We spotlight four of China’s most impressive watchmakers, from the newly established to those long coveted by collectors, spanning rising microbrand Atelier Wen to the horological empire of Benjamin Chee.

1. Atelier Wen

With the launch of Atelier Wen, French watchmaking duo Wilfried Buiron and Robin Tallendier sought to change perceptions about Chinese watchmaking. “Despite the country’s extensive cultural depth, a modern sense of Chinese style is hard to lay a finger on,” says Tallendier, who met his fellow co-founder while studying for a master's degree in Beijing.

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Based in Hong Kong, Atelier Wen debuted with a series of Porcelain Odyssey watches in 2018 to immediate acclaim. Since then, the microbrand has expanded with the Perception collection, featuring sold-out collaborations with watchmaking platforms Wristcheck and Revolution.

“We seek to find ancient aesthetic norms, principles and values which we then apply to the watch format,” says Tallendier of Atelier Wen’s unique aesthetics. “The goal is really to get down to the core components of those and, once we have isolated them, to think about how they can make sense in the context of a watch, which is for us a blank canvas.”

2. LYH Watch

“A watch must be precise and stable,” says Shenzhen-based watchmaker Lin Yong Hua. “Quality is the most important thing.” The self-taught creator, who founded his eponymous watch brand LYH Watch in 2006, channels the age-old standards of Swiss institutions into quirky, playful timepieces, often with fantastical or musical themes. “I mainly focus on research and development around tourbillons, perpetual calendars, minute repeaters, and grand complications,” he explains.

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3. Celadon Haute Horlogerie

Today, Chee masterminds three internationally renowned labels from Singapore: Celadon Haute Horlogerie, which focuses on upscale fine watchmaking, Maison Celadon, operating at a more accessible price point, and Benjamin Chee Haute Horlogerie, his flagship brand, founded in 2019.

4. Qin Gan

Qin Gan attributes his passion for horology to his father, a well-known local watchmaker in the mountainous city of Chongqing in southwestern China. Growing up in the 1970s, Gan displayed an early penchant for watchmaking, often designing his own timekeeping gizmos with his father’s tools.

Still, like many others at the time, he was discouraged from pursuing the craft as a full-time occupation due to the upheaval caused by the advent of quartz watches. All was not lost, however, and after 30 years of making ends meet, Gan started crafting his own watches in the early 2000s with traditional Chinese paintings on the dial.

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In 2019, Gan dropped his first official release, Pastorale, a three-handed stainless steel wristwatch centred by an engraved enamel dial with hand-polished, chamfered hands. “We have the upcoming Pastorale II planned to release this year,” Gan reveals. Expect a visible improvement on many aspects of the first model, says Gan, with hand-finishings and a natural perfectionism sure to entice horological appreciators.