Talking Watches With Greg Yuna, New York City Jeweler And Watch Collector

Yuna started his journey selling jewelry and watches in the Kaplan building on 47th Street, at the same booth as Jacob Arabo. Jacob, Ben Baller, Avi Hiaeve (of Avi & Co.), and their Diamond District cohort all started with a "chop shop," according to Yuna. "It was up to the individual to tighten it up, make it sexy and get it to the masses."

And sell it to the masses he did. Yuna has spent the last decade decorating an impressive clientele with jewelry and watches, collaborating with Nike, and building a shop-in-a-shop at childhood friend and Talking Watches alum Ronnie Fieg's flagship Kith store in SoHo.

Yuna knows just how to package his native New York allure, turn it into a sellable product, and market it to the right customers, who can then own a little slice (or huge bejeweled chunk) of the city as told by Yuna. Whether he's designing for friends like Lil Yachty and Nigel Sylvester, celebrities such as Michael B. Jordan, Drake, and Floyd Mayweather, or complete strangers, Yuna's desire to bring his infectious New York City energy to the masses will now come by way of a new brick-and-mortar business at 215 Mulberry Street in SoHo.

We sat with Yuna at his new store to talk about the Diamond District hustle, gem-setting as a craft, and his own personal approach to collecting. This is Talking Watches with Greg Yuna.

Yuna is honest about aftermarket modification. He doesn't shy away from potential horological condemnation: "It's ruined, I know," he comments before I've even had the chance to ask. His candid manner is refreshing… and very New York. This Patek Philippe Nautilus 5726 is flower-set with VS diamonds; Yuna explains that the beauty is in the craft of the setting.

He also insists that a watch set with diamonds like this isn't to be taken too seriously. In Yuna speak: "It's a Vegas watch." The Nautilus 5726 reference seems to be an a hot commodity for modification. Both Drake and the late polymath Virgil Abloh famously wore blacked-out, emerald-set examples, customized by MAD Paris. 

The art of gem-setting is massively under-appreciated. This rose-gold, frosted watch by Avi & Co. is certainly not for the faint of heart, but the lapidary of these baguettes (all 24.07 carats worth) is immaculate. Invisible setting like this, on both the dial and bezel, requires high-level craftsmanship. Yuna and I can both agree that this that special kind of ugly beautiful. 

The green-and-black Rolex GMT-Master II ref. 126720VTNR, with the crown and date on the left-hand side, was one of the most talked about watches in 2022. Yuna has made it his beater. It's certainly a little more casual than the rest. 

When I called Yuna recently to discuss baguette diamonds (an aftermarket trend he partly spearheaded), he insisted that we've have left the gaudy behind in the 2010s. "The chandeliers [aftermarket baguette-set watches] were extra chunky, you know, like who's big, who's bad?" he says. "Now everything is starting to scale back a little bit and everybody's going for the Plain Janes. I'm on my 36 mm right now." 

Yuna is all about stone dials right now. Which makes sense for a jeweler. He loves the '80s look of it all – and the stone dial Day-Date is a quiet a nod to the late New York-born rapper Biggie Smalls, who wore a yellow gold Day-Date with lapis dial. 

This is the big daddy of Yuna's collection (which he keeps wrapped for safety). I asked Yuna if he'd ever consider gem-setting the Tiffany stamped 5980. "You don't touch a collectible," he said without skipping a beat. You'll have to watch the interview to find out what deems a watch appropriate for gem-setting.