Guoming “Goddess Chang’e Flying to the Moon” Wristwatch
Presented at Baselworld 2018 watch fair, this exclusive timepiece was created by Guoming, a Chinese origin watchmaker who is also a candidate of the prestigious Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants. As the name suggests, this wrist watch depicts the scene of the Goddess Chang’e’s Flying to the Moon based on a Chinese mythological story.
According Chinese mythology, Chang’e is the goddess of the Moon. As per a Chinese legend, long time ago, there were 10 suns. It was too hot for people to live. Houyi, Chang’e’s husband, shot down 9 suns with his bow and kept one serving the people. Houyi was widely respected for his courage and martial art. As a result, many people learned martial art from him. One of them was Pangmeng (also known as Feng Meng or Beng Meng).
Later on, Houyi got the elixir of life. After taking the elixir of life, a person can not only be immortal, but also become a celestial being. Houyi was reluctant to leave Chang’e, so he didn’t take the elixir of life, instead, he hid it.
Pangmeng happened to know the story of elixir of life and he yearned for this magic medicine. One day, when Houyi wasn’t at home, Pangmeng forced Chang’e to give him the elixir of life. In order not to do so, Chang’e eventually took the elixir of life by herself. After that, she found she could fly slowly. At the end of the day, Chang’e flew to the moon with her pet rabbit and lived there ever since.
This story inspired the watchmaker to create timepiece that powered with a mechanical movement and displays hours, minutes, retrograde second hands and moon phase.
Technical details
- Case diameter: 43mm
- Movement diameter: 37mm
- Movement height: 5.10mm
- Jewels: 21
- Frequency: 2.5Hz
- Adjustment: five-position adjustment
- Functions: hours, minutes, retrograde second hands, moon phase
About Guoming
Guoming was born in Zhang Jiagang, Jiangsu Province, China. His father engaged in sewing machine repair and Guoming was influenced by his work and showed some interest in micromechanics afterwards. In the 1990s, his family moved to Shanghai and Guoming has been living in Shanghai ever since.
In the late 1990s, Guoming went abroad to study. During his spare time, he found a part-time job in a local antique store and saw some vintage clocks and watches. From then on, his interest in watches grew rapidly and he began to study watchmaking. He learned from some watch teachers and went abroad to specialize in watch repair, watchmaking and watch theory. In 2012, he set up a watch repair and wachmaking workshop in Shanghai.
Incidentally, Guoming met Swiss independent watchmaker and AHCI member Frank Jutzi. After examination, Guoming became Frank Jutzi’s first Chinese student. In 2013, Guoming followed Frank Jutzi and reached Wichtrach located in the suburb of Bern, Switzerland, for his watchmaking study in Frank Jutiz’s workshop.
Through years’ hard work, Guoming became the candidate of AHCI with his exquisite flying tourbillon pocket watch. He is also the youngest Chinese independent watchmaker in AHCI.
