Watch shopping report in Hong Kong (independents, VC, JLC, LUC)

I'm in Hong Kong on a business trip and this city is a watch mecca. I haven't been in more than 3y and I took this opportunity to do some window shopping! HK used to be the top export destination for swiss watches until the extended COVID lock downs hit the city. If you've never been, it's a fun city to visit and come check it out, but here's part one of my report. I'm not affiliated with any of these folks.

The Lavish Attic: Independent watch brand retailer

Small, cozy shop in Central Building in Central run by a passionate, cool team. They had some great brands there, including: Konstantin Chaykin, Lang & Heyne, Urwerk, Krayon, Ressence, Louis Erard, and a lot more. I saw the Chaykin wristmon, unique piece Dracula, a unique Joker that was dedicated to the shop, and a nice Louis Erard with a grand feu enamel dial. They just had the Louis Erard folks in their shop to chat with clients. Very cool. Chill space to talk to the staff and hang out. I'm definitely coming back as they have cool events and collaborations. They did a collab with the Spanish watch maker, Atelier de Chronometre, for 8 pieces of an enamel dial. They had the Krayon guys in as well they said.

JLC

I have a soft spot in my heart for Jaeger Lecoultre because it was the first watch I picked myself (first was a gift) and they're doing some great stuff recently, eg the chrono Reverso they dropped at W&W last month. The boutique I visited was in Prince's Building in Central. I didn't know before I visited, but they opened only a month ago and is their new style of boutique to make it more inviting, design oriented (eg had examples of their enamel powders, strap "workshop" area to see how different watches look with new straps, and to celebrate the new boutique they had some CRAZY pieces I've never seen before.

The Reverso Quadriptyque with 11 complications!! Tourbillon, perpetual calendar, am/pm, moon phase (north and south face?? Didn't know that existed), digital jumping hour on second face, minute repeater, and some others I can't remember. They had a mirror so you can see the reverse face and the moon phase is on the case!

I forgot JLC does enamel dials. Pic is terrible, but the crane right in front is painted on the crystal! Nice 3d effect. Oh and a little tourbillon and diamonds as well. The SA said they can paint on a Reverso mono face on the dial back any picture you want! That's cool.

Master Grande Tradition Tourbillon. The tourbillon flies around the dial in 24 hours and the constellations are positioned accurately, apparently.

This one's for the wife to appreciate. It's not a limited edition, but the shooting star flies around the dial and the clouds at 7 o clock are painted last, so it's raised giving the dial some depth. Very nice in person.

Vacheron Constantin!

Again in Prince's Building, I stopped by not expecting much for some reason and I was in for a treat!

They had TWO watches I'm lusting after. One realistic, one really not.

For those who have seen my posts, I picked up the Traditionnelle Complete Calendar Openface a few weeks ago. They had the tourbillon version, dayammmm. Sorry blurry pic....the retrograde date nicely frames the top part of dial, the hands are super sharp like mine and on the back, has a beautiful peripheral rotor as to not block the movement. Gorgeous, but never am I gonna get this I don't think. My watch for comparison and I actually still prefer mine!

But then, they had another treat, the Overseas Retrograde Date that was dropped at W&W. This display piece is going back to hq shortly, so I got very lucky. First time seeing it in the flesh and I gotta say, I like this version very much. More classy and elegant than the simple 3 hander (which is... Was? My preferred one. Don't like the dual time or chrono versions.

They also had a black dial Overseas chrono, but I didn't want to bug the guy too much!

Finally, LUC

My first time in a Chopard boutique and I bet most of WC hasn't been either. I went because I saw this beautiful watch on one of the watch websites and I wanted to have a look. Unfortunately, they didn't have it, but I did try on the Alpine Eagles (blue, green, grey dials). Kinda cool pattern, but I can't get out of my head the way Jory, the Time teller, described it. Did anyone see that episode?? He calls this and the hodinkee x Anordain the "butthole" watches. Yeah, thanks man, you've ruined it for me. Just kidding, these don't do it for me.

The watch I couldn't find is this and a short video to really appreciate it

https://youtube.com/shorts/xY2mO2MARfU?feature=share

Part two will come next week after I visit the FP Journe boutique, pick up my Snoopy Speedy (!), And my new Lorier Skyward. Hope you enjoyed this read as much as I did today!