By
Bloomberg
Published
Jul 6, 2024
Hip-hop musician Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter has become the latest celebrity backer of the online watch market after taking an equity stake in luxury trading platform Wristcheck.
Carter, a well-known collector of rare and valuable watches from brands including Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Richard Mille, participated in a recent funding round of about $5 million, according to the Hong Kong-based company.
The rapper joins a slew of other celebrity watch trading investors. Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and F1 driver Charles Leclerc are both investors in Chrono24, the biggest dedicated online watch-trading platform, while its US rival Bezel has attracted celebrity backers including Kevin Hart, John Legend and J Balvin.
Jay-Z’s investment follows a rocky period for pre-owned watch marketplaces and sellers amid a sharp decline in second-hand watch values since April 2022.
Founded in 2020 by watch collector and Instagram influencer-turned-CEO Austen Chu, Wristcheck is targeting buyers and sellers of high-end timepieces in Asia and also provides authentication services to root out fakes.
The company has so far raised about $13.6 million and its other backers include the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, Gobi Partners GBA, and K3 Ventures. Wristcheck charges fees of 6% to 12% on sales on its platform depending on prices and volumes.