An unreasonable investment by a local micro-brand. Designed, developed, assembled, and tested in HK; quite possibly the mechanical movement with the most HK elements to date.

Make no mistake, Hong Kong has produced mechanical watches. In fact, over half a century ago, before the widespread availability of quartz movements, “made in HK” was like our “made in China” today. Hong Kong was a well-known production location for affordable watches.

While most movements were imported, some entry-level movements were produced locally, using imported designs and components. According to multiple interviews with relevant individuals and associations, we have learned that while there were manufacturing steps done in Hong Kong, the movements were never exported without the watches. As a result, there were no reasons to meet the stringent requirement of a certificate of origin for a mechanical movement. They have concluded that the Caliber 852 is likely to be the 1st movement that is Hong Kong-owned, locally designed, and utilize made-in-Hong Kong core components such as the hairspring and mainplate.

Additionally, the Caliber 852 is likely to be the 1st “mechanical movement” to obtain the Hong Kong Certificate of Origin, and definitely the 1st “skeleton mechanical movement” to do so.

But as documents and records for the pre-1950s are difficult to retrieve, and to respect our forefathers in the watch industry, we have decided to claim the title for the 1st “skeleton” movement with the Hong Kong Certificate of Origin instead.

Made in Hong Kong?

The definition of a watch’s origin differs from country to country. There is the requirement of applying a label, such as “Swiss Made”, and the requirement of different countries’ customs departments. i.e. whether the importing country accepts the imported watch as made in Switzerland.

Unlike “Swiss Made”, most countries and locations, including Hong Kong, don’t have a government-protected label for products and crafts produced locally. Therefore, shipping documents/certificates required by customs departments for import become the most important proof of origin internationally.

A Made in Hong Kong watch

Different countries often have slightly varying requirements for watches, but most require 1 or more of the following conditions met:

  • Most of the value-add occurred in Hong Kong

  • Key manufacturing steps, such as movement encasing and final quality checks occurred in Hong Kong

  • The movement of the watch is made in Hong Kong

A Made in Hong Kong Mechanical Movement

For the movement itself, similarly, there are similar requirements to be met before it can be considered as made in Hong Kong. The Caliber 852 has the following HK made elements:

  • EONIQ in-house design of the skeleton baseplate

  • Movement components customized to EONIQ’s specifications

  • Hong Kong based precision CNC production of the baseplate

  • Hong Kong made hairspring

  • Hong Kong component QC

  • EONIQ in-house assembly of the movement

  • EONIQ in-house tuning and adjustment of the hairspring

  • EONIQ in-house final movement QC

We are proud to introduce a mechanical movement that doesn’t barely meet the requirement to get a certificate of origin; the Caliber 852 is definitely the most made in Hong Kong mechanical movement to date

Certificate of Hong Kong Origin

The EONIQ SIGNATURE Caliber 852 is the first mechanical movement to obtain a certificate of Hong Kong origin. The granting of this certificate means our production facility and system have been inspected by multiple entities, including the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department, to ensure the professional production of our mechanical movements. During the process, the movement itself, and the components’ origins are also investigated and verified to meet the made in Hong Kong requirement. Our movement have also been shipped to different countries of this world. In the process, we have verified that this Caliber 852, is indeed accepted by the world as a made in Hong Kong mechanical movement.

The United States views "Made in Hong Kong" as equivalent to "Made in China."

During the 2020 U.S.-China trade war, the U.S. decided to classify "Made in Hong Kong" products as "Made in China." In 2025, Trump signed an executive order imposing an additional 10% tariff on goods imported from China, effective February 4. We have been diligently working to reduce costs and profits to meet the minimum value set by the U.S. at $800. Unfortunately, this approach can no longer continue.

A quick online search reveals that mechanical watches with in-house movements priced below $800 are virtually non-existent. Each Calibre 852 movement costs about four times that of typical Japanese mechanical movements (excluding R&D costs), yet our watch prices are comparable to other Japanese mechanical watches. While this may seem unreasonable to the average person, our team firmly believes that this watch carries significant meaning, and we must work together to promote Hong Kong manufacturing around the world.

More Hong Kong than made in HK

EONIQ has long created mechanical watches with very high (if not the highest) Hong Kong value add components. Now with our own in-house made in Hong Kong mechanical watch movement, our watches are now as Hong Kong as it gets.