'Now we're going international,' chairman and major shareholder Patrick Chau Cham-wong says.

Such business growth would not be possible without funding, and it is in recognition of the investment community's support that Peace Mark is sponsoring the annual gala for fund managers.

'We hope our sponsorship of this occasion will raise the profile of Hong Kong's watch-making industry as a whole,' he says.

'It's a little known fact that watch manufacturing is the fifth-largest industry in Hong Kong. There are three major players in the global watch-making industry - Switzerland, Japan and Hong Kong - and few people realise that Hong Kong is currently the largest manufacturer of timepieces in the world. Hong Kong is making over 55 million units each month and that figure is still growing. Watch making is a core local industry.

'The Swiss have been making watches since time immemorial and may well lead the world in jewellery watches, but Hong Kong is the largest producer of timepieces for daily wear.'

Through Peace Mark's sponsorship of the Fund Manager of the Year awards, Mr Chau hopes to raise awareness of Hong Kong's presence in this industry among the public and investors.

Peace Mark was founded in 1983 and listed in 1993. From making quartz analogue timepieces, it has branched out into distribution and built up its own design capabilities. At the same time, it has built a portfolio of well-known brands under licence, including Fiorucci, Montana, Pierre Cardin and Sergio Valente, and purchased brands such as Milus, a Swiss label with an 85-year history.

The company now has design centres both in Hong Kong and Switzerland. It also has what Mr Chau believes to be 'some of the most advanced watch manufacturing facilities in China, if not the world'. These vertically integrated operations embrace component manufacturing, electroplating and assembly. The company's assembly lines churn out nine million watches a year.

On the distribution front, the acquisition of a controlling stake in a mainland watch distributor last year has more than tripled the company's number of point-of-sales across the border. The company also aims to fill a void in the mainland for after-sales care of upmarket timepieces, particularly of the Swiss variety. The two moves, Mr Chau claims, show how seriously the company views the mainland's rapidly growing consumer market.

Peace Mark aims to establish around 100 after-sales service centres across the mainland in the next couple of years. As finding qualified technicians to staff such workshops is difficult, it opened a school to train its own at the start of this year.

The Watchsmith Timepiece Technical Training School, based in Shenzhen, aims to produce 80 watchsmiths a year through a curriculum dealing with both mechanical and quartz timepieces. The company is in talks to secure licensed service agency agreements with various luxury watchmakers.

Mr Chau would like to congratulate all award-winning fund managers for their excellent performances in 2003.