Kevin O’Leary Wants to Be Buried With His Watches

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Kevin O’Leary, a.k.a. Shark Tank’s Mr. Wonderful, made his fame as a wheeling-dealing investor, but his watch collection is too sacred to him to treat as an asset. Both his wife and a friend who works for an auction house, he says, brought up the idea of “the after-I’m-dead auction. Because I’ve got a lot of watches.” But he told his wife, “Don’t worry about that. All of these watches are coming into my coffin. I’m like the Pharaoh of time.” (Talk about a sunk cost…)

I met O’Leary on the second floor of the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, while Grand Seiko’s US collector meetup known as GS9 rumbled below. He was wearing his standard black Prada suit, red pocket square, and a watch on each wrist. O’Leary had just come off a panel with fellow collectors and watch-world luminaries like the author Gary Shteyngart, collector Matt Farah, Watches of Switzerland’s Kelly Yoch, and Hodinkee editor Brandon Menancio. For an hour they praised Grand Seiko’s signature Zaratsu polishing and, as O’Leary put it, using his highest form of praise, “insane” dials. Just before the panel kicked off I saw O’Leary mobbed by collectors eager to take a picture (I overheard one of them tell a buddy he was going in for a second).

The Shark Tank host describes himself as a hard-core collector but won’t disclose how many he owns in total because his collection’s been stolen twice. (He now keeps watches in different safes all across the world.). O’Leary chases unique pieces, and brands now know that if they want solid wrist time with him, they have to supply a band in his trademark red—he won’t wear anything else while filming Shark Tank.

O’Leary collects Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet just as hungrily as Grand Seikos. Brice Le Troadec, Grand Seiko’s US president, said the GS9 event was a great way to bring collectors deeper into the brand’s world, often ginning up business for the Japanese maker. I saw that play out as soon as Le Troadec walked into the room where I was speaking with O’Leary. “I have to have the pink,” O’Leary immediately told him, referring to the new pink-and-green US-exclusive model unveiled at the event. Another one for the vaults.

I chatted with O’Leary about his collection, why he’ll never sell a timepiece, and who he considers the Picasso of watchmaking.

GQ: What’s your take on the current state of collecting?

Kevin O’Leary: I have a feeling that what’s happening now across all brands is men, particularly, are wanting to experiment with different colors, straps, more fashion-forward, more dial texture. That’s what’s going on.

I completely agree.

And I think Grand Seiko has a huge manufacturing advantage because they can do it at scale. What they’ve been doing at polishing in the last five years is nuts.

And just embracing color—they’ve been on that for a while.

They’re not scared to do it.

When in your collecting journey did you reach Grand Seiko?

That really happened in Miami…maybe five years ago.

When did you start collecting watches in general?

So you’ve been collecting almost 50 years?

I’ve been collecting since I was a teenager. My original father died when he was 37 years old, and my mother remarried and we moved to Champaign, Illinois, and she remarried a guy who joined the United Nations. We moved every two years—Cambodia to Ethiopia, Cyprus, Japan, Germany, France. And I thought that was normal for everybody, but it was not normal. I’ve met Haile Selassie, I met Pol Pot.

[With the UN] you have to choose New York or Geneva as a home base. He chose Geneva. So he introduced me to watch collecting on Lake Geneva. I bought my first Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch in 1975 and I still have it. So that was the beginning of the journey. It’s a priceless piece for me. And then just from there, Rolex, you could walk into a boutique and buy any Rolex you wanted.

At that time?

It’s actually been 14 years since [retail scarcity] started and before the independents took off. But I’ll tell you what it is, it’s the emergence of Asia and the desire of the Asian community to sequester wealth in an asset class that’s emerged as a way of protecting wealth. You don’t lose money buying a watch these days.

[PANEL]

And you talk about investing a lot when you talk about watches on your own channels. Is that something that you think about with Grand Seiko?

I didn’t think of it that way until I got into the [indicates the Credor Eichi II on his wrist]. They have a tourbillon they’re making for $360,000. It’s only purchased by hard-core collectors. Nobody else will pay that for a watch. But it’s remarkable the way they’ve designed it. But Credor is all about the dial and the ability to hand-paint extraordinary outcomes on a dial that no one else can do. Have you seen this?

No.

I don’t think you’ve seen this watch. There aren’t too many. You have to go near a light to look at the luminescence. [O’Leary passes the watch to me.] Hold it up to that bulb and see what’s going on. Where the stack comes out of the center and on the edges. You see that crazy shit that happens?

Oh, wow. [The Credor is designed so the hour markers look like they’re hovering above the dial]

That’s crazy shit.

And the indices, how are they levitating?

