DEPARTURES STYLE RETAIL
DEPARTURES STYLE RETAIL REDUX 44 in London. At the moment, the United Kingdom is ground zero for such stores, from Designer Exchange (designerexchange.com), specialising in clothing and accessories, to King’s Road newcomer Lampoo (lampoo. com), a second-hand store launched in Milan in 2019. But competition in the sector is fierce and generalist website 1stDibs (1stdibs.com), born initially as a marketplace for antiques, is roaring into the marketplace and, as a nod to recent trends, offers NFTs too. Bidding for It All Like recent trends in vintage whisky and wine, the asset prices of Chanel and Hermès bags, Rolex watches, and jewellery have shown themselves to be less volatile and more rewarding than gold. No wonder the majority of vintage business ventures focus on these highly soughtafter categories. It’s a movement that Sotheby’s (sothebys.com) is hoping to capitalise on with its recently introduced buy-now marketplace, where consumers can indulge in covetable accoutrements with a few clicks, rather than waiting for a specific auction time. “The idea originally came from our clients,” says Josh Pullan, managing director of Sotheby’s Global Luxury Division. “We heard from them that their desire to collect and shop was a year-round passion, so we designed an online destination that would provide our clients with the convenience, dependability and immediacy Clockwise from left: a gold 19th-century Etruscan revival necklace, seen on omneque.com; a Bulgari Dome ring set with peridot and tourmaline, seen on auverture.com; Tiffany & Co gold and ruby ring, designed by Jean Schlumberger in the 1970s, seen on auverture.com; an Hermès Béton Faubourg Birkin 20, which went for £225,000 at Christie’s auction last year of a fixed-price shopping experience where they can access exceptional luxury goods and decorative collectables whenever they want and wherever they are in the world.” Sotheby’s buy-now marketplace offers everything between a US,190 B.zero1 Bulgari ring in white gold and palladium to a US,250 Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watch and an Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport Series V By Zagato which took part in the Mille Miglia in 1933. For all frustrated underbidders still looking for what they missed at auctions, Christie’s (christies.com) offers access to its own private-buyers’ network, which will go through its Rolodexes to track down desired items. Caitlin Donovan, who heads up the handbags and accessories department at Christie’s, has been able to secure rarities such as a Hermès Himalaya Birkin with diamond hardware and one of the rarest and most-coveted limited-edition styles, the Hermès Béton Faubourg Birkin 20. “Christie’s Handbags realised US.7 billion in private-sale transactions in 2021, the highest in our history,” Donovan says. “We have begun to see our largely female collectors begin to view their collections as an alternative asset class for the first time. With this shift, and the continued strength of the market, we have seen more collectors begin to buy handbags as an investment – with the split likely nearing 40 per cent for investment, 60 per cent for pleasure,” she added. French auction house Artcurial offers round-theclock jewellery, watches and accessories on its sister CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ANDREA FABRIZI, © BUCHERER, © AUVERTURE, © CHRISTIE’S, © AUVERTURE
© THE BARN AT CHRONO24 site Collector Square (collectorsquare.com). Through a collaboration with Chinese distributor Bluebell, Collector Square serves Asian customers located chiefly in Hong Kong and Japan. Another dependable source of vintage luxury goods accessories is Xupes (xupes.com), which prides itself on securing some of the rarest items in the world. Among these was a Rolex 6241 Lemon Daytona in yellow gold (one of five to have ever surfaced), which was found in a safety deposit box in Amsterdam, where it had been tucked away for 30 years before being discovered. Jewellery Specialists Vintage-jewellery enthusiasts residing in or visiting London will rejoice in discovering that Eleuteri (eleuteri. nyc), NYC-based king of vintage jewellery, has opened up a new store next to Brown’s Hotel on Albemarle Street in Mayfair. Although the house specialises in 20th-century pieces from Bulgari, Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, it also has a curated selection of unusual jewels ranging from the Renaissance to the present, and prides itself on its excellence of service. “Any item purchased at Eleuteri is exchangeable at any of our international boutiques (Rome, Milan, Venice, St Moritz, New York, London and, soon, Doha), providing the client full credit on the amount originally paid,” says Wagner Eleuteri, a thirdgeneration member of the family business founded in the 19th century. Another go-to place for discovering creations from emerging talents, Amsterdam-based online store Auverture (auverture.com) has recently added vintage jewellery authenticated by a third party. “We work with big houses, smaller ateliers and rare unbranded finds and offer a 24-month warranty,” says the company’s CEO Thomas de Haas. The elegant bar area elevates the shopping experience at the Barn by Chrono24 in Hertfordshire Josephine Odet from the fine-jewellery curation site Omnēque (omneque.com) thinks the recent surge in popularity is in part due to A-listers. “I feel that, thanks to high-profile celebrities choosing antique and vintage over new for their red-carpet appearances, these pieces have got their sexy back.” Launched two years ago, Omnēque is more than a marketplace for vintage jewellery, but also a concierge service that offers personal shopping, jewellery remodelling, jewellery sourcing, bespoke commissions, and gem-buying and bidding at auctions. These jewellery specialists are not only competing with each other, but also with the maisons themselves. Both Van Cleef & Arpels (vancleefarpels.com) and Cartier (cartier. com) regularly buy back their watches and jewels from the secondary market, restoring them and reselling them in selected stores – thus ensuring complete transparency and full authentication. Time in Mind When it comes to watches, you can trust the advice of Wei Koh, watch collector and founder of the watch magazine Revolution. “Buy the very best-condition examples that you can find, unpolished and as close to original condition as possible. Better to get an amazing example of a less glamorous watch than a mediocre example of a famous watch,” he says. Koh’s trusted favourites include Phillips auction Bacs & Russo (phillips.com), which has built a reputation for sourcing rare timepieces and breaking records; Loupe This (loupethis.com), an online auction website; and Wristcheck (wristcheck.com) in Hong Kong, an online retailer and concierge for anything watch-related. An unmissable watch destination is Bucherer (bucherer. com) with its vast choice of certified pre-owned 45 DEPARTURES
