Selten and Watch Ho & Co. Introduce the Yum Cha, a New Limited Edition with an Engraved Grand Feu Enamel Dial

Last year, Selten and Watch Ho & Co released the Jui, a limited run watch celebrating the community Watch Ho & Co has fostered in Hong Kong, and it kind of went viral. For a few days, it was basically the only watch you were likely to see on Instagram, thanks largely to the dynamic Tahitian mother of pearl dial. Reader, they got me too. I ordered one and unlike some limited releases ordered on impulse because of a short order window and a need to make a decision quickly, I actually find myself wearing it pretty regularly. The dial is wonderful, of course, but the secret weapon is the case, which like all Selten watches is incredibly well finished for the price point and just an ideal size. 

Anyway, Selten and Watch Ho & Co are back with a new limited edition celebrating the third anniversary of the group. It’s very much in the same vein as the Jui in that it is inspired by and tied to the idea of community, but in terms of its ambition and degree of difficulty it’s a pretty notable step up from last year’s effort. The Yum Cha, unveiled today, takes a familiar activity in a dim sum meal and grafts some pretty impressive craft onto it. 

The dial motif is unmistakably influenced by bamboo steaming baskets that will be immediately familiar to anyone who has enjoyed dim sum at some point in their lives. Jacki Ho, the founder of Watch Ho & Co, wanted to make a dial inspired by this idea as it is linked to fond childhood memories of visiting Hong Kong teahouses with his grandparents. 

The dial is crafted in multiple stages. It is first engraved by Selten’s in-house engraver and enamelist. According to the brand, 80 individual rectangles are carved into the dial, inside of which sit 40 parallel lines. The math works out to around 3,500 individual cuts per dial. Selten’s engraver does his work under a microscope using tungsten tools and a “bright-cut” technique that yields mirror polished engraved lines. 

After engraving, the watch is given a grand feu enamel treatment that results in the distinct brown, slightly transparent color. The transparent enamel was chosen so that the engraving could be properly highlighted without losing the luster and depth one would expect from an enamel dial. After firing in a kiln, the dial is hand polished to achieve the exact depth of color and shine desired. 

The case is stainless steel and measures 38mm in diameter and 9.95mm thick (it is 44.5mm from lug to lug). In a change from last year’s collaboration, the Yum Cha runs on a manually wound Sellita SW200 movement with 65 hours of power reserve. That change, along with the complexity and labor involved in crafting the dial, means a higher price point than the Jui. The Yum Cha retails for $4,950 and will be limited to 100 pieces. Selten

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