They’re levitating by painting them. It’s nuts. This is on top of the hit parade for me right now. I just got this a few days ago. I’m wearing it all over the place. So they have the collectibility, but also their basic steel stuff, what they’re doing with the dials.

But that was really brought to me by Teddy [Baldassarre, the popular watch YouTuber]. Because I didn’t want to do this stuff. And I said, “Well, Teddy, I’m a hard-core collector.” He said, “You’re an asshole. You should really help people get into this because you have so many followers that are inspired by the pursuit of watch collecting, and you’re not giving them a shot.” Because who can buy an F.P. Journe? Nobody. So why don’t we get into brands like Tudor? So I bought a bunch of Tudors. I even have Hamiltons. I’ve got all kinds of entry-level stuff because the dials are amazing.

Yeah. What’s your watch collection up to now? Do you know how many you own?

I do. But because of the two collections that got stolen, I’ve had some inside jobs done on me over the years.

That’s awful.

So it’s impossible to steal my watches again because you’d have to travel to nine cities and break into nine different bank vaults.

At that point you just tip your cap.

Good luck. It won’t happen again.

Do you have F.P. Journe’s Elegante?

Of course.

What do you think of it?

So that was considered the entry-level Journe. And a quartz watch with this incredible idea that you’ll never change the battery in your life. My wife has one, too, it’s her favorite watch.

[Brice Le Troadec, Grand Seiko’s US president, comes over to introduce himself.]

O’Leary: I love what I saw there. I have to have the pink. That is going to be a very popular piece. I have no dial like that.

Brice Le Troadec: And you know, the fun thing is, when we launched this project, the Barbie movie was not out. I don’t want people to associate our watch with Barbie.

O’Leary: I don’t think you’re going to get caught up in that because you’re also taking on this trend of the 36 millimeter. When they did that with the puzzle-dial Rolex, it’s hot as hell.

Le Troadec: The brand was always really about small sizing, like 37 to 39 millimeters. That’s where our core collectors love the brands. We are on trend now.

O’Leary: When’s the pink going to be in America?

Le Troadec: December. You’ll be the first. No worries. [Le Troadec leaves.]

[KEVIN2]

O’Leary: Let’s stay with the Elegante for a second, because you know the problem? So the problem is Journe now, and I consider it a problem—I get beat up by everybody to get a Journe. And there is no getting a Journe. He’s making 920 watches this year. His problem is his collectors want the watches. I’ve been waiting for years for my Vertical Tourbillon. It’s coming in two months. It will be a one-of-a-kind, and the 12 will have a Red “K.” which I think is great. He understands the collector’s mentality. The one-of-a-kinds for me are everything now. So, that’s going to be a hell of a watch.

This story is the essence of Journe. I met him and said to him, “F.P., the demand for the Elegante—your entry level—is 20, 30, 40,000 pieces. It’s insane. If you could sell that watch for seven to 15 grand, which is what you envisioned in the beginning when you brought it out, it’s a quartz movement. Go put it out to bid by any of the guys that could produce it and make the movement and put out 15, 20,000 as your entry-level brand. And he looked at me and he went, “No.” That was it.

You never got any more explanation, just no?

Just no. And so that makes his brand. And so that piece is no longer an entry-level piece. It’s trading for $48,000 to $52,000.

It’s amazing what’s happening at all these indies. You mentioned Simon Brette during the panel; he probably has a decade-long wait list. There’s Rexhep Rexhepi, MB&F…all these places are dealing with the exact same thing.

Simon Brette came out of nowhere with that dial. He made five. I have number three coming.

So that’s coming soon, or you have number three already?

I’m picking it up in Geneva the morning of December 1st. I’m flying over Geneva to—

For that specifically?

Yeah. The only way Simon makes your watch is that you covet the dial. There’s no other dial like that.

Are you getting the red gold, or I’ve seen he’s done different permutations?

Mine is a one-of-a-kind. It’s got red elements. He actually changed the dial. It’s going to have a red band. It’s going to have red numerals. It’s going to be the only one ever made that way. But he gets it. The guy—he is probably the next F.P. Journe. He’s one interesting dude. I mean, they’re all interesting dudes.

Say more.

Like Journe has a certain, it’s not arrogance, it’s je ne sais quoi. My story about the Elegante is exactly who he is. He’s the modern-day Picasso of watchmaking. If you could buy a Picasso while he was alive, you would buy a Picasso while he was alive. You got that right now with Journe. People say to me, “I buy as many Journes as I can get. Why wouldn’t I?”

Yeah, I don’t totally understand the Journe thing, to be honest. I think they’re cool.

Because the dial is insane. Look at his Chronomètre Bleu—two-thirds of the dials that come out of being baked are thrown away. He won’t use them. It’s a money-losing watch for him. Only one-third make the cut. But you know you have a perfect dial.

