This month, after a visit to the Rijksmuseum, American talk show host Ellen DeGeneres hit the spot at Amsterdam Vintage Watches, the store of Jasper L Digiting on the Singel. He specializes in vintage and 'pre-owned' watches. DeGeneres is a Rolex collector and also treated her wife Portia de Rossi to a beautiful vintage item. Counting was not impressed, he told Shownieuws. Adam Levine and Shawn Mendes had also visited. And also Dutch artists Bizzey, Lil 'Kleine and Kraantje Pappie know where to find his store.
Grading's refreshing approach ('get rid of that dusty, haunted bullshit'), his passion, expertise and of course interesting offerings appeals to a new target group: enthusiasts who arrive casual in training pants and sneakers or park the Ferrari twice on their doorstep, and who also see the 'clocks' collection as an investment.
It is a target group that is constantly growing. The British luxury second-hand e-tailer Xupes is now the first to target Amsterdam outside the United Kingdom. Xupes previously opened a European headquarters annex store in Oud-Zuid (where bags, jewelry and Cartier watches are also sold).
A pop-up store in the Bijenkorf was opened on Thursday with rare vintage and pre-owned watches from Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Omega and Panerai and Zenith. This makes it the first second-hand supplier in the department store.
New stores
With the Brexit lurking, Joe McKenzie (32), founder and CEO of Xupes, wanted a head office in Europe. The choice fell on Amsterdam because 'an interesting part of the residents' are interested in the product groups that Xupes sells online (luxury vintage and pre-owned watches, jewelry, handbags and art). In addition, McKenzie's father is half Dutch and the company has a few Dutch investors. 70 percent of the Xupes collection is modern pre-owned, the rest vintage pre-owned, which means older than twenty years.
McKenzie started his online watch business nine years ago in the garage with father Frank, an accountant with a hobby art trade, who paid attention. During his photography studies in London, McKenzie earned a nice sack of money with restoring and selling vintage Cartiers. He earned the money to buy them in the evenings as an assistant to photographer Richard Young, "a kind of paparazzo" who beat all the parties and film premieres in London.
He saw the growing interest in used luxury products, but according to McKenzie there was still a bad smell to the trade. “Many people nevertheless saw that the sale took place from a trunk on an abandoned industrial site. That offered us the opportunity to put our business in a different way: more luxurious, reliable, full of passion and with expertise. ”
In the meantime, the luxury second-hand market has grown explosively. In 2018 this amounted to 22 billion euros worldwide. Half of these are European purchases. This mainly concerns (80 percent) watches and jewelry.
Joe McKenzie: “Last year we sold two thousand products with Xupes. This year we hope to double that. We want to become the net-a-porter.com of the pre-owned market. With the help of new stores - the second will open in London in November - we want to achieve a turnover of 100 million in four years. This year it will be something like 16 million, a pretty aggressive growth, but realistic. "
The British watchfinder.com is a formidable competitor, but according to McKenzie a bit chilly and very focused on transactions. “Our approach is more personal, all watches are fully restored in our own service center, we employ watchmakers with a lot of experience. And we have a lot of patience. We like it when our customers come to the store for a cup of coffee. We are building long-term relationships. ”
Xupes has many famous customers, including model Kylie Jenner. “Of course we deal with a lot of football players. Prince Harry? I wish, but he hasn't been yet. "
Top condition
Last year McKenzie sold a very rare Rolex: the 'Paul Newman' Daytona 6264 in 18-carat yellow gold. "It was our record sale. A Dutch entrepreneur had owned the watch for thirty years and had no idea of the enormous value. We helped him sell. A real collector's piece of which only six were made, in top condition and with not a single scratch on the box. The watch went for 950,000 euros to a French entrepreneur in Portugal. I brought it myself with a bottle of champagne and of course a lot of security. Why does someone spend so much money on a watch? It is equivalent to a vintage Ferrari. There are only a few, many people are eager to have it and there is rarely one on the market. ”
In October 2017 Newman's own Rolex Daytona from 1968 went under the hammer at auction house Phillips in New York. After 12 minutes of bidding, the gem went for $ 15.5 million to an anonymous telephone bidder.
