VISITING INDEPENDENT WATCHMAKER MINHOON YOO IN SEOUL
🪛 Without even seeing a watch in the end
Finding interesting stuff to do on a holiday is an exercise in curation. For one of my first post-pandemic trips I chose Seoul, a city which I was already familiar with from multiple trips in the past. With all the touristy sights out of the way I wanted to delve into more niche things. I always start with a kitchen sink list and narrow down from there.
On the list was, 'Look at Carved Piece by Minhoon Yoo'. I'd followed Minhoon Yoo (@minhoon_yoo) for a couple of years now and this was the only Seoul related watch thing I could think of. I left messaging Minhoon quite late before the trip as I figured he'd be super busy following press from the New York Times, Monochrome, Hodinkee and Watchfinder in quick succession. I felt a bit bad, being a nobody barging in to snoop but I shot a message in the dark anyway. Minhoon kindly replied and informed me that while unfortunately the watch was on hopping around Europe, I was free to come over and view his workshop in person. I'd only ever been outside a watchmaker's workshop before browsing watches or collecting something from service, so sniffing around inside one seemed like a bit of fun.
Seoul is sort of like if you played Sim City with no plan and a hatred of grids. It's also about twelve cities pretending to be one city. To get to Minhoon's workshop on foot, me and a friend had to climb a motorway that went over another motorway to get onto a third motorway. Seoul is just sort of like that sometimes.
I was wearing my Kurono Tokyo Mori and my friend was wearing his Kurono Tokyo Seiji. While trying to find his workshop we were spotted on the street by Minhoon who remarked that, "You guys were wearing Kuronos, so it had to be you". Another plus in the box for secret IYKYK watch nerd signifiers. There was no elevator to Minhoon's second floor workshop but that's ok because everything in Seoul is on an incline so we were used to going up places on our feet.
We talked about his newfound fame, how he's in the process of starting an actual production run of watches and what that feels like. I get shown various bits and bobs. Sketches, posters, parts and secret things.
On the topic of design elements and incorporating Korean-ness, I prodded at how being the only known Korean watchmaker out west affects his watches.
"It helps... but I don't want to be known as a watchmaker just because I am Korean. I want to be known for my work first."
On macro scale this is a bigger issue than just Minhoon. Grand Seiko and other Japanese brands simultaneously deal with, lean into and fight with the, 'Japanese Watch' moniker and its insinuations. The Swiss actively assert a, 'Swiss Watch' narrative. I question a little further but it becomes clear.
Minhoon Yoo just wants to be Minhoon Yoo, making Minhoon Yoo watches.
There are Korean design elements to his watches but he doesn't want you to be interested in his watches because of that. He wants you to be interested in his watches because they are interesting.
As someone who's now seen a bunch of his design processes and sketches - Minhoon Yoo's train of thought going into his watches is well, really fucking cool. The influences and through-lines of his work leading up to the carved piece were fun to see. From one of his early university projects being one of the inspirations of the carved piece dial to a Youtube video he showed us of a piece of furniture being made out of sand.
There's alot of unique design alchemy going on in Minhoon's head that will make for some great watches now and in the future. Stuff that is completely out of left-field from the usual watch design handbook.
At this point I was starting to become comfortable taking more snaps. Minhoon turned the lamp on to make everything more cinematic. Absolute professional move.
He apologized repeatedly for the messy state of his workshop and the coffees everywhere but as a sort of fellow struggling artist it felt very hilariously familiar. If you're a creative person and your space looks like right out of a design magazine then I don't really trust you.
"I use the money I have to upgrade or buy more gear."
The cycle of, 'make stuff to buy stuff that makes better stuff' is universal it seems. I'm looking at YOU photographers, hobby guitarists et al. As is learning from Youtube tutorials.
Minhoon's gear is a mishmash of custom ordered stuff from Europe, stuff from Chinese manufacturers and Ebay finds that barely work. It's a workshop in progress and the space is more charming because if it. Also there's a skateboard with his name on it.
"I wish I could skate more but... I need my wrists."
I wonder if there's a person in the world who could repair watches with their feet. Maybe you can be the first. I asked about the T-Shirts he posted on Instagram and if I could get one. No dice, apparently it's too much of a hassle - it would be it's own entire business.
"It doesn't make sense that I don't finish a watch because I'm too busy making T-Shirts."
Shame because the T-Shirts were one of the best watch-related tees I'd ever seen. The bar is pretty low though. Feel free to send me your best watch-related tees.
"Alot of people message me for the price and when I give it to them they just disappear without saying anything else."
I assume it's one of the above cigarettes for every person that's ghosted Minhoon. I may or may not have also been one of those people.
"If I were to give some advice to someone interested in watchmaking, I would tell them that this will ruin your life."
This was a line of Minhoon's that he repeated a few times. It really resonated with me because this is the exact advice I would give to someone looking to get into watch collecting. Good to know both sides of the coin are the same here.
Minhoon then very kindly offered us lunch and gave us a choice of tacos or naengmyeon. The tacos could wait. I non-ironically have an internal "Western Food Survival Guide for Seoul" in my mind ready to be turned into an article (Tacos are huge in Seoul because of the LA > Korea and Korean-American connection ala Roy Choi and Kogi BBQ). I have previous uh, knowledge of naengmyeon but had never eaten the stuff so was keen on it.
We dodged the local aggressive species known as, 'ajumma' on the street as we made our way to the naengmyeon place. Minhoon informed me that he is just as scared of them as I am.
We chatted casually about what exciting stuff other independent watchmakers were brewing up, our shared love of the Japanese indies and how he'd like to make a more accessible watch like a Kurono down the line ("Maybe in 10 years"), how he thought my six watch collection plan was a complete lie and how he met his wife. Afterward, Minhoon was kind enough to walk us halfway toward our next destination across the river from a park we wanted to visit. He recommended a café that ended up the best we visited in Seoul, coffee wise (and we visted alot, maybe another article idea).
While I didn't get to see the carved-piece watch I had written on my Seoul bucket list, I ended up meeting a cool guy who was into the same stuff I was. I got to delve into a fellow creative's design process and gain inspiration from it. I got to visit a suburban part of Seoul I never would have otherwise. Another reason to just reach out.
"That's what's cool about independent watchmaking, meeting other people."
I'm now a firm believer in adding, 'visit the local independent watchmaker' to your travel itinerary.