Hong Kong has more than its fair share of high-end watch collectors, and now it looks as though those aficionados may have a serious watchmaker to call their own. In fact, if you look at Memorigin’s latest piece, the Harmony of Dragon and Phoenix, there’s a lot for any watch lover to get excited about.

Memorigin are the kind of brand that seems to love frustrating the Swiss watch world. Where we’re constantly told time and again that a tourbillon should cost £50,000 and up, Memorigin has consistently shown that’s just not the case. Case in point, their latest allusion to Chinese culture, the Harmony of Dragon and Phoenix.

As the name suggests, the twin celestial beasts are the centrepiece of the watch and are as glorious as any ancient emperor’s palace. The dial itself is mother-of-pearl painted with like a pond’s surface with a white phoenix floating across the surface. Around the mythical bird the dragon erupts from the dial in sculptural 18kt gold.

As if that weren’t enough, the dragon’s eye is a single Burmese ruby, staring directly at a 5mm Japanese Akoya pearl. The dial’s finished with an array of diamond indexes surrounding the titular phoenix. Put simply, it’s magnificent.

Of course, majestic as the finishing and bejewelled nature of the dial is, this isn’t just a jewellery watch. Inside the 42mm, black PVD-coated stainless steel case you can clearly see a flying tourbillon holds court at 6 o’clock extending into a cutaway dial with almost nothing securing it to the main part of the movement.

That movement is comprised of 215 individual pieces and boasts a 72-hour power reserve from its twin mainspring barrels. By any standards it’s a seriously impressive piece of watchmaking; for $10,279 (around £8,500) it seems almost too good to be true.

The Harmony of Dragon and Phoenix might not be subtle, but it doesn’t want to be. It’s a statement, in terms of both design and watchmaking. Next time someone tells you that £50,000 for a tourbillon is good value, point them towards Memorigin.

Price & Specs:

Model name: Memorigin Harmony of Dragon and Phoenix

Ref: AT 0828 Dial/Case: 42mm diameter, 18K gold dragon with Burmese ruby eyes, mother-of-pearl dial, stainless steel case, 5mm Japan Akoya pearl Movement: Self-winding mechanism (Bi-Directional Winding) Functions: Flying tourbillon, twin mainspring barrel

Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz) Power reserve: 72 hours Price & availability: 9’960 CHF



Available to pre-order at Memorigin’s website.