Meet the first watchmaking artisan in Singapore… And he’s young and self-taught

It took Tristan Ho just three years to go from having no experience in horology to announcing his first collection, named Watch I, under his brand LOTH, which is entirely hand-finished and self-assembled.

If that isn’t impressive enough, he did not undergo any formal training, and yet, eight of the 12 pieces he’d produce are already snapped up by collectors around the world.

What did it take for him to get here? Sheer will, smarts, sacrifice, and lots of stamina. And it is on a simple workbench, nestled against a wall on the second-floor landing of his parents’ Loyang terrace house, where he has been realising his dream.

Every day of the work week, the 28-year-old would knock off from his day job and get home by 6pm for dinner, following which he’d spend the next four to five hours on watchmaking. 

“I’m a perfectionist, and had to give up my regular hobbies like gaming, music, and even going out with friends,” says the NUS Life Sciences graduate who currently works as a research assistant at a biomedical laboratory. “The weekends, however, are reserved for family time.”

The long game

What had become a full-blown obsession started three years ago with the desire to buy a new timepiece. “I was researching the best value-for-money watch I could get, then I basically went down a huge rabbit hole. I came to the conclusion that I should build my own watch. I started modding Seikos for a year, but then it wasn’t enough.”

At first, he’d considered teaching modding (modifying an existing watch) as a side hustle, but as he dived deeper into horology, he eventually decided on making his very own creation. “The more I dedicated my time to it, the more I loved it. Singapore is the sixth largest watch market in the world with lots of collectors buying high-end timepieces, yet we don’t have artisans producing hand-finished movements,” Ho elaborates.

“When I thought about building a legacy, it’s the one thing that watchmaking can help me to achieve. Whatever you make, there’s a high chance it will last for 100, 200 years — longer than my time here on earth,” he reasons, showing me two vintage pocket watches from his collection. “Look at them — they’re almost a century old.”

With numerous Instagram posts of beautifully decorated watch movements serving as inspiration, including the Lang & Heyne Friedrich III, the budding horologist began to buy his own tools and components to start tinkering.

But without the time or money to attend watchmaking school, which, incidentally, are only found in far-flung places like Switzerland and France, the resourceful zillennial turned to what he knows best: the Internet. 

“Mostly I watched Instagram video demonstrations made by other independent watchmakers, and I took note of what materials to buy, and how to recreate the process, such as the hand movements. Everything is self-studied,” states Ho, who has spent $30,000 to date on his passion.

Today, in a workspace crowded with equipment such as a microscope, lathe, timegrapher, humidifier, and numerous instruments, he is already perfecting several demanding artisanal techniques. They include his signature anglage and mosaic finishing, as well as frosting, snailing, gold-plating, polishing, and sunray brushing. Other related knowledge he had to pick up included metallurgy and CAD drawing.

Not unlike his full-time lab job, such skills require endless hours of focus, persistence, precision, and experimentation, which explains his brand’s name, LOTH, an acronym for Lab of Tristan Ho. 

“There are long periods of trial and error. Mastering snailing took me a year and a half, during which I had to figure out many things myself, such as the type of material I needed to use to grind the snailing pattern inside the ratchet wheel and the appropriate grip of abrasive paste to use. I make 50 per cent of the tools myself, and even the screwdrivers need to be sharpened every few weeks.”

Sweet success

While other watchmakers in our local independent scene design and assemble their creations here, as well as hobbyists who decorate their own timepieces, Ho is the only one with a commercially available product, the LOTH Watch 1, featuring a hand-finished dial and movement bridges — both in German silver as a tribute to 19th century watchmaking.

Taking its name from its silver-like appearance, German silver is actually a mesmerising off-white copper alloy containing nickel and zinc. “It is a very sensitive metal, but I chose it because it offers me a real challenge. When left unlacquered, it develops a gentle patina that takes on a honeyed ambrosia tone.”

Every scrape on the dial’s pearlescent-effect mosaic pattern, encircled by a sunray-brushed stainless steel chapter ring, is symbolic of the young talent’s watchmaking journey. Each dial is organically wrought, so that no two look alike. 

“Most movements come in brass with rhodium plating, but I wanted an extra metal element to showcase its raw beauty,” says Ho, who works with a CNC partner to custom-manufacture and machine his self-designed German silver bridges and serial number plate, which he’d finish with various techniques to provide an attractive contrast against the sand-blasted and ruthenium-plated main plate.

“German silver is a challenging material to work with, such that only the most luxurious brands, like Moritz Grossman and Philippe Dufour, use it. I have to wear gloves all the time to ensure it doesn’t come into contact with anything, such as the oils and moisture on the skin, which can corrode it. I cannot even scratch my nose when it itches.” 

The watch is enclosed in a 40.5mm stainless steel case, with a lug-to-lug length of 49mm and a height of 11.2mm taking into account the crystal, which is sourced from a supplier. The robust, reliable, and easily serviceable old-stock Swiss ETA 6498 manual-winding calibres are self-sourced, after poring over listing by listing, from eBay. 

The hour, minute, and small-seconds hands are crafted from heat-blued steel, while the custom-made strap hails from local leather goods brand Cattlehide in support of Singaporean craftsmanship. Each watch requires approximately 150 man-hours in total, encompassing hundreds of tasks that break down to the minutiae, such as polishing the screws and bevelling the screw slots.

All that effort hasn’t gone unnoticed, not least because Ho is also savvy with marketing this project. On his Instagram account @lothwatches, which has a following of over 2,300 and counting, he has documented his journey every step of the way. From hand-sawing components to his experiments in snailing, to hand-fashioning tools and creating prototypes, his posts are often candid and insightful. In one of them, he says this: “I only stop polishing when I can see myself in the anglage.”

He has since hosted a free tour of his home atelier. He is looking forward to participating in an SG60 exhibition on August 10 organised by local strapmaker Delugs, as well as presenting the LOTH Watch 1 at the Spring, Sprang, Sprung watch fair on November 8 and 9 at the National Design Centre.

Aside from securing buyers — from Australia to the US — for this first collection, what also gave Ho the confidence and drive to pursue horology was the community support surrounding him, and the fact that students currently enrolled in prestigious watchmaking schools had even reached out to him for advice on their own projects.

“One messaged me in French. And that’s also another goal of mine: to inspire fellow watchmakers, whether they’re Singaporean or from overseas.”

It will take a year or so to complete delivery of his creations, but his youthful excitement is palpable. “It’s cool knowing that one of my watches will tell someone it’s bedtime, another will tell someone else it’s time for lunch.”

As Ho regularly demonstrates on the Gram, his work is slow, deliberate, and honest. Anyone who appreciates handcraftsmanship can witness his dedication, and for each of his customers, the $6,500 price tag is certainly worth it.