Carson Chan
Founder of WatchProfessorCarson Chan graduated from the California State Polytechnic University with a Bachelor of Science degree in International Business in 1995. He returned to Hong Kong in 1997 to start his own company specialising in injection manufacturing. Two years later he became Bonhams’ Hong Kong representative. In 2004 he was appointed General Manager for Asia for kick starting the luxury watch brand Richard Mille. Carson’s involvement with Bonhams Auction took on a permanent role in January 2007 when he became Managing Director and Head of the Watch Department for Bonhams Asia based in Hong Kong. In 2014 Carson joined the FHH (Foundation de la Haute Horlogerie) as a consultant and became the Head of Mission, Asia. In 2020, Carson’s role at the FHH took a more global direction when he became the Chief Advisor for the FHH.
Carson is a great enthusiast for all things mechanical. Besides being a keen race car driver, his passion for watches led him to study horology in depth and he completed various Complicated Mechanical Movement Repairing and Training Courses at the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (Department of Engineering Management and Technology) as well as a number of training courses offered by top Swiss watchmakers. Carson continues to study and train in the horological world both as a hobby and a passion. In September 2013, Carson was recognised by the Foundation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) in Switzerland as a master trainer, the first Chinese in the world to achieve this level of distinction. He has regularly conducted training classes for consumers and have taken on a bigger training role in his new capacity as an FHH master trainer by offering certification programmes to the watch trade professionals and enthusiasts alike. In 2014, Carson assisted the FHH Academy in launching the first ever industry recognized certification programme, giving the much needed professional recognition for the industry. In 2018, Carson was invited to become one of 28 jury member of the GPHG (Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Geneve), a role that reflects his expertise in the industry.
In the watch world, Carson is known as the WatchProfessor – a name he uses on Instagram that shares his passion and knowledge with the public. During the midst of the pandemic in September 2020, Carson was the only media outside of China that visited the Watches & Wonders Shanghai. To make this journey, he had gone thru a total of 28 days of solitary quarantine in a hotel room, this dedication to horology is rarely found amongst journalists. Carson’s knowledge and standing in the watch world has led topflight watch and lifestyle publications in the Asia to invite him to write columns and interviews for them. He is now the watch editor for Vogue Man Hong Kong, Vanity Fair / Vanity Time UK, contributing writer for Chronomen Hong Kong. Carson has been widely interviewed by the local, regional, and international media on watch collecting and the auction industry in Hong Kong. (New York Times, Financial Times, Finance Asia, South China Morning Posts, Apple Daily, etc.