【Once Upon a Watch | Exclusive Interview】 From Movement to Soul: The Horological Journey of Watch Designer Benjamin

Under the gentle autumn sun, light and shadow dance upon the sea, as sunlight chases the crests of the waves. At Legacy Artisan by Victoria Harbour, we welcome Benjamin, a watch designer dressed in a flowing robe and round-framed glasses, who walks with a light and easy gait. With his treasured watch collection in hand, he recounts his decades-long design career, a journey through which he has witnessed Hong Kong's transformation from an industrial powerhouse to an international financial center, and the evolution of the watch from a simple timekeeping device to a symbol of personal identity. As he speaks of each beloved timepiece with intimate familiarity, he unveils one watch story and its background after another; each watch, a medium for Benjamin's dialogue with time.

 

"That was Hong Kong in the late 1970s," Benjamin recalls. "I had just graduated from primary school, and my family gave me my first-ever watch. In the Hong Kong of that era, industry was booming, and a watch was a necessity." This childhood gift was not only Benjamin's first encounter with the art of time but also a foreshadowing of his future career in watch design. "In the '70s and '80s, mechanical watches often had an error of one or two minutes, but then the Japanese invented the quartz watch, which became relatively stable by using electricity to regulate its frequency," he explains. "Because of its accuracy, it (the quartz watch) came to lead the entire industry." This piece of history is a profound imprint of how technological innovation shapes our understanding and measurement of time. Benjamin's passion for horology, sparked by receiving that first watch from his father in primary school, gradually fermented and became his life's work. After graduating from design school, Benjamin joined CITIZEN, thus beginning a deep and lasting relationship with the craft of watchmaking.

 

During his years at CITIZEN, Benjamin perfectly fused artistic inspiration with technology. A smile glimmers in his eyes as he talks about the "Ring" series concept watch he designed during his tenure. "The 'Ring' series was inspired by the fleeting interplay of light and shadow during a solar eclipse," he explains. At the very beginning of an eclipse, as the sun's light just begins to peek through, it forms the shape of a ring. "The sun is so far away, and the moon is so close—this proportional coincidence has a powerful sense of 'creation' and energy," he says with a laugh. By cleverly placing the solar panel on the exterior of the case, he not only preserved the texture of an all-metal watch face but also created a watch that appears simple from the front, yet reveals a hidden world when viewed from the side. The movement, created from scratch, took a full two years to develop, embodying the designer's dual pursuit of functionality and aesthetics.

 

For Benjamin, every watch is a unique vessel for a story, carrying the designer's inspiration and the wearer's emotions. Benjamin continues, "Even with the same movement and the same design, using different materials and different stories will give rise to different feelings." It's like life, where the same experiences can produce vastly different meanings for different people.

 

When asked how he chooses which watch to wear each day, Benjamin, a true connoisseur, answers with a smile: "It's a multi-faceted consideration, but often it's just because I'm fond of that particular watch at the moment. Sometimes it's the 'new toy' effect; I'll wear a new purchase frequently." At that time, Benjamin's "new favorite" was a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso. To love watches is to wear them. This seemingly simple truth is something Benjamin deeply understands. He shares his advice for those buying their first watch: "You should buy it to wear it, to enjoy the pleasure of wearing a watch. A watch is something you can own for a long time." For Benjamin, every watch holds emotional value and significance; each one is a treasure he holds dear. And all his beloved timepieces share a common thread: they are functional and feature complex designs.

Speaking of the collection of treasured watches before him, he knows the story and background of each one by heart. For instance, a Longines 1935 Czech pilot's watch. Benjamin shares, "The technology of the time couldn't produce steel watches, and with the ongoing war, there wasn't much steel available for watchmaking. This one, however, is made of an alloy and is steel-cased, which was an innovative model for its era." He acquired this pilot's watch because, at the time of purchase, large watches were in vogue. This particular watch was designed for pilots who needed to see the time clearly, hence the large dial. It also features a flyback function and a scale-ruler ring—elements that hit all of Benjamin's key criteria when buying a watch: functionality, complex design, and aesthetic appeal.

 

Watchmaking is a comprehensive art that combines numerical control, artistry, and philosophy. Like a composer weaving notes into a moving symphony, a watchmaker assembles gears, hands, and dials into a poem of timekeeping. Every watch is a vessel of time, carrying the past, present, and future.

 

As the interview draws to a close, Benjamin concludes with a philosophical metaphor: "The world is chaotic, yet in the grand scheme of things, there is a numerical order. With light, there is life; with light, there is color. Light controls our perception; the colors we see are governed by light." He shares that no matter the creation, the first layer always begins with freestyle, but what follows is always governed by a numerical order.

Benjamin's words not only convey his dedication to watch design but also reveal the profound connection between time, art, and life. In this digital age, the watch has transcended its role as a mere timekeeping tool to become a bridge connecting the past and the future, tradition and innovation, bearing witness to each person's unique and precious life story. The manifestation of craftsmanship in a watch is like condensing the magnificence of the universe onto the wrist—a miniature cosmic wonder, reminding the wearer to contemplate their place in the vast expanse of spacetime.

 

Light controls our perception of the world, and time shapes the trajectory of our lives. A watch is the watchmaker's first layer of creation. The owner's infusion of their own feelings and thoughts into it is another layer of creation. Everyone has their own unique art of time, interpreting and recording every moment of life in their own way. And a rich life, with the turning of the hands and the trials of experience, unfolds slowly, chapter by chapter.