Keeping faith in local watch brand

William Shum Wai-lam, chief executive of Memorigin Watch Company and known as the "tourbillon leader" in Hong Kong, says the coronavirus pandemic has given him a chance to let go of the obsession with the decade-long rapid expansion of his company and develop a larger perspective on business operation.

The 35-year old entrepreneur founded the "made-in-Hong Kong" watch brand Memorigin a decade ago with an initial investment of HK$500,000 from his savings.

Memorigin is the only Hong Kong-based manufacturer of tourbillons. The 10-year-old brand, he says, is committed to promoting the Hong Kong spirit to the world, making tourbillons with the city's character by integrating oriental craftsmanship with Western art of watchmaking.

Memorigin has grown to a company with nearly 10,000-square-foot office sites and over 300 points of sale across the world. It has designers, watchmakers, other staff, and agents in more than 20 countries, breaking into the international watch market by presenting a crossover collection with foreign and local celebrities and organizations.

Now Shum is facing challenges from the over-one-year-long social unrest and the virus.

Amid the spread of coronavirus, he ended renting out one of his properties and used it as an office building for staff. Meanwhile, Shum redecorated an old property as an exquisite showroom to display antique music boxes and woodcarvings collected by his father Shum Mak-ling.

When the retail industry was hard hit by the Occupy Central movement six years ago, Shum invested millions to decorate Memorigin's office, create its own workshop, and train watchmakers, aiding them to take courses in Hong Kong, do internships in mainland China and learn watchmaking skills in Switzerland.

Many people opposed his investment plan at that time, except his mentor Jimmy Tang Kui-ming, chairman of Prince Jewellery & Watch, who suggested that a successful local brand must have its own workshop with watchmakers in Hong Kong.

Although Memorigin saw a slump in net profit in 2014, time proved Shum made a wise decision. Those local watchmakers have generated at least HK$100 million revenue for the company, he said. When Memorigin temporarily closed the Hangzhou workshop due to the coronavirus and some staff did not return after resuming work, they worked around the clock to deliver the products on time. Such delivery won trust from the customer, who even placed a new order, which enabled the firm to offset the loss in the first half and could help weather the virus shock in the second half, Shum says.

The former investment banker started his business with a writing desk, and by wearing different hats - boss, employee, designer, golfer, salesman - at the same time.

"The 10 years went in the blink of an eye," Shum says. "Now we have our own workshop and watchmakers. Although it's not big, it represents Hongkongers have our own creative industries, which supports craftsman's spirit of the city."

"That's the root of our business, now I can say my dream has come true.''

Despite the opposition of family members, Shum, who graduated with a degree in applied economics and management sciences from the University of Southern California, gave up well-paid jobs in credit risk management in the banking industry to jump into the traditional manufacturing market.

Starting a business is never easy. After the first batch of tourbillons was made, Shum promoted the watches himself to numerous jewelry shops in the city, but only four agreed to sell.

Luckily, the first batch of tourbillons did not disappoint the agents, as they offer better value with attractive prices.

Shum says he has got swindled and sniped by competitors in the past. He had spent sleepless nights and worried about how to continue his business.

"So I have reminded myself that I have to view the critics and challenges as 'good karma'. If they are reasonable, I will improve myself, otherwise, I will consider it as motivation to help me change the mindset," he says.

At the beginning of the pandemic, a potential customer in Malaysia showed interest in tourbillons. Shum traveled alone to Malaysia as other colleagues were worried about the virus.

"The air travel restrictions make me really uncomfortable because I can't meet the heads of our points of sale in Japan, Dubai, Germany, Vietnam, Taiwan, etc," says Shum, who flew around the world every week before the pandemic.

"But you lose some, you win some.''

The virus not only slowed down his hectic working schedule, but also gave him a chance to look within himself.

He visits a Buddhist worship hall every day, meditates, and reads scripture, while also working out and playing table tennis with friends regularly.

This helps him to relax and calm down to rethink his business, family, and himself, he says.

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