might just be an updated power reserve year for them. Yeah, I mean, I imagine like new colors, probably a bunch of new gem set models that are off catalog that none of us can get. Right. And, you know, people will go crazy over a Coke bezel GMT that comes out maybe, you know, the unobtainable. So one that's too expensive or in a museum or a private collection. So I.
00:28:06
Speaker
like many different things. And this is not going to be a watch, but no worries. There's two things that I think are unobtainable that I would really love to own.
00:28:15
Speaker
I would love to own a T206 Honus Wagner baseball card. That would be amazing. Which is the most valuable baseball card in the world. I remember growing up in Maryland, there was like a comic books and card store at the Inner Harbor called Jeppies. And they had one of these cards on display there. And I would make my parents drive me like an hour in Baltimore just to like look at this card there. So that's something that I would love to have. A singularly unique item.
00:28:44
Speaker
I really appreciate like old violins. And there's this violin at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford in the UK called the Messiah is the nickname. It's made by Antonio Stradivari. And I think it's like the most perfect instrument in the world. And it looks like completely new and unplayed. Stradivari's are kind of like the grail for violins, aren't they? Oh, for sure. Holy grails. Love it.
00:29:14
Speaker
the page one rewrite. So if you could collect anything besides watches or baseball cards, whatever it may be, money is no object. What would it be?
00:29:24
Speaker
This is going to be a little bit abstract, but, uh, the thing that I would love to collect is I would love to not have to worry about working, not doing anything and just like collect knowledge and just be able to like read and consume knowledge. People can be great collectors of knowledge. For sure. And I would love to be able to just learn about things that I don't have time to learn about now, you know? How about the goat? Who do you look up to in the collecting world?
00:29:49
Speaker
A real inspiration of mine is a friend named Daniel Brush who passed away, unfortunately, a little bit more than like a year and change ago. Daniel was best known as like an artist and he made jewelry objects and sculptures. But, you know, I got to know him because he contacted me to purchase some watches. And, you know, it was just really amazing because I had never met anybody like him.
00:30:18
Speaker
who was a really deep collector of so many different things. I mean, we're talking about like watches, certainly vintage cars. I got talking about baseball cards with him and he's like, oh, I got a 1952 top set. That's like Superman. He collected scissors. He collected Coco de Mer, which are these like
00:30:41
Speaker
weird, oddly sexually looking like kind of coconut things that are from the Seychelles. You know, he collected engine turning machines like Breguet.
00:30:52
Speaker
you know, like on and on and on. And he had a depth of knowledge in each thing that he collected that was like very deep, you know. It was truly like the example of like the finest example of like connoisseurship that I can think of. And I miss him very much and certainly he's one of my big inspirations for collecting. The hunt or the ownership? Which one do you enjoy more? It's always about the hunt. I think part of...
00:31:20
Speaker
What I was doing with vintage Rolex, I mean, obviously it wasn't as exciting, but I felt there was a degree of like Indiana Jones kind of thing going on there because I was always like hunting things, getting on an airplane at a minute's notice, flying to Australia, flying to Dubai, flying to wherever to go pick up a watch, you know? Amazing. And that hunt is always really the most exciting part.
00:31:44
Speaker
and then being able to place that watch into a nice home and you just go and look for the next thing. The ownership is the sigh of relief once you get it.
Conclusion and Contributions
00:31:57
Speaker
Most importantly, do you feel that you were born with the collector's gene? 100% born with the collector's gene.
00:32:04
Speaker
Love it. Eric, thank you so much for joining me today. Cheers to you and the team at LA Watchworks and Loop This. You guys are crushing it. Love seeing everything you have going on and excited to see the new special order pieces you have coming in. Thanks a lot for having me and it was a pleasure. All right, that does it for this episode. Thank you all for listening to Collector's Gene Radio.