HID, short for ‘heritage’, ‘innovative’ and ‘design’, released its first watch model T1D1 Classic Cars’ series in October 2016 when the brand was established by Hong Kong-based H Innovations Company Limited which launched T1D2 Diver’s series in July of the following year. The innovative approach, the signature design and the in-house movement have gained enthusiastic market response worldwide in just two years’ time.
Inspired by the dashboard of the classic automotive 1960s Corvette C1, the dial of T1D1 model highlights a center sub-second and an upper dial representing the minute display which draw inspiration from the rev counter and the speedometer respectively. The 45mm sporty watch features an in-house mechanical automatic wind movement with 80-hour power reserve. The model offers wearers a chance to personalise their watches with transformable cases. According to Eric So, brand owner, thanks to the patented locking system a simple DIY process without tools is all it takes to change the case and transform the watch within seconds. “We need a story to bring out a strong message to customers. I love cars. I want to apply certain design elements to my products. Lots of car buyers like to personalise their vehicles, make them more unique. Our watch design philosophy is the same,” he told Hong Kong Jewellery.
T1D2 is positioned as a 304.8m professional diving watch featuring a thickened case, an automatic helium escape valve added to the side of the case, a newly designed sapphire crystal and a single direction rotating bezel with luminous markers which is attached to a removable/transformable outer case.
It is ‘identity’ that sets a brand apart from the others. “Regardless of the model series, our watches carry a certain signatures such as the four-screw design and the crown design so that when customers see these, they can tell they are HID products,” said Eric So.
A proud HK-made brand, HID hopes to change the mindset of customers in the city who might consider local watches do not retain value, some even feel shame to wear them. So said: “With the manufacturing technology and the maturity of production, Hong Kong brands can compete with the rest of the world. Currently it still needs time to improve in terms of craftsmanship and design philosophy as often we still see a lot of copy designs in the market.
“We feel proud to be a Made-in-HK brand. Each of our watches is marked “HKG” on the back cover. Apart from growing the company and distributing our products worldwide, my goal is to reserve some of our profits for developing a scheme to support young generation in design as we believe there are lots of talents in the younger generation in Hong Kong who need support to develop a career in the design industry. This has been one of our goals as part of our social responsibility programme planned at the beginning,” said So.
As a new player in the competitive watchmaking industry, HID makes most of the sales via traditional sales platforms such as brick-and-mortar retailers. “Particularly during the initial stage as our concepts are rather new and we want our target customers to be able to feel and see the watches before making their decisions. Online platform is very important to us; but we are using it more on the promotion side rather than sales,” So explained.
So is confident in the future of mid-priced mechanical watches like his. “With the increasing number of younger customers with less spending power while wanting to be different, I think mid-priced watches can fulfil their requirement. We believe products with good quality and design in small quantity will be able to draw attention,” he said.
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