Just Good Business

Raphael P Young’s need to blow off steam compelled him to become a die-hard watch collector

- Annie Darling

After spending some time with Raphael P Young at Hong Kong’s The Upper House, where we enjoy a stealthy mid-afternoon cocktail together, it becomes obvious that this watch collector is a true original whose character combines passion, precision and panache. Smiling and bespectacled, with shoulder-length hair tied back in the style of a debonair, world-conquering James Bond villain, Young has been buying watches for about 20 years alongside his wife, Linda.

His collection runs the gamut from Richard Mille, IWC Schaffhausen and Audemars Piguet to an incredible limited-edition World Time wristwatch by Patek Philippe, which is his most treasured piece. “In 2017, I travelled to the States several times and spent a lot of time in New York, which I found very inspirational,” he tells me. So when Patek launched the World Time Ref 5230G New York Limited Edition, he couldn’t resist seeing it in the flesh at an exhibition held by the watchmaker at Cipriani Wall Street, a power-lunch establishment in downtown Manhattan. “It was so beautiful and very discreet.” At around US$53,000 a pop, only 300 were produced, each with a detailed dial depicting New York’s skyline.