Jossip Wille's first trade made him fifty euros. He was sixteen, wanted a Seiko 5, and had Swiss grandparents. His grandfather insisted on Swiss-made, so Wille spent the summer of 2017 saving and reading. Then he found an auction in Italy and won an Omega Seamaster Cosmic for 250 euros. When it arrived, he realised it was worth more than he'd paid. He listed it, sold it for 300, and set himself a goal: keep trading until he could afford a 1,000 euro watch to keep.
Nearly a decade later the goal reads like a rounding error. Le Petit Suisse, founded in 2019, operates from Coupure Rechts in Ghent. Viewings by appointment. Watches in a bank vault. The book runs from Cartier and Patek Philippe to Universal Genève and Jaeger-LeCoultre, and the majority of it leaves Belgium. He works where he lives. He sells to the world.