Looking for a gift for a loved one who has everything, including a collection of luxury watches? An automatic watch winder, of course! Entrepreneur JIN WU is the founder of Singapore retail store Richman Luxury Boutique, specialists in luxury women’s and men’s automatic watch winders and safes.
Watch Winder #101
What is an automatic watch winder?
It’s a jewellery box equipped with a motor and a micro-processor that enables it to move in a particular way so as to rotate the watch. All automatic watch winders have a built-in security programme that makes sure that the watch can never be over-wound.
Who are watch winders for?
Who are watch winders for?Anyone who likes automatic watches, owns more than one of them, and would rather not have to manually rewind and reset them to the correct date.
How do watch winders work?
They use motorised electronic rotations that mimic the natural movements of your wrist. Many have multiple modes. Basically, a watch winder is a device that holds the watch and moves it in circular patterns, simulating the movements of a human hand. Thus, you can take off your watch at the end of the day, put it on the winder, and it will continue to receive a charge until you put it on again.
Richman Luxury watch winders
Singaporeans love luxury watches! What led you to start Richman Luxury?
In fact, I come from a family of horology businessmen, including my father and my brother. The family brand, Goldman Luxury, had been selling pre-owned watches for many years before I started Richman Luxury in 2015. My aim was to complement the family business by providing excellent yet affordable storage and care for women’s and men’s watches.
Tell us about your brand
As an automatic watch winder business, it fits right into the niche luxury watches scene. Not only are we Singapore’s top luxury watch winder provider, but I’m proud to say that we have become one of the leaders in the global market.
What’s more, we’ve won a string of awards. For example, just this year, US Luxury Lifestyle Awards gave us Best Innovations for Luxury Brands in Singapore and the Best Luxury Watch Winders in Singapore 2022.
How have you achieved such impressive results so quickly?
By never compromising on quality. At Richman, we pride ourselves on proprietary developments, creating leading edge winding technology based on fresh ideas, innovative systems and superior components. Our drives, gears and controls are meticulously designed and fine-tuned for the precise needs of every watch movement produced today.
My team and I are deeply committed to quality, service, innovation, customer care and the constant evolution of technology in the Singapore watch winder sector. I also developed microprocessor circuits that allow you to independently programme each of your automatic watch winders and adjust the rotation modes: clockwise, anti-clockwise, and alternating. For example, we use super-quiet Japanese mechanisms, which are both silent and highly reliable.
Which are your own favourite watches and watch accessories?
I have a beautiful collection of Rolex, Audemars Piaget and Patek Philippe women’s and men’s watches. I keep them in my Richman Luxury 24 Watch Winder Safe, which I also love. Watch safes are no longer items relegated to the back of a wardrobe. Instead, we can enjoy them as the beautiful pieces of furniture they are.
About Jin Wu, entrepreneur
Since launching Richman Luxury, leading Singapore luxury watch winder providers, Jin Wu has received a string of international awards for her entrepreneurial achievements. They include TKS Singapore Global Brand 2019, Singapore Top Business Service and Quality TOP 100 SME 2021/2022 and Singapore Enterprise Award 2022/2023, to name just three of many.
She’s also the founder of the Richman Foundation, which supports worthy causes such as animal welfare, arts and culture, children’s wellbeing, education, poverty alleviation, homeless people and social services. Its global mission is “to educate, inspire and change the world through the Pay Peace Forward movement, a catalyst to achieve the United Nations 17th Sustainable Development Goals 2030”.
In recognition of her philanthropic efforts, in August 2021 Jin Wu received an Honorary Doctorate in Philanthropy from the University of St Mother Theresa for Digital Educational Excellence and Sustainability Development and World Peace.
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