HONG KONG, 2 October 2003 — It was a wonderful year for girls at the 2003 Hong Kong Watch and Clock Fair. Thousands and thousands of watches were on display at the exhibition but without a doubt the cutest, most attractive timepieces were the ones created with pretty girls in mind.

“Girls are always interested in fashion and wearing the latest styles. These days they want to be individuals, too,” said Jaman Lam, marketing manager, Chee Fat Industrial Co. “That’s why we believe that our Time Beads will prove to be very popular. Time Beads are bracelet watches that combine digital timepieces with acrylic or jelly beads of many colors, shapes and sizes. Some watches are all in one color. Others use several different colors. With high-tech elastic optical fiber at the center, the Time Beads watch fits any wrist. The watch battery is designed to last three-years. We believe that girls will want a different watch to color coordinate with every outfit.”

A different watch for every outfit! How can that be? Truth be told, these stunning Time Beads will retail for about SR20. When Lam mentioned the price, it was shocking. Apparently the ease of assembly, standard size and creation of huge numbers of components batch by batch contributes to the low cost of the watch without causing a reduction in quality.

Quality coupled with individuality was also the name of the game in the Brand Name Gallery at the Hong Kong Watch and Clock Fair. Chickeeduck was a clear winner. Doreen Chu, marketing director, Advance Group Asia explained that Advance Group handles the design and manufacturing for Chickeeduck watches.

Chickeeduck is a Hong Kong brand that has risen to international prominence in just 13 years. The company’s style is more akin to a chic European brand than the more typical Asian mass market concept. This is because Chickeeduck’s management perceived at an early stage that Hong Kong parents placed a premium on high-quality, medium-priced branded children’s wear and accessories. It turns out that parents everywhere prefer to purchase such goods for their families.

Chickeeduck currently sells upward of one million items each year in Hong Kong alone and has now branched out to Singapore, Indonesia, Korea, China, Macau and Saudi Arabia.

The company involves its staff and their families extensively in its operations. Chickeeduck operates a free garment sponsorship program for the children of its staff and staff members receive a salary increase each time they have a baby.

“We are really delighted to be working with Chickeeduck because they are such a high quality company,” said Chu. “As you can see, they have many different styles so girls and boys can choose what they like. Chickeeduck watches retail for SR100 — 200 so they are affordable for everyone. Parents can purchase quality timepieces for their children without worrying too much if the watch is misplaced.”

While every girl needs a watch, most girls like to have a clock for their bedroom. The perfect clocks for girls, eight years old and above, were ones manufactured by Topole Time. These clocks were incorporated into shapes such as a robot or a television made of alloy or brass, and brightly colored. The most ingenious of them was a brass teddy bear that came with a tiny clock on a chain to be hung around the bear’s neck.

The chain on the bear’s clock could be hooked into a larger necklace, which would allow the clock to be worn and shared by a little girl. Topole’s timepieces retailed for about SR20-30.

Barbie watches and clocks were everywhere. The name is owned by Mattel but it has been licensed to many different manufacturers.

At the Hong Kong Watch and Clock show there were 66 Barbie watches, 8 clocks and one necklace watch on display. Barbie watches featured mostly the famous doll or flowers or hearts. The predominant color in the Barbie timepieces was pink, naturally, but rhinestones and silver chains and frames added a touch of glamour and glitter. The message of course was that it’s okay to want to be one of the “in crowd,” but that doesn’t mean a girl shouldn’t still be herself.

Perhaps that was the nicest idea in all the hundreds of watches and clocks on display at the show. These days it’s quite all right for girls to be girls.