The Man Who Sparked The Watch Boom

Why are classic timepieces suddenly more sought-after, more Instagrammed, and more valuable than ever before? The answer has a lot to do with auctioneer extraordinaire AUREL BACS, who’s using his own peculiar passions to engineer a global craze.

- Cam Wolf

THE WATCH THAT Aurel Bacs is tenderly holding—like some precious endangered species—is ruined. Well, technically. The once crisp and pristine black sub-dials that arch along the bottom of the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona are now the color of a dirty old penny, the result of years of exposure to the sun. The watch is ancient, tarnished, decayed. But Bacs is rapturous. ¶ Bacs (which rhymes with “tax”) is a preternatural optimist when it comes to timepieces. He’ll describe this one as “tropical,” as if it were a beach-bumming brunet whose hair had charmingly lightened over a lazy summer. With his loupe—the small magnifying glass used by jewelers—he goes in for a closer look. “The dial is insanely beautiful,” he says, sounding like a proud father. He drops the loupe, revealing blue eyes the shade of surging electricity—eyes that seem to grant a unique power to see the wonder in watches. And when Bacs deems something beautiful, many others adjust their vision to see it just as sweetly.