ICYMI: HF.10 - The Best of Day 3

Well, Hong Kong has been a whirlwind (or is that tourbillon?) of Horological Forum activities, but HF.10 has formally come to a close, and it's fair to say it's been an incredibly successful 10th instalment of the Horology Forum.

But before the event is packed down and all eyes turned to Dubai Watch Week 2025, there was still time for the last two programmed talks. First up was Ming-ception, with Ming Liu moderating a discussion with Ming Thein, Benoît Mintiens and Prof. Heiwei Tang on luxury, function and utility.

The grand finale of HF.10 was the horological rockstar that is Tim Mosso, who held court for an hour, running through the high notes of the last 100 years of horological history, while from the verge escapement to the duality of watchmaking's future. It was an impressive discussion, made more remarkable for the fact that he did it without notes. If you weren't in the room, watch it on YouTube.

Over the course of the final day, we asked several guests what their HF.10 highlights were. Panel moderator and HF-regular Robin Swithinbank had a very specific highlight. "Fiona Kruger's lyrical, spontaneous watch design masterclass under the glare of her industry colleagues was the single event highlight, but as before, it's Dubai Watch Week's open format that leaves the greatest impression. An industry hamstrung by conservatism and protectionism needs a platform for self-reflection and where necessary self-criticism, and the Horology Forum, Seddiqi's globe-trotting horological chat show DWW spin-off, once again provided just that."

Fiona Kruger, for her part was taken by Benoît Mintiens and Ming Thein's take on design and luxury: "It's interesting to hear that kind of sort of debate and conversation and discussion, it because it feels like the sort of chat that they would have down the pub. That you got be privy to this sort of conversation is special, it was very authentic, and I think that's the point of Horology Forum."

For Hong-Kong local and collector Alex Chu, it was the fact that his home was being put on the map. "There's been an explosion of interest in watches over the past five years, but it felt like Hong Kong had been left out of that conversation. Hong Kong has historically been a very important city for watches, not only as a commercial centre, but also in its enthusiasm, so as a fellow watch enthusiast based in this city, I feel proud to finally be able to welcome and meet members of the global watch community here at HF.10."

The importance of the local angle was echoed by Kevin Cureau, Sales Manager at Wristcheck: "To me, the highlight of this event was the opening cocktail where a lot of collectors flew into town. It was great getting to mingle with a few of them and chat with people that I normally interact with on social media. We finally get to meet in person. The other highlight was actually the panel with Mark Cho, Zoe Abelson, Ali Nael and Austen Chu. I loved it when Mark Cho said. 'I wish we had more watch positivity in the industry' because he feels that the industry is just it's just too much negativity and a lot of people just fighting against each other on social media where people just forget that in the end. It's just a hobby."

Allen Farmelo, Watch Editor Robb Report and first-time Horology Forum attendee's key takeaway was slightly broader: "Being my first Horology Forum, my highlight was specific to being in Hong Kong, and getting to hear and meet so many local collectors, and talking about watch collecting and about the watch industry. I found the perspective from Asian collectors to be very different from that of the Americans I'm always around. It was both refreshing and enlightening to hear their attitudes towards things like Chinese-made watches and the kind of values they look for in the watchmakers that they collect from. Generally, I just had one of those straight-up cross-cultural experiences that kind of opens your eyes."

It was this sort of passion and excitement for the world of watches that made this Hong Kong instalment of Horology Forum such a success. Next stop, Dubai Watch Week 2025!