Personalised watches are starting to catch on in Hong Kong

Many analysts have blamed the government-led crackdown on corruption and gifting on the mainland for slowing sales of Swiss watches and European leather goods, but of equal importance has been an oversaturation of the market in Asia and so-called "luxury fatigue".

Consumers in Hong Kong and the mainland have begun to eschew ubiquitous brand names in watches, jewellery and fashion, preferring to buy more exclusive labels with limited production.

This shift towards greater exclusivity has been a boon to brands such as Parisian trunk maker Moynat, which only produces a few hundred bags a month, as well as bespoke and made-to-measure tailoring services that create one-off, personalised pieces. Personalisation is beginning to take off in the watch industry, but, unlike fashion where the strategic shift has come from the brands themselves, the made-to-measure trend has been driven by independent customising companies.

London-based Project X is one of a growing number of watch customisation companies that have sprung up in recent years and is now offering its services in Hong Kong. Working with Lane Crawford and the Pedder Group, Project X held a special retail event at the end of October where interested customers could build their own customised Rolex Daytona in-store and have the completed piece in just a few hours rather than wait months on delivery from Europe.

"No one's ever done this," says Daniel Bourn, 43, a former investment banker turned watch dealer and the man behind Project X. "We wanted to take personalisation even further. Usually, people can't imagine something unless they see it. With this, we are physically putting people in the room with the parts to choose as well as the watchmaker, so they truly get what they want," says Bourn.