Danny Govberg is a genius. I know this because I vividly recall standing beside him a half decade ago as he showed me not 10, not 20, but the extensive collection of François-Paul Journe watches he had amassed for one simple reason: he loved the watches. He understood Journe’s incredible talent and the authenticity of his watchmaking. He was enamored with the visual identity of the watches that, as he put it, “could be recognized from across the room.” And he recognized the relative rarity of the watches, given Journe’s small annual production compared to the likes of industry giants like Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet.
For Govberg, this was the future of the company named WatchBox that he had created with co-founders Justin Reis and Tay Liam Wee. Rather than transacting on sub-10,000 dollar Rolexes and Omegas, Govberg has a different vision. He explained, “I want us to be like a great gallery that supports an emerging or relatively undiscovered artist, which we will put our clients into at an early stage.” But he could only do that with the one quality he possesses in abundance — and that is a highly attenuated and almost prophetic taste. This was clearly demonstrated in his Journe inventory, which included the greatest number of unique pieces, micro-series like the Jade and the China edition Tourbillon Souverains, and what seemed to me a most impressive inventory of the brass movement watches in the market. He explained, “Like a gallery, we have to communicate the value of the artist. And we have to assemble a collection of watches that tells his story perfectly.”
Recently, Govberg’s incredible taste motivated him and WatchBox to recognize the genius of one of my favorite watchmakers, Denis Flageollet, a true visionary in high watchmaking, and in so doing, he purchased Flageollet’s brand, De Bethune. Immediately, the secondary prices of De Bethune watches skyrocketed with most quickly surpassing their primary retail prices, and in particular, the Kind of Blue watches reaching lofty premiums. Govberg explained, “What we did was educate people as to how amazing Denis’ watches were. Then, naturally, you have the prices rising because a bigger audience is now aware. That’s how I see WatchBox — as educators.”
