Meet Hong Kong’s teenage watchmaking sensation Ricky Hong: from his Casio G-Shock modifications to his Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève Academy membership
The watchmaking prodigy has drawn scepticism because of his young age, but his passion and talent have already earned him recognition in the horological world
Stepping into 16-year-old watchmaker Ricky Hong’s workshop/bedroom reveals a huge contrast between his youthful age and his chosen after-school activities. Exposed watch movements tick loudly atop his standing desk while more typical preoccupations of a teenager – an Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 – sit discreetly underneath.
“People see someone who’s 50 or 60 and just assume they’re capable, but if they see a teenager, they’ll think he’s too young,” Hong says of the way he has been received in the watch community. “I’ve been called a cheeky brat, jokingly. I have to accept the fact that I’m still young and may not get that respect yet.”
Despite his youth, Hong, who has been featured by local media for his ambitious forays into watchmaking, has a CV that would make a grown horology insider envious. After seeing his first Lemania movement at the age of 13 and asking where the battery was, Hong started modifying Casio G-Shock “Casioaks” for paying clients, going on to learn to assemble watches from factory-produced parts, then designing those parts and now polishing his own movements. Such are his skills that, in 2023, he was appointed to the celebrated Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève Academy, which requires referrals from two existing members.
These days, Hong prefers to spend his time on proprietary designs. “Before I got into watches, I wore a Daniel Wellington, but when I played sports the crown snapped. I wanted to make a watch I could wear to school that is dressy but durable,” Hong recalls. Inspired by H. Moser & Cie’s Vantablack pieces, Hong ordered cases from various factories in bulk from Taobao to finally assemble the piece.
His second and third pieces added complexity – a tourbillon fitted to a gold case that is even more akin to the H. Moser & Cie Venturer Concept Vantablack; then a piece powered by a Sellita SW200 movement with a custom case designed with a crown guard, as well as dials and hands he was able to have customised by a factory.
Hong’s most recent piece, with an openworked tourbillon, is an expression of his ultimate desire to build his own brand. Calligraphy of his Chinese surname fills the 3 o’clock area of the dial. Hong also used a jewellery saw to cut away parts of the stock movement plate to build a barrel bridge at 10 o’clock, painstaking work where even fractions of a millimetre difference caused earlier versions to snap.
Through working on these four pieces, Hong has gone from assembling pre-existing parts to flexing more of his watchmaking and design chops, but he still feels it’s tough to pin down if what he is doing makes him a watchmaker.
“I always say I’m not [a watchmaker] but I’m very lucky to know a few young watchmakers who tell people, ‘Don’t listen to him, he’s a watchmaker.’ After a while, I don’t want to deny what they’re saying, so I compromise and have added ‘part-time watchmaker’ to my Instagram,” he says.