November 2019_Esquire 85Time and Time Again
The Man Who Bought
the Same Watch Twice
CONFESSIONS OF A
WATCHAHOLIC
“I don’t collect anything with in-
tention,” says restaurateur Sang
Yoon, founder of the Los Angeles
burger-and-beer joint Father’s Office.
“I have an appreciation for supremely
detailed craftsmanship.”
Yoon isn’t so much a collector of
objects as he is a guy who just loves
finely made things. That includes fast
cars (ask him about his Mercedes-Benz
AMG E 63 S Wagon), Champagne (he
owns more than sixty-five hundred bot-
tles), and luxury watches (he stashes
more than a hundred models in bank
vaults across SoCal).
After Yoon graduated from high
school, his father bequeathed three
watches to him: a stainless-steel Rolex
Datejust, a Patek Philippe Calatrava,
and an IWC Portofino. A fixation soon
followed that didn’t always square with
his income. “The first watch I bought
for myself was an Omega Seamaster. It
was like $1,2 00. I was like, Fuck, do I
even have $1,2 00 ?”
He now owns 1 0 6 timepieces, ranging
from ultrarare GMTs to a single Richard
Mille. On a trip to Hawaii, a Rolex Deep-
sea Sea-Dweller caught Yoon’s eye and
he purchased it on the spot.
Several years later, in Hong Kong, he
made another impulse buy. Months af-
ter that, he was checking out one of his
vaults. Whoops. He now had two of the
exact same Deepsea Sea-Dweller. Talk
about First World problems. He realized
his error and traded the first one to an-
other collector. The second one he kept
and still occasionally wears to this day.
That moment made Yoon realize
something: He’s got to cut back on the
watches. He may be unloading some of
his collection soon. “The problem is I
don’t wear all of them. There’s about
forty I’ve never touched. They’re still
in the box.” —Daniel DumasWatches of the YearBREITLING
SUPEROCEAN II
AUTOMATIC 46
Breitling’s Superocean
II Automatic 46 is designed
for men who expect their
sports watch to combine
robust performance and macho
good looks. Its sizable
46 mm DLC-coated stainless-
steel case features an
easy-read black dial and
a matching rubber strap.
$4,850; breitling.com