Bezel, a Los Angeles-based luxury watch trading platform, has added online auctions to its service.
The business was buoyed last year by an $8 million funding round from financial institutions, high profile backers including former Disney president Michael Ovitz, actor and comedian Kevin Hart, Columbian singing superstar J Balvin and recording artist John Legend, plus industry expert John Reardon, founder of Collectability and former international head of watches at Christie’s.
Some of that investment has been put to work adding online auctions to its trading platform.
The company’s founders believe there is a gap in the market for a simpler, more transparent and less intimidating online watch auctioneer.
It also aims to offer lower fees than traditional auctioneers and rival online operations.
The auction model and fee structure bring it much closer to the likes of Watchcollecting.com than it does to historic houses such as Sotheby’s, Bonhams and Christie’s.
“Auctions have been around for some time but, until now, felt opaque, intimidating, and filled with high fees on difficult-to-use platforms that haven’t changed in decades,” says Bezel co-founder Quaid Walker.
“With Bezel Auctions, consumers can easily bid on luxury watches on the Bezel app with the confidence knowing everything is authenticated by Bezel’s in-house team of experts. This includes watches like a Patek Philippe Nautilus in the $65-85K range down to a Tudor in the $3-5K range,” he adds.
Bezel wants to serve the needs of collectors, consumers and the trade, whether they want to get an instant cash deal for their watches, consign them for sale or put them up for auction.
All commissions and listing fees are paid by sellers.
“Winners pay no premiums. Losers are pointed to the marketplace to find similar watches. And for sellers, auction payout time is around 3-5 days,” the company promises.
