Artisan puts Chinese horology on the map
Guo Ming, artisan maker of watches and clocks, is putting Chinese horology on the map
Tucked away in a glass display cabinet in Guo Ming’s workshop is an intricate solar-lunar skeletonized clock, where the hour hand is an arbor adorned with the shape of the sun on one side and the moon on the other. Unlike most traditional clocks which are key-wound, this timepiece needs to be hand-wound using its rosewood winding handle.
Inspired by the clock tower in the Swiss capital Bern, this creation was Guo’s first handmade clock when he was the apprentice of Swiss independent watchmaker Frank Jutzi. But as exquisite as the clock seems — it was even presented at the Baselworld watch fair in 2017 — Guo insists it hardly meets his standard for perfection.
He does, however, concede that it is his “most cherished child”. After all, it was this very clock that earned him a place as the youngest Chinese candidate at the prestigious Swiss independent watch and clock-making association — the Academie Horlogere des Createurs Independants.
“My dedication to handmade watches is not merely due to an obsession with clocks. It lies in wanting to show the charm of handmade work and how every part is unique and imbued with the feelings of the artisan,” he said when asked why he decided on this profession.
“Craftsmanship is becoming outdated these days,” he added. “The watch manufacturing industry is becoming increasingly dominated by cutting-edge precision machines that can produce high-quality watches with high levels of consistency.”
Today, Guo is among a growing group of independent Chinese horologists who have been capturing the attention of watch enthusiasts around the world. Following the debut of his clock and a flying tourbillon pocket watch at the 2017 Baselworld, Guo showed off his handmade wristwatch
“The Goddess Chang’e Flying to the Moon” at the fair’s 2018 edition. Then at this year’s event, he presented a new wristwatch called “Blooming” that features an image of flames and 500 diamonds on the dial. The watch was sold for nearly $30,000.
However, even that was just a drop in the bucket compared to the customized wristwatch he once crafted for a collector in the Middle East that cost several million yuan.
Guo’s passion for watchmaking first started as a fascination with how the various components within the sewing machines that his repairman father worked on interacted with one another. As a child, his reward for completing his homework was getting to learn about how these machines functioned.
The birth of his love for watches, he recalled, was in 1998, when he found himself a part-time job at a local vintage clock and watch store in Melbourne, Australia, where he was pursuing a business diploma.
“I was simply intrigued by all the antique clocks as I opened and cleaned their cases. I thought it was amazing that the parts of these clocks, which were made 300 years ago, sparkled like they were brand new,” he said. “I felt like I had opened a box of treasures.”
Guo was so captivated with watches that he decided to quit college in 2000 to learn watchmaking in Hong Kong. After graduation, he set up a watchmaking workshop in Shanghai while serving as teacher at the Shanghai Industrial Technical School. To hone his skills, Guo approached several local watchmaking specialists, but he found many were unwilling to impart their skills to a stranger.
Luo Weiping, a Shanghai watchmaking master, was one of those who rejected Guo in 2003. To him, Guo appeared to be an impulsive, idealistic individual whom he feared wasn’t committed enough to the craft. Luo, however, eventually relented after witnessing the young man’s passion, persistence and knowledge in operating the professional tools in his workshop.
In 2012, Guo left for Switzerland, a country renowned as the epicenter of the world’s watchmaking industry, to learn more about the craft. There, he stumbled upon an opportunity to become a translator at the Baselworld fair where he met acclaimed independent master watchmaker Frank Jutzi.
“I seized every possible chance to speak to him and ask for his advice in watchmaking. At the end of the weeklong fair, I mustered the courage to ask if I could become his apprentice,” said Guo.
“He rejected me, saying he didn’t know me well enough, but he said he would travel to China to visit my workshop that summer. I knew that was a great opportunity for me.”
Jutzi spent a month in Shanghai that summer, discussing watchmaking with Guo and even visiting his family. That September, Jutzi welcomed Guo to his own workshop, where the budding Chinese horologist took more than 40 classes on watchmaking techniques. It was also under Jutzi’s guidance that Guo completed the moon phase skeletonized clock.
“He is a strict teacher. He pays attention to every detail related to the quality and aesthetics of a watch,” said Guo.
“He is a great watchmaker who has helped me to navigate the challenges of a career in the field.”
Looking ahead, Guo said he wants to further promote China through his timepieces, which always come with elements of traditional Chinese culture. He is also planning to open his own school to teach clock and watch-making.
Imparting his knowledge to the younger generation will likely be a breeze for the Shanghai native. Every year since 2017, an outstanding student from a vocational watchmaking high school in Switzerland attends a governmental exchange program at his workshop.
This experience, Guo said, has done wonders in quashing misconceptions.
“They used to think that Chinese watchmakers were only capable of copying the Swiss,” he said.
“Here, they get to discover that we too have the same level of passion and professionalism for the craft.”