Malaysian Doctor Creates Fine Luxury Timepieces

By Siti Shafiah Ariffin KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 (Bernama) -- Despite his packed schedule as a medical officer at a university here, Dr Ahmad Syahid Mohd Fadzil still found time to create fine luxury timepieces for his clients. The 35-year-old founded MASA Horlogerie in 2015. He has designed a number of luxury watches, many of which feature traditional Malaysian motifs. Dr Ahmad Syahid’s received his first watch at the age of five. His interest in mechanical watches started at age 14, and today designing luxury timepieces is a passion of his that has rewarded him well. "I started designing my own watch since I was around 16-17 years old, and became seriously involved in designing (watches) in 2012. I started developing the MASA watches in 2014 and the first première edition rolled out from our Swiss workshop in November 2015. "All the watches are handmade in Switzerland to comply with the Swiss Made certifications. We source the materials from different areas in Switzerland in our pursuit to get the best quality possible," he told Bernama. PURSUING A PASSION Dr Ahmad Syahid said he allocated every free time he had for his hobby. "Due to the opportune time difference between Malaysia and Switzerland, I am able to deal with the workshop and my business partners in Switzerland after my office hours. “For me, good time management is key to a life of multitasking, what more in the medical field which requires a high degree of commitment. However busy we are, we still need to put our children and family first,” he said. He said his family did not approve of his desire to pursue his passion in watchmaking, so he studied medicine instead as he felt it closest to his passion. “I found similarity in these two fields, in that both are a combination of different systems that are synchronised in a way to execute certain functions. "I continued to pursue my passion after my medical studies by providing watch appraisal services,” said the Kuala Lumpur born. SELF-TAUGHT Dr Ahmad Syahid said winning the Bumiputera Entrepreneurs Start Up Scheme (SUPERB) Entrepreneurial Challenge in 2014 became the stepping-stone for starting his business on Aug 31, last year. "It is all self-learned via horological literature and watchmaking books, since there is no proper access to this field of study here in Malaysia. "Watchmaking is quite straight-forward, but to create a unique piece requires inspiration and focus,” he said. Dr Ahmad Syahid said the five models he had produced were the Premier Edition Statesmen7 for men, the Chronoqueen for women, the Artitus and two special editions in conjunction with the Merdeka (Independence) Day celebrations. Another series is also due in November, called the Kerabat Series. “Of all the watches produced, everything was sold except one. There were 200 of the premier edition, four of the Artitus and 36 units of the Merdeka series,” he revealed. HIGH QUALITY, WELL-PRICED "Our watches range from US$238 (RM1,000) to US$7,152 (RM30,000) depending on the technical specifications, intricacy, materials, collectibility and edition. The cost of development of the watches varies," he said. Dr Ahmad Syahid said MASA Horlogerie also featured typography from posters during the Merdeka era for its Merdeka series watches, which are the Statesmen57 which were sold at US$466 (RM1,957) for the mechanical version and US$741 (RM3,108) for the automatic. He believed the ability to couple high quality with reasonable prices was among the reasons that MASA Horlogerie watches were in high demand even though it was still new to the industry. Dr Ahmad Syahid has also received orders from customers who wanted more Malaysian elements in the watches. For such orders, he would handcraft the elements into the watches first before sending them to Switzerland to be manufactured. The quality of MASA Horlogerie is at par with several of the bigger names in the Switzerland watch industry as it fully uses Swiss components and adheres to the Swiss Made standards. MASA Horlogerie also participated in the recent exhibition at the Starhill Gallery, "A Journey Through Time". “The design and technical specifications are all done in-house at our gallery but it is all manufactured in Switzerland and we adhere to their accreditation process,” he said. He said each watch produced has its own element of uniqueness and story, such as the 'Songket Bunga Pecah Lapan' (Eight Petal Flower Songket) collection which symbolises 'the beginning of birth', purity, balance in natural state and the harmony of nature. Dr Ahmad Syahid said the latest collection, the Kerabat Series, would feature designs inspired by the history of the Taming Sari keris, in appreciation of the rich Malaysian heritage. “The watch hand would be in the shape of a keris, which represents the Taming Sari,” he said. -- BERNAMA