17.01.2025 - Richard Mille

Our favourite finds from the Hong Kong Watch Guild

We’ve been on a 12-hour flight to source some very special watches for some existing clients – and we’re so excited to tell you about our trip! Our main aim was to check out The Hong Kong Watch Guild – a show which is held eight times per year – as well as do a bit of essential networking.

When we got to the Pearl of the Orient, we took to the streets to visit grey market dealers and authorised dealers. Nathan Road – the main thoroughfare in Kowloon – is lined with shops and restaurants and throngs with visitors. It has more authorised dealers than some European cities have in total so it was well worth the visit. 

Unlike the UK, our team could walk into any Patek shop without an appointment and try on – it was amazing. There were plenty of stainless steel Nautiluses! One store had more timepieces on offer than the whole of Hatton Garden put together. 

The next day we went to the show as soon as it opened. After all, the early bird catches the worm – or in our case, several. We were just so excited to get our hands on some incredible and rare pieces. 

And with 330 exhibitors averaging $4 million worth of stock – that’s $1 billion worth of watches in one small, cramped room. With thousands of people in the room browsing and two showcases the same, it was the craziest experience but totally amazing.

The best watch on offer was a 1 of 1 Richard Mille RM 56-01 green sapphire on a green strap, coming in at staggering $5 million. A manual winding tourbillon movement with hours, minutes, function selector, power-reserve and torque indicators, it’s a really striking and beautiful watch. 

The RM 56-01 model is renowned for its transparent design, with components such as the baseplate, central bridge, and third wheel crafted from sapphire crystal. This construction allows maximum light penetration, showcasing the intricate manual winding tourbillon movement. The case, comprising the front bezel, caseband, and back bezel, is machined from solid blocks of sapphire crystal, a process requiring over 40 days of continuous machining.

Sourcing

Here at Luxe Watches, one of our favourite things is when clients ask us to source watches.

Well, we had a request for a Patek Philippe Aquanaut Rainbow.  And we did find one. A beautiful self-winding ladies’ chronograph from the contemporary Luce collection. The reference 7968/300R-001 features a rainbow consisting of baguette diamonds and multi-colored sapphire that are invisibly set – and we just loved the red strap.

We love going to the shows as we know we can source the best watches – and with great power comes great responsibility. We couldn’t resist the offer of an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak concept Spiderman edition limited to 250 pieces. Combining incredible expertise with futuristic technology, this 42mm titanium and black ceramic timepiece is a lovely piece to finally have in our hands. It’s a feat of openwork and highlights AP’s boundless creativity in complications.

And it’s a good job we bought it, as we already have an active lead on it.

At the end of the third day, we were exhausted but chauffeured to the airport in a Rolls Royce. We’d mingled with some very rich people, looked at and tried on some super expensive watches, and had a brilliant time. We absolutely love our job! Hong Kong truly is the watch hub of the world – always delivering – and we can’t wait to go back.