At the customary early September appointment in Asia of the Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair over 650 exhibitors and 16,000 visitors. And an important anniversary: 70 years since the birth of the Chinese watch industry.
Visiting the stands of the 44th Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fairwhich took place in early September in Hong Kong, a certain optimism emerged. And not only because of the number of visitors, some 16,000, but more for the watch industry's growth prospects in the following target markets for the next two years: the Middle East, Taiwan, Korea, Latin America, Australia and ASEAN countries. This year's Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair and Salon de Time brought together over 650 exhibitors from 15 countries and regions.
The year 2025 also marked the 70th anniversary of the birth of the Chinese watch industry. It was in 1955 when the first watch movements were made in Shanghai by a team of watchmakers. Eighteen mechanical watches were made, each bearing the inscription 'Shanghai, China'.
At the same time, Sea-Gull, also based in Shanga, made the first watch with an anchor escapement, which was followed in 1958 by the first mass-produced mechanical watch, in 1961 by the first split-seconds chronograph, in 1965 by the first diver, and in 1990 by a tourbillon. Something was also moving in the city of Dandong: it was here that Peacock, another important and now established Chinese company, was founded in 1957.
Chinese-made movements at the Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair
The Sea-Gull and Peacock tourbillions.
These movements, and in particular the tourbillons, have now been tested with excellent results and are exported to many countries. Of course, a timepiece with a Chinese movement cannot bear the 'Swiss Made' logo, but as one European exhibitor explained to us, given the very affordable prices some companies have some models assembled outside Switzerland which then come out with, for example, the words 'Made in Holland'.
Always, however, with excellent quality and more easily sold. What's more, added the same exhibitor, by now you can always find spare parts too and thus can be repaired without any problems. To give an example, however, a Peacock tourbillon movement (the basic SL-5711 model) costs around 240 euros, Sea-Gull's 300 to 400.
Smartwatches still show strong growth potential in Hong Kong
Watch2Care TCM from Dayton Industrial in Hong Kong: a smartwatch integrating traditional Chinese medicine analysis.
There is also a lot of interest in some smartwatches. At the show, for example, Hong Kong exhibitor Dayton Industrial launched the new Watch2Care TCM. The company's director, Paul Yuen, said: 'We made this smartwatch with digital pulse analysis with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) reports for preventive health care.
During the fair, we presented the features of our revolutionary smartwatch to hundreds of local and international buyers and found potential distributors from Germany, mainland China, Singapore and the US. We are also excited to have received invitations to collaborate from a Swiss watch movement company and a buyer from Myanmar. We aim to achieve a turnover of HK$1.5 million.
