Introducing Yum Cha (飲茶) - WH&C x Selten-3rd anniversary club watch

Press release

August 2026

In Hong Kong, to say you are going to Yum Cha means to go eat Dim Sum — to a tea house where bamboo baskets arrive in endless succession, where tea flows without asking and where time belongs entirely to the people around the table. This is the world that shaped the founder of Watch Ho & Co(mmunity). To mark its third anniversary, Watch Ho & Co(mmunity) in collaboration with Selten present Yum Cha (飲茶) — a timepiece forged from the earliest and happiest memories of a childhood spent at these very tables.

Introducing Yum Cha (飲茶) - WH&C x Selten-3rd anniversary club watch

Press release

August 2026

Introducing Yum Cha (飲茶) - WH&C x Selten-3rd anniversary club watch

magine a morning wrapped in dense clouds of white steam. The rhythmic clatter of porcelain teacups, the overlap of a dozen conversations, the rapid-fire stamping of paper order cards and the deep earthy scent of pu-erh tea pouring as fingers quietly tap the table in a silent, time-honoured gesture of thanks. Trolleys stacked high with bamboo steamers weaving between packed tables. This is the sensory heartbeat of a traditional Hong Kong tea house — and the world that shaped the founder of Watch Ho & Co(mmunity).

To mark its third anniversary, Watch Ho & Co(mmunity) in collaboration with Selten present Yum Cha (飲茶) — a timepiece forged from the earliest and happiest memories of a childhood spent at these very tables.

In Hong Kong, to say you are going to Yum Cha means to go eat Dim Sum — to a tea house where bamboo baskets arrive in endless succession, where tea flows without asking and where time belongs entirely to the people around the table. It is as much a way of life as it is a tradition. Yum Cha also means, literally, to drink tea. And the word Dim Sum itself means to touch the heart. That a single meal could carry so much meaning, warmth and love — is exactly why this watch exists.

“This is my personal tribute and thank you to my grandparents. To my grandmother. To every morning I didn’t know I’d spend the rest of my life trying to return to,” said Jackie Ho, Founder, WH&C

This timepiece is born from an intimate family history, capturing a childhood frozen in time. Raised in Hong Kong by his grandparents, the founder of WH&C spent his earliest and happiest years surrounded by the warmth of these tea house tables. To a young boy, the chaotic and bustling tea house was never overwhelming — it was a safe haven. A world bounded by the chatter of his elders, the constant refilling of heavy clay teapots and the simple comfort of slow mornings spent alongside his grandparents and their Yum Cha friends.

Above all, this watch belongs to Por Por, the grandmother who raised him. Her love was right there at the table — blowing on a steaming dumpling, placing the best pieces in his bowl and always catching the trolley to grab his favourite Dim Sum before it passed them by. She gave him a childhood wrapped in pure, unwavering love and this watch is a wearable tribute to her memory.

While Yum Cha is rooted in Hong Kong’s culinary soul, its message reaches far beyond. Every culture has its version of this table — its own food, its own traditions and its own rituals of gathering. The details change. The feeling never does. A place where guards are dropped, stories are handed down and the people we love remind us, quietly, of who we are. This watch honours those fleeting, irreplaceable moments. The families we are born into. The friendships we choose. The core memories that sustain us long after the seats at the table have emptied.

The inspiration for the dial comes from one of the most humble yet beloved objects at any tea house table — the traditional bamboo steamer basket. It is the vessel that holds and delivers the hot Dim Sum, the centrepiece around which every gathering revolves. The dial draws its design directly from the weave pattern of its lid. In Chinese culture, bamboo is a symbol of strength, resilience and quiet endurance — it bends, but it does not break. And the weave pattern carries a deeper meaning still: strand upon strand, bound together, each one made stronger by the ones beside it. Just like family. Just like friendship. Just like the people who shaped us.

The design also captures a single unforgettable childhood moment: the instant the steamer lid is lifted, releasing a rush of hot steam to reveal the treasures inside — the plump Har Gow (shrimp dumplings), the juicy Siu Mai (pork dumplings), the fluffy Char Siu Bao (barbecue pork buns) and the golden Dan Tat (egg tarts). What appears to the naked eye as a shimmering geometric pattern is, in truth, a core memory preserved forever in glass and silver.

The colour evokes a bamboo steamer loved over many years — darkened, deepened, carrying the warm amber tones of decades of tea and steam and gathered meals. A patina that speaks not of wear, but of a life richly lived. Velvety tea-dark at the edges, honey-gold at the heart. Endurance made visible.

