Ricky Hong is a currently eighteen-year-old Hong Kong watchmaker — a full-time student who describes himself, at least up to this point, as a 'part-time watchmaker.' Self-taught, he learnt the fundamentals of watchmaking through modding and selling Casio G-Shocks and customising old movements, before graduating to highly impressive and technically sophisticated original pieces. His debut 十八旹 (18 in 18) is a series of exactly 18 pieces — a number that gives the watch its name. The 40.5mm x 9.5mm polished stainless steel case features 'bullet' lugs inspired by the Cartier Obus, offering excellent ergonomic fit.
Beneath the sapphire crystal, a two-hand dial combines a porcelain enamel central panel with hand-painted Roman numerals on a brushed silver ring; mirror-polished leaf-style hands taper to very fine points. Hidden along the minutes track at the 18-minute mark, the Chinese characters 八十 mark his personal signature on every piece. Through the sapphire caseback, a deeply modified 6498 calibre reveals new in-house two-thirds plate and bridges with curved hand-bevelling, snailing on the wheels, Côtes de Genève stripes, and an engraved balance cock. An astonishingly accomplished debut that announces the arrival of yet another profound watchmaking talent from Hong Kong.
Hong's path to the bench began at thirteen, when the mechanics of a vintage chronograph caught his attention and would not let go. By fifteen he had trained through masterclasses with a Richard Mille-trained watchmaker, studied under a Hong Kong tourbillon specialist, and taught himself AutoCAD and CNC machining well enough to design and manufacture his own components, cultivated in part by the Hong Kong brand ANPASSA — work that produced his first in-house skeleton tourbillon, its gold bridges and engraved Chinese characters honouring his family legacy. That piece, described as the realisation of a dream he'd held since childhood, earned him an invitation to join the GPHG Academy at just fifteen, an unusually early recognition for someone still years from being able to legally sign most contracts in his own name. Hong has spoken candidly about the scepticism that comes with his age — 'people see someone who's 50 or 60 and just assume they're capable, but if they see a teenager, they'll think he's too young,' he has said, admitting he's occasionally been called a cheeky brat, if only in jest, and that he still isn't entirely sure the label 'watchmaker' fits him yet. Between the G-Shock mods that first paid for his tools and the 十八旹's porcelain enamel dial and hand-bevelled 6498, Ricky Hong has compressed what usually takes a career's first decade into five remarkable years — and, still a teenager, is only just getting started.