chinese legend - kiu tai yu

[chrisyen]

today when i suddenly recall it has been a long time i never visited to his website.... i found his website is gone! no news from him for the past 2 yrs..... is he still on earth?




few yrs ago, when watch brand in swiss and german is making tourbillon... but mostly using common movement actually
and at that time i was just into watches.... reading online and books everyday.... one day, i found some1 introducing a tourbillon made by a chinese! not seagull! but a tourbillon design and hand made by a chinese with the recognition by the swiss, its patented as well.



yes. it is mr kiu tai yu. a man from china and later settled down in HK....
a big time collector, famous watch book writer (Time in Pocket)
and a self-taught watchmaker.... he built his first watch at the age of 23 n  he created the first Asian escapement without pallets January 1978
a creator of mystery tourbillon.



He brought his first tourbillon to Basel in 1992.
Because of to this achievement, he was invited to join AHCI in January,1992


Never heard of some1 who love watches like him. He is the only exhibitor at Basel to show his watches not for selling, merely demonstrations of his art. Mr. Kiu acknowledges he makes no concessions to European tastes in his watches. "You like, no like, no problem," he says indulgently.

[takashi78]

I also only heard of him through you Chris.
Not much info can be found on the net about him also and yes his website is gone.
Even on other forum the big boys say please dont ask bout his medical condition anymore and dont kacau him.

From what i found out most of his watches not for sale. And i can only find one instance from any forum of one actual person order the watch from him.

A true master but very unfortunate. Wish him and his family all the best and hopefully one day he will be well enough to create watches again.

[TheHobbit]

Don't know, but he should be 61 this year. He is a very well known figure in the horology world. He even caught the attention of Lord Sandberg. The story goes that Lord Sandberg helped Mr. Kiu buy his home in Hong Kong. Lord Sandberg is of course a well known collector who sold off his collection for USD 13 million in 2001. The collection is of such importance that the catalogue itself sell for USD 5,000.

Anyway Mr. Kui is known as the China's King of Watches. I was fortunate to able to see his watches (once) when I visited HK many many years ago. Have to say it is very nice and well made. He is also a collector, collecting mostly pocket-watches. I believe he wrote a book, Time in Pocket. It is said that Mr. Kiu once bid millions for one of the pocket watch from the Sandberg collection. His interest is mainly pocket watches made for the Orient, as is much of the Sandberg collection.

Hope he still around.

[takashi78]

Wow very lucky, can you tell us more on which watch you saw?
You saw in a shop for sale?

Looks like Mr Kiu likes cali dials also and puts his own spin on it.

[chrisyen]

I remembered I read somewhere her daughter also a collector n won a prize for a watch in her collection

[TheHobbit]

It was years ago at a shop in HK. The watches were not for sale but more on display. It could have been his shop. A friend who was a collector brought me there. There were a few watches, and they were well made and nice with Oriental influences.

[Sheng]

thanks for starting this thread, i almost forgot about his existence had you not reminded. his watch designs are really cool and makes us Chinese proud as well as bring out the taste of our culture.

[Cloud7]

nice designs.. I like! now, where to get 1??

[takashi78]

Didnt you read the entire thread?

[Cloud7]

I meant, pre-owned lor, of cos... SOMEBODY must have 1... whether he's willing to sell is another  matter...