Kiu Tai Yu, a reserved but central figure in independent watchmaking, joined the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants in 1992, becoming the first Chinese watchmaker admitted to the AHCI. He grew up in a family deeply connected to traditional Chinese art, training as a calligrapher and engraver thanks to his mother and father, both renowned artists.
He has worked since his early days independently, away from European manufacturing hubs, first repairing and then building watches in extremely small runs and thinking of each project as a combination of technical, decorative, and symbolic solutions.
Kiu Tai Yu in his atelier while wearing an AHCI tie. Image courtesy of Xbiao.
Its history is internationally recognized, and its a visual language combining Roman numerals, Arabic, and Chinese characters found embodiment in the first Tourbillon made in 1991.
And then the Millennium, made after another ten very long years of study in only twenty pieces, which remains his best-known watch and at the same time his least visible in the market and on international platforms.
The original Millennium, produced in a limited run of 20 in the 2000s.
Today, through Independent Atelier, a collective founded by Benjamin Hui, this same watch is being recreated in a limited series of 25 pieces to honor Kiu Tai Yu and his invaluable legacy.
The evolution of independent watchmaking in China
To understand the perimeter within which Project Tai Yu lies, one need only look at the fledgling roots of Chinese watchmaking history, whose first modern production with escapement mechanisms began only in 1955. For decades, the focus in China had been on filling a manufacturing need rather than building a language. In this context, marked by the idea of functionality and standardization, the very idea of independent watchmaking still had no place or legitimacy.
Kiu Tai Yu works on one of his watches. Image courtesy of Watch Traveler.
While Chinese watchmaking was still taking its first steps toward modern production, Tai Yu radically deviated from the system, choosing the path of autonomy, solitary study, and the construction of watches conceived as accomplished works, more complex than the embryonic idea of mere product.
In a tradition that was still short and looked upon with suspicion by international collectors, Tai Yu never sought to legitimize himself through imitation of European codes, but rather to find a voice that was unique each time (though always true to itself), and to construct a hybrid and deeply personal language in which technique, decoration and symbolism coexisted without mediation.
Kiu Tai Yu on the right, along with Francois-Paul Journe (left) and Franck Muller (center).
Project Tai Yu is a tribute to a pioneering voice in independent Chinese watchmaking
Project Tai Yu is developed by Independent Atelier from the direct study of two original Tai Yu watches found by founder Benjamin Hui in more than ten years of extensive research dedicated to studying, preserving and honoring Tai Yu’s figure and legacy.
The new Project Tai Yu, here with a black JeaYou alligator strap with a red half bow tie shape on the side of the lugs.
Independent Atelier, which is actually a collective of members of the Academy of GPHG and independent watchmakers, involved Zhang YuXin, himself a talented Chinese watchmaker and member of the GPHG Academy, for this specific project.
The intervention does not concern the aesthetic layout, which is kept unchanged, but the technical structure and construction quality. The case remains in 18-carat yellow gold (35 mm in diameter, 11.2 mm thick, and 46 mm from lug to lug) and is richly detailed while maintaining the original’s small and faithful dimensions.
The spiral engravings on the lugs and red lacquer details are reprised, as is the side section filled in red cold enamel with the name Tai Yu, which is absent from some original examples. On the opposite side, the engraved knurled crown is set between two epaulets protruding from the case middle.
The detail of the engraved crown of Project Tai Yu.
The dial also faithfully follows the historical model, divided into two sections. The top section finished in black porcelain enamel houses the opening on the balance wheel, which is secured by a two-tone gold-colored bridge with blued screws and rests on a red lacquered base. Inscriptions on the sides in white show the year and limited edition.
The lower half is devoted to the reading of time. Decorative engravings, auspicious symbols (Good Luck and Love in Chinese), and the Millennium inscription in black Chinese characters are taken up without graphic rationalization, retaining that slight irregularity and maximalist soul that characterized the original watch, mingling with the Arabic and Roman numerals circumscribed to the small red dial that houses gladius hands for hours and minutes.
The dial of Project Tai Yu.
The major difference is in the movement, about which we have limited information, however. The Millennium used an ETA caliber manually modified by Tai Yu, who had made most of the components by hand, which is extremely rare nowadays as it was then. Project Tai Yu introduced the automatic caliber IATY-01, which retained the basic architecture but updated the escapement, balance axis, Incabloc shock system and balance spring, for a 38-hour power reserve. Changes perhaps not visible at a glance, but capable of resulting in more stable daily use and easier maintenance.
Project Tai Yu comes with two JeaYou alligator leather straps, one black and one red, both featuring a yellow gold buckle with red enamel-filled engravings. The black version, featuring a red half bow tie shape on the side of the lugs, also bears the Tai Yu name in yellow gold. Project Tai Yu is produced in a limited series of 25 pieces, with a target price of 30,500 Swiss francs, excluding tax.
Conclusions
Project Tai Yu is a tribute that is articulated in a sophisticated technical and formal reconstruction effort that makes accessible again an object that has remained on the fringes of circulation for years, and that is still immediately traceable to its creator, resisting the forced standardization typical of recent years.
In a country where modern watchmaking has a surprisingly recent history and for decades was perceived more as a functional industry than a cultural language, Kiu Tai Yu was undoubtedly the key figure of the 20th century. His importance lies not only in technical firsts but in having demonstrated, in a context still wary of the very idea of independent watchmaking, that it was possible to develop an autonomous, coherent, and recognizable voice.
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