The Armoury’s Mark Cho on watches and Hong Kong’s new Pedder Arcade: the dapper gent’s latest lifestyle venture is the talk of the town, welcoming Phillips Perpetual, Drumohr and Nigel Cabourn

Jan 2 , 2024

Mark Cho is co-founder of the Armoury and one of the masterminds behind Pedder Arcade. Photo: Akita Daisuke

With co-founder Alan See, Cho opened the bespoke tailor on Pedder’s third floor in 2010, before taking the concept to Tribeca and the Upper East Side neighbourhoods of New York

The keen watch collector talks about his favourite pieces and latest lifestyle venture, which also houses Phillips Perpetual, knitwear brand Drumohr, outerwear designers Nigel Cabourn and The Armoury’s new cigar lounge, The Study

A cursory glance at the blank ground-level facade of Pedder Building offers no clue to its inspiring new fifth-floor fit-out. Since its launch last month, the multi-shop lifestyle concept Pedder Arcade has slowly been welcoming new outposts from the likes of Phillips Perpetual – the auctioneer’s watch boutique in association with specialists Bacs & Russo – knitwear brand Drumohr and outerwear designers Nigel Cabourn. And among these noteworthy neighbours sits The Armoury’s latest home, and its new cigar lounge The Study.

Co-founders Mark Cho and Alan See opened the bespoke tailor and menswear purveyor on Pedder’s third floor back in 2010, before taking the concept to Tribeca (2014) and the Upper East Side (2020) neighbourhoods of New York. The pair worked hard to bring the Arcade to life, so much so that when we visit, just a week shy of its official late October launch, a good number of the shops are still under renovation, or only just moving stock in.

The Armoury co-founder Mark Cho. Photo: Akita Daisuke

“It’s a project I’ve always wanted to do,” says Cho, “and [during the pandemic], we were all wondering what was next.

“Luckily, the New York stores have done amazingly but Hong Kong felt squandered for years. This project signifies that at the end of the day, some things you just have to do by yourself.

“You have to rely on the goodwill of customers and friends, you make exciting projects and you hope this will bring Hong Kong back to where it needs to be,” adds Cho, who was born in London but moved to Hong Kong 13 years ago and founded The Armoury.

A significant financial driver of these efforts is evidently Cho’s love of watch collecting, which has been a passion since 2006. Last year, he worked with Phillips to auction off a large portion of his personal collection in a sale called The Beauty In Everything, with 64 lots sold for a total of HK$12.68 million. At the time, it was in the hope of setting up a watch arm for The Armoury – an expansion of the two cases of vintage pieces on display at the Landmark Atrium outpost – but Cho confirms proceeds eventually went towards creating Pedder Arcade.

Mark Cho’s Seiko Credor Goldfeather. Photo: Handout

Much of Cho’s collecting philosophy is on display in those lots: from rare vintage references and designs from Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and Grand Seiko; to modern independents such as Daniel Roth and even Baltic Watches; and even two Mickey Mouse pieces from Bulgari and Swatch.

“I dislike large watches,” he says about his current tastes. “I find them clunky and annoying to wear. As a result, I end up not wearing them and they stay in the safe which is kind of futile and pointless.”

Vintage is also on his mind – Cho is currently interested in ultra-thin pieces from the 1960s such as the Audemars Piguet Extra Flat or Seiko Goldfeather, and more recently, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control from the 1990s in 34mm. Cartier is also becoming a larger part of his collection.