Only three of these Laterite Edition watches were made.

Pann Rethea
07 June 2022

..clients who pre-order the watch must wait for two years before delivery of the $30,000 timepiece.

Launched four years ago, the stylish high-end watch brand PU – known for combining traditional Khmer art with a sleek modern luxury aesthetic – will soon unveil its ladies edition, which is among four new models slated for release this year.

Starting in January 2022, PU launched four new models for local and international markets aimed at clients who appreciate the art of watchmaking. They also have a line of accessories.

“We spent a longer time on them and that meant higher production costs. For the ‘Tiger Eyes Stone’ watch project, something like 210 out of 300 stone pieces broke and then only 90 per cent of the remaining stones could pass quality control standards and then we still lost another 5 per cent to breakage during the assembly stage,” Pitu explains..

“Because of the high costs in the production chain, with a lot of trial and failure, the Tiger Eye Stone watch comes with a price tag of $4,190,” says Pitu.

“In 2022, PU produced only six of the Banteay Srei Limited Edition,” According to PU Watch Cambodia’s official instagram. “The last of this model will be available for pre-order in 2024.”

The quality – and price tag – of PU watches doesn’t max itself out at four digits. The most expensive watch is the Laterite Limited Edition. Announced in January, 2022, clients who pre-order the watch must wait for two years before delivery of the $30,000 timepiece.

“PU Watch Cambodia planned to produce only three watches of this kind and two of them were sold immediately at the launch,” Pitu says.

Pitu, who postponed studying for his Master’s degree in sales and marketing to pursue watchmaking and design training with Swiss and Japanese companies, said the Laterite Edition watches are meant to signify strength and longevity like the bricks that have kept the temples of Cambodia standing for centuries.

PU Watch Cambodia began operations on October 1, 2018 and according to Pitu they have been surprisingly successful – even beyond his expectations – encountering a huge demand both locally and internationally for these limited edition and made-to-order timepieces.

In their early days, PU began with 10 staff members and it took at least five days to produce one watch. The first three models were the PU Classic Model, PU International Model and PU Traditional Model with prices between 400 to 500 dollars in overseas markets.

Less than two months after PU announced the Kingdom Craftsmanship watch that year, Pitu said that 50 of them were purchased within Cambodia and he has already exported PU timepieces overseas to countries such as South Korea, Japan, Brazil, Bosnia, China, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, the US and Australia.

Since its inception, PU Watch Cambodia has produced 15 different watch models and all of them have come with hand-made Khmer-designed boxes and bags, but Pitu has chosen not to use local woods because of the issues of deforestation and illegal logging in the Kingdom.

full. https://www.phnompenhpost.com/lifestyle ... dy-edition

Buying a watch 'off plan' with a 2 year wait for completion.

Whatever next...

And I don't see "sleek modern luxury aesthetic" either.

John Bingham wrote:The guy mentioning all those parts breaking doesn't exactly make one too confident.

And then mentioning it represents durability and longevity... :-/ At least they're transparent I guess.

Now is probably a good time to start talking about watches and their value. My favorite is still Konstantin Chaykin's Lunokhod watch and I think knowing the exact value in the amount of Bic Macs would be an interesting discussion as I think it will probably be truckloads. Luckily, there are no McDonalds restaurants in Cambodia to make this a mute point to anyone currently residing here.

https://www.uniquewatchguide.com/konsta ... hod-watch/