Watchlords

Benjamin Chee, 37, of Singapore, was introduced to watches by his watch-collecting father, but his passion for fine mechanical watchmaking didn't really kick into high gear until he moved to London for university.

"The area where I lived in London had a lot of really amazing antique shops," he says. "So I got to see vintage watches as well as antique clocks, which cultivated this love and passion for beautiful things, for historical objects."

His growing appreciation for what came before him eventually inspired him to learn more about his personal Chinese heritage.

"After my university in London, I moved to Shanghai and I lived there for quite some time and became close to many artists who labor in the shadows," he says. "I realized that there are lots of amazing artisanal products that still exist that carry on the same tradition as they have done for hundreds, even thousands, of years. But a lot of the masters are very old and dying out and nobody is there to continue the legacy. I felt it was sort of incumbent upon me as an ethnic Chinese guy to sort of support these traditions."

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/benja ... CLAIrM3tXA

Ben's a good guy.

I thought the watches looked pretty amazing.

I read through a lot of the comments on the article and this guy equates them to Invictas:

"Cob1·1 week ago
Produce a premium Chinese watch by actual real Chinese watchmaking artisans displaying clearly the beautiful artwork of amazing Chinese artists instead of a Swiss parts Chinese assembled French artwork on the dial.. watch. These are basically the equivalent to Invicta / Marvel Avengers Character watches of the type that sell for $99 or 6 value payment installments. Are they fairly well made like Invicta? Yes. Are they worth almost nothing after purchase? Yes. Do I think old salty artisan craftsmen are behind the making of these watches? NOPE. Rather have a CASIO OR A TIMEX at least you know what you’re getting.

5 Likes"

Incredible stuff - the dials are already legendary and keep getting better.