Floating above are tea leaf hands — a direct nod to the literal meaning of Yum Cha. As they sweep across the dial, they move as leaves float and unfurl in a steaming cup — effortlessly drifting and gracefully tracing the quiet rhythm of a morning that never rushes.

To realise a dial of this complexity and emotional weight, WH&C and Selten turned to Master Qin — Selten’s in-house engraver and enamelist, whose background spans gem-setting, enamelling and the restoration of vintage enamel pocket watches. It was a restoration project that first ignited his passion for metal engraving, an art he taught himself and pursued with dedicated focus ever since.

The face of the timepiece is a hand-engraved Fumé Grand Feu enamel dial — a marriage of two of the most demanding disciplines in traditional watchmaking.

Working under a microscope, Master Qin maps the silver disc into approximately 80 individual rectangles. Inside every rectangle, he carves over 40 parallel lines by hand using a razor-sharp tungsten graver. His dominant hand drives each cut at an unyielding angle to achieve a mirror-polished, bright-cut finish, while his other hand rotates the heavy ball vise at micro-angles so every stroke flows without interruption.

The bright-cut engraving technique derives its brilliance from the contrast of mirror-polished engraved lines. Each rectangle is engraved in a deliberately different direction to the one beside it — and within each rectangle, Master Qin varies the depth and pressure of every cut to create intentional shadows. Together, these two layers of contrast ensure that as light moves across the surface, each facet gleams brilliantly while the next retreats into shadow, creating a dial with extraordinary depth and texture that shifts and shimmers with every movement of the wrist. It is what makes the bamboo weave feel alive.

A single misstep completely destroys the plate, forcing the artisan to start over from zero. Then comes the trial by fire. Enamel can yield three distinct visual finishes: transparent, translucent and opaque. For Yum Cha, a highly transparent enamel was chosen specifically to accentuate the intricate engraving beneath it.

Master Qin evaluated an extensive library of physical enamel swatches from specialised suppliers to find the perfect colour — settling on a raw powder that appears a muted beige before the kiln reveals its true character entirely. Washed repeatedly to remove any trace of impurity, the enamel is meticulously applied by hand, then fired in the kiln at 800°C, then removed, cooled and inspected before the next layer is applied — a painstaking cycle repeated a minimum of eight times. The slightest variance in temperature or thickness risks air bubbles, cracking or warping the silver foundation entirely.

In the kiln, the powdered glass melts into a rich, dark brown transparent layer. The true mastery, however, lies in how the light passes through this medium. Because the enamel is highly transparent, the underlying silver foundation dictates everything. A standard, dull silver plate would merely yield a flat, dark brown finish with no internal life. But beneath Master Qin’s skilful bright cuts, light is caught and reflected back up through the coloured glass like thousands of microscopic mirrors.

Once cooled, the dial must be meticulously hand polished — a rigorous process requiring 1.5 hours of completely steady, uniform pressure to achieve its final flawless lustre. This exacting final step coaxes the deep fired brown into a radiant, luminous honey-gold at the centre, while the glass settles thicker at the curved perimeter to produce a rich, smoky amber rim.

In direct light, the thousands of bright-cut facets ignite, the dial blazing golden through the amber. In softer light the fumé deepens, the transparent enamel reveals its intense liquid depth and the surface becomes quietly alive. It is never quite the same twice — like a memory you return to, it shows you something different every time.

Because every line, angle and groove is cut purely by human hand, each dial is entirely its own — a one-of-a-kind interpretation of a shared memory, carrying its own distinct character into the world. No two will ever be the same.

The Yum Cha dial is the result of 20 prototypes with a combined rejection rate above 40%. Approximately 16.5 hours of craftsmanship for each surviving dial — and behind every one, Master Qin’s focus, patience and refusal to compromise.

On the solid caseback, a beautifully stamped execution of an original illustration by artist @onehourwatch brings the soul of the watch full circle. Brought to life with a touch of nostalgic whimsy, the scene places the viewer directly in the founder’s seat as a small boy, looking across a bustling, steaming table at his grandparents. The playful artwork holds a beautiful symmetry: table number three, three Siu Mai, three teacups and three pairs of chopsticks — a loving nod to the irreplaceable circle of three who shared those precious morning rituals and to the club’s third anniversary. Within the scene, the traditional table number stand can be fully personalised, letting each collector engrave a milestone date or lucky number that holds a special place in their own story.

True to the ritual, Yum Cha arrives nestled inside a genuine handcrafted bamboo steamer basket, with three handcrafted bamboo coasters, paired with a custom warranty card designed to look exactly like a traditional Hong Kong red Dim Sum order card.