Native New Yorker Yoni Ben-Yehuda says a watch he was given by his mother at the age of 16 triggered a lifelong passion for collecting, but it did not initially turn into a career when he first graduated.
He instead began his professional life as a digital marketing specialist, working his way up to become CMO for a large agency.
Then, through a shared love of horology, he met Rob Ronen and Michael Herman, founders of New York jewelry and watch store Material Good, and his professional trajectory changed.
Now Yoni is head of watches at Material Good.
He started his role at Material Good’s trailblazing retail lounge concept that opened in Lower Manhattan in 2015, and over time his position has expanded to include overseeing watch sales for all nine of the retailer’s locations.
“I get to work with some of the best collectors and teammates on earth in a job that I truly love,” states Yoni.
Material Good is a unique business, with its collectors’ lounges offering a broad range of prestigious pre-owned watches along with fine art, jewelry and fashion accessories.
The company is also a major partner for Audemars Piguet, running four monobrand boutiques in Aspen, Boston, Dallas and East Hampton.
Seeing how the new and used watch businesses co-exist and influence each other is a fascinating aspect of Yoni’s role, particularly in a year when secondary market prices for the hottest watches have dropped.
“I think the market correction has been extremely interesting on the retailer side of the business,” he says.
Seeing how the rarest and best watches held their value better through the downturn has been an education for clients who might have thought every watch had equal potential. “The correction is a good one,” suggests Yoni.
“As I see it, it results in better examples, rarer models and more refined choices becoming highly sought after.”
Passion and expertise are central to the Material Good story, and the company aims to hire the best and brightest people who truly care about their clients, and the brands they are selling.
“Watch collecting is a highly emotional journey and should never be transactional or commoditized,” Yoni insists.