"I have never sold my handmade tourbillon before. Up till now, I have made a total of 14 tourbillon wristwatches, 6 tourbillon watches, 3 flying tourbillon watches and 5 mystery tourbillon watches. All of them are prototypes, they are all unique and all the components are handmade... " "This will be the first time my watch will be available on the market, especially for Antiquorum?s 30th anniversary auction. It will be a milestone for me. This will be important to me and I look forward to seeing the result. I really appreciate your support over all these years." Kiu Tai Yiu (from a personal letter to Osvaldo Patrizzi) Thank you, Mr. Kiu Tai Yu Kiu Tai Yu Kiu Tai Yu was born in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China in 1946. Both of his parents came from families with generations of literary achievements. In 1970, at the age of 23, Tai Yu made his first mechanical watch and started collecting and studying watches and clocks. In January 1978 he created the first Asian escapement without pallets. Two years later he moved to Hong Kong. In 1984 he opened Kew & Cie, a company specializing in special watches. In 1990, Tai Yu made the first Asian tourbillon wristwatch. Because of to this achievement, he was invited by the "Academie Horlogère" to join them as a "Créateur Independent" (AHCI) in January,1992. In April of that year, he stunned the horological world at the Basel Fair with his three hand-made tourbillons. In November 1992, Tai Yu published "Time in Pocket" featuring his own collection, He made the flying tourbillon wristwatch (No. 6) in 1993 and joined the British Horological Institute that same year. In January 1995 he unveiled the Myster Tourbillon rectangular wristwatch (No. 10) and the Mystery Tourbillon Jumping Hour rectangular wristwatch (No. 11) the following year. He registered a Chinese patent for his Mystery Tourbillon on July 24 1998 In March 1999 he presented the Joy of the Millennium automatic wristwatch (No.14), and the New Millennium rectangular automatic wristwatch (No.15) in 2000. In 2001 he presented the Double Golden Dragon Mystery Tourbillon wristwatch (No.16). In September 2001 Tai Yu held exhibited his tourbillon watches in Japan. On April 9, 2002 Tai Yu received a USA tourbillon invention patent. In June 2002, two 2002 "Horse Commemoration" limited wristwatches were sold by Antiquorum. "Jewelry & Gold" magazine-published a special Kiu Tai Yu edition in 2002. The following year Tai Yu launched a limited series of automatic wristwatches at the Basel Fair. In May 2003 he published the Kew & Cie series book, "Watch Art". He was granted a Swiss patent for his tourbillon on December 31, 2003.