Action time

Both Van Damme and Seagal were big watch collectors, perhaps chasing the wave that caught Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. Back when they were big box office draws, both Van Damme and Seagal were staples of late-night talk shows, celebrity events and movie premieres. They needed to sport serious wrist candy to keep up with their fellow luminaries. And they did.

“I loved every minute of making action movies in Hong Kong,” she says. “It was dangerous, exciting, full of challenges to do things I never thought possible, and living in a completely different culture was the experience of a lifetime.”

“The 1980s and 1990s were an incredible time, with the excitement of knowing there is a market out there that is so hungry to see your movies. I met media buyers at the film markets that were personally big fans and were so invested in the martial arts genre they couldn’t wait for another movie to come out so they could buy it. It was amazing to be part of this group of action guys who were entertaining the entire world. Everyone around the globe would eventually see those movies, either in the theatres, on VHS or on TV.”

The size of it

For many action stars, especially the muscular ones, small watches were not on the cards, so they opted for bigger timepieces to match their physiques. “I always wanted the Rolex Submariner and it was by far one of the most popular watches of the 1980s and 1990s, but for big guys like me it wasn’t a good fit as it was simply too small and so I unfortunately never bought one,” remembers Hues. “I wish they made a size for us big action guys. This is what set the market for the companies like Panerai and U-Boat.

“Unfortunately, I’ve misplaced or lost most of my watches,” Hues continues. “I now split my time between LA and Bali and, in Bali, my wife and I have a monkey, who steals everything that isn’t nailed down. He probably has my watches off in the jungle somewhere. But I will definitely purchase another dream watch soon and lock it into the safe when I’m not wearing it.”

Over the years, companies have tried to capitalise on the martial arts audience, like Richard Mille with Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh limited editions; Hublot with Jet Li, as well as a Bruce Lee Foundation timepiece; U-Boat and its Steven Seagal Classico U-72 limited edition; and Yvan Arpa’s Black Belt watch, which required you to prove that you had earned a black belt to buy one. Schwarzenegger famously sent an assistant to buy one of the Black Belt watches, only to be turned away.

How the Movies Got Me into Watches

How did I go from writing and producing low-budget martial arts movies to writing about watches? Simple, really. After I finished a movie, I would buy what I then thought was a nice watch, usually from a retailer in Hong Kong.

As I started to learn more, I figured out that my watches were not actually so nice. I became more and more enamoured with the whole world of timepieces. I was already freelance writing between movies, specialising in the martial arts, policing, China and movie-making, so I started to dabble in watch writing as well. I worked for National Jeweler, American Time, Europa Star, InSync and others.

Then, when martial arts films died a slow death in the 1990s, I did more and more watch writing and, long story short, ended up here at Revolution. For those fans of No Retreat, No Surrender, which is my tenuous claim to fame, don’t give up hope. There will be more to come.

Additional research by Alan Seymour.