Logan Kuan Rao is a self-taught independent watchmaker based in Guangzhou whose small-scale work turns movement architecture into part of a watch’s story. His first watch, the two-hand Orca, uses a whale-shaped bridge and wave-inspired finishing; his later three-hand Wuwei shifts the emphasis to depth, contours and proportion. Rao makes almost all of each watch himself, while buying a few specialist components.
Who is Logan Kuan Rao?
Rao’s path to watchmaking began with an interest in watches, not a formal watchmaking apprenticeship. He told Monochrome that he studied Materials Science at Imperial College London and Product Design at the Royal College of Art. He began buying watchmaking tools around 2013 and learned through books, online resources and repeated practice. In a separate Wristcheck interview, he described fitting his learning around university breaks and acquiring books and equipment as he could.
That combination of materials knowledge, product design and self-directed bench work is visible in the way he approaches a movement: not just as a mechanism, but as an organized visual composition. Rao’s watches are made in very small numbers, with much of the work carried out by the watchmaker himself.
How much of each watch does Rao make?
Rao told Monochrome, “I make almost all of the components of a watch from scratch, including the movement, dial, hands, and case, with only the mainspring, jewels, and shock absorbers being purchased.” That qualification matters: the watches are highly hands-on creations, but not every component is made in his workshop.
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He has also described adapting machinery originally built for other industries, including a retired lathe and modified milling and CNC equipment. The result is a production approach centered on individual making rather than a conventional high-volume factory line.
The Orca: a whale in the movement
The Orca was Rao’s first watch. He made its first prototype in 2016 and said he officially delivered the first watch in 2021. In a 2023 Monochrome interview, he said the nine pieces were complete. It is a two-hand design whose most distinctive feature sits beneath the dial: a movement bridge shaped like a whale.
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Rao connected the idea to “Geneva Waves,” a common way of referring to Geneva stripes. The finishing pattern suggested an orca leaping from the sea, so he used traditional finishing techniques to build out the whale image and evoke waves and spray. Decoration and movement layout thus work together: the visual motif grows from a familiar finishing reference rather than being added as an unrelated ornament.
What the early prototype tells us
A 2017 SJX profile recorded specifications for an early Orca prototype: 37 mm in diameter, 7.8 mm tall, with a sterling-silver 3D-printed case, German-silver dial and hand-wound movement with a reported 50-hour power reserve. Those are prototype details reported in 2017, not confirmed specifications for every delivered Orca.
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From the Iceberg prototype to Wuwei
Rao’s second design is Wuwei, a three-hand watch. Its development is connected to the Iceberg, a prototype associated with Rao’s experimental Equal-Push escapement. The escapement was an attempt to explore alternatives to existing arrangements, but Rao said in 2023 that he had set that design aside and was using a Swiss lever escapement in the watches he was then making. Revolution likewise distinguishes the prototype escapement from the production Wuwei: the Equal-Push should not be described as a feature of the production watch.
Wuwei’s design focus is less about adding visible mechanical complexity than shaping movement depth, contours and harmonious proportions. Revolution relates the name to the Taoist concept of wuwei, and contrasts the Iceberg prototype’s raw, manually cut appearance with the more revised details of the production design. That is a useful design context, not a complete definition of the philosophical term.
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Orca and Wuwei compared
| Design | Hands | Design emphasis | Escapement context |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orca | Two | Whale-shaped bridge and finishing that suggests waves and spray | The cited coverage describes its visual concept; no separate escapement distinction is established here. |
| Wuwei | Three | Movement depth, contours and proportion | Production Wuwei is described with a Swiss lever escapement; Equal-Push belongs to the Iceberg prototype. |
A small operation, not a conventional production brand
A 2024 Straits Times report quoted Rao as saying that completing one watch can take up to 18 months and that he made about 10 pieces a year on average. These are reported production estimates, not a promise of an individual customer’s wait or a statement of current output. The report does not establish Rao’s 2026 prices, order status or lead times, so prospective buyers should seek current information directly rather than rely on older production figures.
The same article places Rao’s work within a much larger national industry contrast, citing Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry figures for 2023: China exported 534 million wristwatches at an average export price of US$4, while Switzerland exported 16.9 million at an average of US$1,679. Those country-level totals describe very different export mixes; they are not figures about Rao, his output or the value of his watches.
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Why Rao’s work stands out
Rao’s significance is not that a single maker represents all Chinese watchmaking. It is that his work offers a specific, legible example of independent watchmaking based in China: self-directed technical learning, unusually extensive in-house component making, and movement finishing used to carry a visual idea. The Orca turns Geneva-style finishing into an aquatic scene; Wuwei takes a quieter route, giving attention to the shape and depth of the movement itself.
Readers interested in how a watchmaker can learn beyond a formal apprenticeship may also encounter George Daniels’s Watchmaking, which SJX identified as foundational to Rao’s education. Its relevance here is as a book connected to his learning path, not as a product Rao has endorsed.
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