Mark Cho spent the last 16 years amassing a spectacular watch collection. Cho, the co-owner of Drake’s and co-founder of highbrow suiting shop The Armoury, is more invested in fashion than your average collector. And so he delights in what others may have overlooked: he loves quartz watches because they’re thin, he’s tickled by a Frankensteined Nautilus, and he conducted a whole study on the ideal watch size for the wrist. He’s the sort of nontraditional watch collector, for example, who describes a Rolex GMT “Root Beer” as “eh.” And it’s worked: over the years, Cho put together the platonic ideal of a personal collection, stuffed with watches that would be the one oddball for many others. And now, he’s selling a large majority of it.
Starting November 30th, Cho will put his treasures up for sale in partnership with Phillips auction house. Why? “I'm selling because I want to buy a store for the Armoury,” he says matter-of-factly. Ultimately, he says, “I see this not as selling anything—I just see this as trading up. I'm trading out of little things and up to a store. That's the dream.”
We talked to Cho, over Zoom and then by email, about his decision to hold this auction, how style and watches are related, and his favorite pieces coming up for sale.
What's the journey been with this collection?
It very much got started in vintage. It was 2006, I had my first job, first paycheck—it was a milestone. And when you're just kind of getting started in your career it's like, what can you afford? And vintage was really great value, interesting stuff, nice design. Then I grew into looking at the fancy stuff, icons like Nautiluses and Royal Oaks. This would have been more than 10 years ago, so that stuff was still sort of affordable. Like, those were the unpopular watches, right? Only the nerds had Nautiluses and Royal Oaks. But after a while, when that started to get hot, too, I very purposely just started to collect whatever I liked. And because I'd been collecting for long enough, I started to really think about design details, movement details, little things that just happened to catch my eye. The historical and brand significance of something was not important to me anymore, and the idea of collecting prestigious things was also not important anymore. I felt like I outgrew that.
Now, today, I'm selling because I want to buy a store for the Armoury. I think about it completely in terms of growth and the next step in progressing in your life and your future.
What a trade.
I'd rather have a store that my customers and colleagues can enjoy rather than this stuff that sits in the safe. I did have some people [say,] like, "Oh, are you a watch investor?" If you look at the stuff I bought, you definitely wouldn't buy that stuff for investment. It's all weird, funny shit that only I liked, especially at the time. Watching the watch world now—as much I'm glad that there's lots of new collectors because it means eventually there'll be a lot of new brands and a lot of new designs—it's also a little bit frustrating because there's a lot of groupthink. I've never really bought into that, it's never been very appealing to me. I did buy a [Rolex GMT Master] Root Beer just because I always wanted a Root Beer, wanted to see what it was like, and I got it and I put it on and I was like, "Eh."
You’re selling for such an interesting reason. But are you also happy to be hitting the eject button and, and getting out of the current frenzy?
Nothing I like touches the frenzy anyways, so it's fine.
How do you think the market and community has changed from when you first started in 2006 compared to now?
All of a sudden there’s so many new people getting into this. That is a very unusual influx of new entrants. And, of course, many of them got into it because they're, like, “Oh, I could turn a buck on this.” But I think also, even among that new group of entrants, there will be many people who are here to stay. They will continue to grow and develop as collectors and I actually look forward to the day when their tastes start to diverge more as they develop. Because everyone gets into this on the same couple of watches, right? If you have access and you can afford it, you start with a Daytona or an Explorer or something like that. And if you can't get that you probably start with a Tudor or an Omega or Grand Seiko. But then, five to ten years from now, it could be very, very different for the next guy. So I really look forward to like that next next stage of development in taste for this incoming group of collectors
Back in 2006, young Mark had his first paycheck, was there something about a watch that you thought was really important to style, or to the uniform that you were creating for yourself?
No, I don't think I understood the context of everything as well. I think that for me, at that time, the thinking was more like a good deal. I get to feel like a grown up, buy a grown-up thing, but I'm paying a kid's price for it. And there were aspects of color and the design that were appealing to me, but in a very instinctive way.
How do you feel about selling during what appears to be a downturn in the watch market?
The recent negative headlines about watch price declines are a little sensationalist. They narrowly focus on price changes in the last six months. If we were to look at prices today vs 2019, we are still far above those. Also, they focus on the hype watches of 2021-2022, such as certain Rolex sport watches, which was overdue for a harsh correction.
I'll never nail the timing perfectly. There will always be "a better time to sell.”
What’s your personal auction strategy?
When I bid on stuff myself at auctions—I've been going auctions for like 15 years now—I don't hang around to bid. I think of the number I'm willing to pay for it, I leave an absentee bid, and I leave. I don't look at it until the next day. So I never get sucked into “Oh, I can just pay another 100 bucks.” I'll never do that.