McKenzie is of course aware of the Rolex gangs that are active in various world cities. “We work with special and many different couriers, and have close contact with the police. Only 25 percent of stolen goods are unfortunately only registered, so we only buy from brands with which we have a relationship, from people we know, and copies whose history we can trace. We are offered fake watches every day, but our experts pick them out.
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Grading's refreshing approach ('get rid of that dusty, haunted bullshit'), his passion, expertise and of course interesting offerings appeals to a new target group: enthusiasts who arrive casual in training pants and sneakers or park the Ferrari twice on their doorstep, and who also see the 'clocks' collection as an investment.
It is a target group that is constantly growing. The British luxury second-hand e-tailer Xupes is now the first to target Amsterdam outside the United Kingdom. Xupes previously opened a European headquarters annex store in Oud-Zuid (where bags, jewelry and Cartier watches are also sold).
A pop-up store in the Bijenkorf was opened on Thursday with rare vintage and pre-owned watches from Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Omega and Panerai and Zenith. This makes it the first second-hand supplier in the department store.
New stores
With the Brexit lurking, Joe McKenzie (32), founder and CEO of Xupes, wanted a head office in Europe. The choice fell on Amsterdam because 'an interesting part of the residents' are interested in the product groups that Xupes sells online (luxury vintage and pre-owned watches, jewelry, handbags and art). In addition, McKenzie's father is half Dutch and the company has a few Dutch investors. 70 percent of the Xupes collection is modern pre-owned, the rest vintage pre-owned, which means older than twenty years.
McKenzie started his online watch business nine years ago in the garage with father Frank, an accountant with a hobby art trade, who paid attention. During his photography studies in London, McKenzie earned a nice sack of money with restoring and selling vintage Cartiers. He earned the money to buy them in the evenings as an assistant to photographer Richard Young, "a kind of paparazzo" who beat all the parties and film premieres in London.
He saw the growing interest in used luxury products, but according to McKenzie there was still a bad smell to the trade. “Many people nevertheless saw that the sale took place from a trunk on an abandoned industrial site. That offered us the opportunity to put our business in a different way: more luxurious, reliable, full of passion and with expertise. ”
In the meantime, the luxury second-hand market has grown explosively. In 2018 this amounted to 22 billion euros worldwide. Half of these are European purchases. This mainly concerns (80 percent) watches and jewelry.
Joe McKenzie: “Last year we sold two thousand products with Xupes. This year we hope to double that. We want to become the net-a-porter.com of the pre-owned market. With the help of new stores - the second will open in London in November - we want to achieve a turnover of 100 million in four years. This year it will be something like 16 million, a pretty aggressive growth, but realistic. "
The British watchfinder.com is a formidable competitor, but according to McKenzie a bit chilly and very focused on transactions. “Our approach is more personal, all watches are fully restored in our own service center, we employ watchmakers with a lot of experience. And we have a lot of patience. We like it when our customers come to the store for a cup of coffee. We are building long-term relationships. ”
Xupes has many famous customers, including model Kylie Jenner. “Of course we deal with a lot of football players. Prince Harry? I wish, but he hasn't been yet. "
Top condition
Last year McKenzie sold a very rare Rolex: the 'Paul Newman' Daytona 6264 in 18-carat yellow gold. "It was our record sale. A Dutch entrepreneur had owned the watch for thirty years and had no idea of the enormous value. We helped him sell. A real collector's piece of which only six were made, in top condition and with not a single scratch on the box. The watch went for 950,000 euros to a French entrepreneur in Portugal. I brought it myself with a bottle of champagne and of course a lot of security. Why does someone spend so much money on a watch? It is equivalent to a vintage Ferrari. There are only a few, many people are eager to have it and there is rarely one on the market. ”
In October 2017 Newman's own Rolex Daytona from 1968 went under the hammer at auction house Phillips in New York. After 12 minutes of bidding, the gem went for $ 15.5 million to an anonymous telephone bidder.
McKenzie is of course aware of the Rolex gangs that are active in various world cities. “We work with special and many different couriers, and have close contact with the police. Only 25 percent of stolen goods are unfortunately only registered, so we only buy from brands with which we have a relationship, from people we know, and copies whose history we can trace. We are offered fake watches every day, but our experts pick them out.
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