But to me, the story of Journe is, I’m getting on a flight and I’m wearing my Centigraphe, number six of 10 from the New York boutique, and this woman beside me looks at it and she says, “How could you tell the time with that? What is the point of that watch?” And I said, “I don’t tell the time with that. This is a piece of art.” And it was a conversation.

And she’d never seen a watch that could measure a hundredth of a second. She looked at it, I took it off and I let her see it. She said, “Well, this is totally cool. My son is graduating from college. I’m going to buy him one.” And that was the beginning of it. I said, “Well, you won’t be buying this one because there’s only 10 of them. This is number six.” And she got her heart broken with the Journe story, too, just a few moments in.

That’s tough.

But you see, I think that if the dial captures the imagination of the layman, you’ve got a hit.

Totally.

Don’t you think watches have transcended into fashion for men?

Yeah. Absolutely.

I’m double wristing now, doing New York and LA time, every day.

I feel like I hear that from people who have a lot of watches sometimes. Because you just have to have an opportunity to wear them all.

So now I travel with twice as many as I used to. I now take about 17 to 20 watches with me on the road.

So, how long are you here in LA?

Two days.

And you brought 17 to 20 watches?

I always travel with 17 to 20 watches. Because I wear two in the morning, two at noon. And when I switch for evening, I switch. It’s six a day.

[KEVINPANEL1]

Do you always buy watches to wear, or do you ever get them just as an investment?

No.

Do you ever trade in? Do you ever sell any pieces from your collection, or do you just keep amassing?

I’ve never sold a watch.

Really?

I think one of the reasons that I get allocations that are unique is I’m known as a guy that’s a one-way ticket. I buy them, they stay in the collection. Paul Boutros [the head of watches in America for Phillips auction house] has been talking to my wife, Linda, about the after-I’m-dead auction. Because I’ve got a lot of watches. And I said, “Don’t worry about that. All of these watches are coming into my coffin.” All of them. They’re all coming with me into the afterlife. I’m like the Pharaoh of Time. There’s no way this shit is getting auctioned, none of it. And Linda said, “Don’t worry, I’ll bury you with all your watches.”

I mean, there’s some pieces in there that are really crazy. I mean, I think by now I’m a well-known collector, and I thought I was one of the biggest in the world until I went to the [UAE] and I met those guys. I’m dog shit compared to those guys. Those guys are hard-core. So I realized, in watch collecting you always serve a higher master.

How often do you cycle watches out of your safe and vaults?

I generally go in every 10 days for a recycle.

Wow. Ten days.

Every 10 days. Twice a month, more or less. Maybe three times a month. I just did the Miami vault last week to come out here, because I had in my mind which ones I would want to go with. I have an visual inventory system. If I’m going to go shoot something—let’s say I’m going to go on Kudlow or something—I look through to find a watch for that show. I decide, “Okay, I know I’m going to be on that show on Tuesday. I’ll go to the vault, pull it, get lined up for the week in New York.” New York’s more of a conservative. You don’t do the bling in New York. But when I come out here, I’ll bring out the diamonds. Buying watches is buying jewelry.

And I was a little surprised to see the Puzzle-dial Rolex catch on with really prominent male collectors the way it has. You have one. Tom Brady, John Mayer.

That’s it for North America. Who else has one?

Well, those are three of the most prominent collectors in America.

Right. Well, I think Rolex got hip. They said, “Let’s do sports, let’s do music, let’s do investing and entrepreneurship.” I think they thought that through. Mayer got white gold. Brady has rose gold, I have yellow. We didn’t have a choice. They just decided who was getting what and they called us up and said, “Yes or no?” What are you going to say? They made sure that all of us understood these are not trading sideways.

All three of you don’t really need to flip.

Why would I ever sell that much? The offers I’ve had for it are insane…the amount of people that have reached out. And that’s a 36; it’s a smaller dial. And this is very hot to trot.

My wife saw it and said, “Well, obviously that’s my watch.” “No, that’s not your watch.” She said, “I’d love to wear that out.” I said, “It’s never going to happen. It’s never going to happen.” She tried to say it’s a woman’s watch. I said, “No, it isn’t. It’s not. It’s not your watch.” She’s stolen a few of my pieces.

Which brands are you most excited about right now?

I would have to put Grand Seiko in there, given how much I’ve spent lately on them because of what I’m loving on the dials. Well, I’ve got Simon Brette. He’s coming. I’ve got my new Vertical Tourbillon coming with Journe. I mean, Journe is different.

I noticed the F.P. watch is your phone lock screen and everything.

Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. I mean, what looks like that? [He lifts one of his two phones to show an image of Journe’s salmon-dial Chronometre à Resonance.]

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Originally Appeared on GQ