Do you have a favorite piece that you got from auction, or a favorite auction story?
I bought a [Rolex] Oyster Quartz from auction cheap—the condition was terrible. But I paid what I thought was a reasonable price for it given the condition. Then I was curious: If I take this to Rolex [for servicing], how much will they do? So I took it to Rolex and they serviced it and were like, “It's four grand to service. We'll change the dial, we'll change the hands, and we're going to waterproof it.”
What they meant was, they're going to change the entire head of the watch. So you keep the movement, but everything else around it has changed. And what if I wanted, say a new bracelet, how much would that be? And they're like, “Oh, that's another like [$4,500].”
So I got a factory fresh Oyster Quartz. The only part of that original watch was a fragment of the movement. But you would have to literally go back in time and buy a brand new Oyster Quartz to get one in a condition like this. And so I thought that was kind of cool—I just liked the fact that I was able to do all that stuff.
There's a lot of people who turn their noses up at quartz watches, but you have an affinity for them. Why is it that you're a fan?
Quartz as a technology is pretty amazing, if you ask me. I think it's just as fascinating as mechanical. People poopoo it a little bit because it's cheap, but just because it's cheap doesn't mean it's not amazing. But specifically for the Royal Oaks, doing them in quartz means you make the case thinner, and I like smaller-diameter watches.
Do you feel that coming from fashion and knowing so much about suiting, proportions, and how clothes should fit made you look at watches in a different way?
Yeah, definitely. I feel pretty strongly about that. I feel that a lot of watches are bigger than they need to be. And I also think that more watches should come in more sizes. Like, I wouldn't have a clothing store with no size smalls, right? Watches used to come in two sizes, but that's more and more rare. Or they make the small size and then they call it a ladies watch and then they just put diamonds all over it.
Do you think that your background influenced the watches that you collected? Did you find that you were more concerned about design than other collectors?
I think so. I think a lot about color, detail, typography, and proportion.
Can you tell me about some of your favorites that you're letting go of in this auction?
The Nautilus 3800 that I have out there is really rare, really interesting. It's a Patek-approved Frankenstein watch: Patek used to be more flexible about changing stuff out for clients, so it's a Nautilus 3800 but they put in a dial from another reference and they put in hands from another reference and mashed together this design. It's pretty unusual but pretty great, and I even have the paperwork for all the changes.
I'm actually a huge fan of Chanel's watches. Chanel is very underrated in terms of watchmaking. I love the Monsieur, I think it's amazing.
I have a Grand Seiko SBGZ001. So this was a really really unusual Grand Seiko. So this is a snowflake-dial in a platinum case and the case has been engraved by hand to look like this orange-peel pattern. And so it's like the whole case is Snowflake. It's a snowflake case with a snowflake dial that they do that by hand. And it's an incredible piece of work.
Another really interesting one is—I think this might be the most important one at the auction—is a Lange 1, an older Lange 1 in white gold on the Wellendorff bracelet. So Wellendorf was an old German jeweler that used to make bracelets for Lange and then they stopped because it was just too expensive. On the Wellendorff bracelet with the mother-of-Pearl dial.
Last one is a really interesting Royal Oak. It's quartz, actually, 36 millimeters. It's a two-tone Royal Oak but what's interesting about it is it's two-tone in reverse. It's not like white-metal body with yellow-gold accents. It's the other way around: It's yellow-gold everything with white-gold accents. I'd never seen that before.
It sounds like any watch where you're like, “I haven't seen it before,” that's the one that you're gonna buy.
I try. I have patience. I will wait a little longer for the interesting thing to come along.
Which was the hardest one in the auction to let go of?
I mean, that 3800, because I did wear that watch a lot. And then it became so noticeable and valuable that I felt a little worried wearing it around.
Which pieces are you holding on to? How many are you holding onto?
I'm holding on to stuff that I worked on myself and fun and cheap stuff that I like. My favorite watch is actually an Accutron. Accutron made a reissue of what they used to make back in the '60s. A little 34 millimeter limited-edition. No one seems to know about it or care about it. I doubt that they even sold out of the limited edition. But it's great, I can wear that any day of the week.
What's going to happen to your watch collection? Will you build it back up over time like this one?
Yeah, I think over time I will probably build it back up again. I actually don't like to wear watches that get too valuable. I do end up getting in on watches before they become a big deal, and then when it's become a big deal, I don't I don't feel comfortable wearing them. So I think it will always be this catch-and-release mentality. It’s just fun to buy watches, experience them a little bit, and then let them go off and then the next cool thing will come along.
