Independent Atelier

Independent Atelier is a collective of members of the GPHG Academy and independent watchmakers — including talented Chinese watchmaker Zhang YuXin — founded by collector Benjamin Hui, dedicated to honouring the legacy of Kiu Tai Yu (1948–2020): China's first AHCI member, admitted in 1992, and the foundational figure of Chinese independent watchmaking. Working largely alone, long before Chinese independent watchmaking had any international visibility, Kiu Tai Yu made his watches slowly, often from handmade components, guided by personal logic rather than commercial expectation. His best-known creation, the Millennium (2000) — a 'Mystery Tourbillon' limited to just 20 pieces — is among the most elusive watches in Chinese independent horology; most collectors know it only through photographs.

For more than ten years, Hui searched for original examples and eventually acquired two. Project Tai Yu (2025) recreates the Millennium in a limited series of 25 pieces — not as a reproduction, but as a faithful homage built from direct study of the originals. The new IATY-01 automatic movement (ETA 2824/2836-based architecture, 28,800vph, 25 jewels, 38-hour reserve) carries subtle refinements to the escapement, balance shaft, shock protection, regulator, and hairspring — invisible improvements intended only to ensure the watch can be worn and maintained reliably, never to visibly alter Kiu's design. The 18k yellow gold case (35mm, 11.2mm thick) houses a black porcelain enamel dial with an exposed balance wheel beneath a dual-sided bridge secured with flame-blued screws, a raised lower time subdial, and Suzhou-style numerals combining Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Roman, and Arabic numerals — referencing Kiu's roots in the Suzhou region. Cold enamel inscriptions read 'Good Fortune' and 'Millennium' in Chinese characters, on a black-and-red JeaYou alligator strap. A companion piece, the Year of the Horse, serves as a further personal tribute to Kiu's enduring cultural legacy.

The context makes the homage weightier. Kiu Tai Yu built his first tourbillon in 1991 — the year before his AHCI admission placed him in the fellowship of Journe and Franck Muller, alongside whom he was photographed as a peer — and the Millennium followed only after another decade of study; he died in 2020 having never chased volume or commercial positioning, which is precisely why so few of his watches can be found.

Project Tai Yu launched to international coverage in January 2026, presented not as a product but as the outcome of persistence: Hui and Zhang YuXin disassembled and studied the original Millennium movement to understand how it was designed and why, and Hui has said plainly that knowing how hard the watches are to find — and how many collectors worldwide would love to own a piece of Kiu's work — is what moved him to bring the watch and its movement back to life. The execution honours the original's smallest gestures: the year 2025 printed quietly at twelve o'clock marking the moment of realisation, a red-lacquered panel with white inscriptions behind the exposed balance, a 46 mm lug-to-lug profile true to the 35 mm original, and the red half-bow-tie detail at the strap's lugs. Reception in the collector press framed the project as a manifesto as much as a watch — repositioning China in the horological conversation as a land of creation rather than mere production — though the choice of a robust ETA-based architecture over a from-scratch tourbillon has also drawn debate among purists, a tension the Atelier answers with its stated priority: that these 25 pieces be wearable, serviceable ambassadors for Kiu's legacy rather than fragile museum objects. Either way, the mission is working — a watchmaker most collectors knew only from photographs is, at last, being discussed in the metal.