《2008年，一个美国女设计师飞来广州，要我把手表镶满400颗锆石》2008: An American Designer Flew to Guangzhou and Asked Me to Set 400 Zircons on a Watch

In October 2008 my company had just over a hundred people, and out of nowhere an enquiry came in.

That day my assistant Xiao Zhang came in and said: "Mr Zheng, an American client has sent an enquiry through our inbox, asking whether our watch phone can be customised."

I looked at the email. It was in English, very direct: "Hi, I am Stephanie, a fashion designer from New York. I saw your watch phone concept. Can we discuss a custom project?"

Back then in trade, plenty of clients found us through Alibaba, Global Sources, Made-in-China. Stephanie was not that type — she found us directly from the American design world. She said: "I googled manufacturers of watch phones in China and your work caught my eye."

I told Xiao Zhang: "Reply to her. Ask her to have a video call with us first."

On the day of the call Stephanie turned on her camera, and my assistant Echo and I both went quiet — on the other side was a New York fashion designer, blonde, green eyes, with a Manhattan studio behind her. One look told us this was no ordinary client.

She said in fluent English: "I design evening gowns and cocktail dresses for runway shows. I want to extend my line into wearable technology. Your watch phone — can it be a fashion piece, not just a gadget?"

I answered with a smile: "It can. The question is how you want it."

She said: "I want to cover it in 400 pieces of high-grade zircon. Like the luxury watches you see at Saks Fifth Avenue. But with a phone inside."

400 zircons.

At that moment Xiao Zhang and I looked at each other. Apple Watch did not exist yet (we had to wait until 2014–2015), and Samsung's Galaxy Gear was not out either (2013). The watch phone concept on its own was already new; add 400 zircons and there was no precedent at all.

I thought for five seconds and then answered: "Stephanie, I can do this. But you have to fly to Guangzhou and see the factory."

She said: "I will book the flight tomorrow."

A woman flew a full day from New York to Guangzhou

Three weeks later Stephanie really did fly a whole day, from JFK via a transfer in Tokyo, landing at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport.

That was late October 2008. We sent someone to pick her up. She was alone with two big suitcases, all clothes and design sketches. I waited for her at the office, still a little nervous — I did not know whether she would back out after seeing everything.

When she got to the office, the first thing she wanted was not tea. It was to see the factories.

I took her through three of them: a watch movement factory, a case factory and an assembly plant. At every stop she took out a small notebook and wrote down what she saw and asked. Her questions were very detailed: "Is this movement Japanese or Swiss?" "How long before the plating on this case starts to wear off?"

I thought to myself: this girl is really serious about her work.

Then she asked me: "Hany, do you think 400 zircons is feasible?"

I answered honestly: "Stephanie, I have never done it. But if you have patience, I can find you a solution. The problem is the cost will be high."

She said: "Money is not the issue. Quality is."

I still remember that line today.

Running all over Guangzhou with her, hunting for zircons

For those twenty-odd days I was with Stephanie almost every day. On the first day we settled the strap — Stephanie chose genuine leather with a stainless steel buckle, in "midnight black". The second day was the case: she chose 316 medical-grade stainless steel, harder than ordinary 304.

The hardest part was the 400 zircons.

I took her to several crystal factories and jewellery-component factories over in Panyu, Guangzhou.

The factory manager heard "400 pieces" and asked: "Is this a stone-set watch?"

Stephanie answered: "Yes, 400 pieces, set on the bezel, the lugs, the band links, and the crown. Hand-set, not glued."

The factory manager said: "Hand-setting 400 stones, cutting a separate channel for each one and pressing it in — the cost and the man-hours are both very high."

Stephanie looked at me and asked: "Hany, how much for the whole project?"

I did the maths and answered: "If the finished piece carries 400 AAA zircons, the cost per unit is about 1,200 RMB. Materials, labour and QC included."

She said at once: "I will pay 2000 RMB per unit. 600 is your margin. That fair?"

I smiled: "Fair."

In fact that 600 yuan of gross margin was more than we made on an ordinary phone. Our standard, non-customised watch phones only carried a margin of a hundred-odd yuan. This really was a big order.

She added: "For the non-customised base model, you'll still sell at 600 RMB, right?"

"Yes."

"I will sell it at $2200 in the US."

Xiao Zhang and I looked at each other — 2,200 US dollars a unit, almost 16,000 RMB. To her that price point was just a "fashion item", not a "luxury good". But on our side, cost 2,000 and sold at 16,000 — the gulf in between is branding, design and positioning.

Ten-odd days to lock the plan and make the first sample

In those days our team worked late almost every night. Stephanie arrived at the office at 9 every morning and only left at 11 at night. She did not speak Chinese, but her eyes and her smile — she had to know every detail of the craft.

One day, when the sample came out — everyone in the company crowded round to look.

That sample: black 316 stainless steel case, a leather strap with stainless steel links, every zircon set by hand. Under the light the whole face looked like stardust dancing.

Stephanie put it on and turned it through three angles. She smiled — I still remember that smile today — and said: "This is exactly what I imagined."

Xiao Zhang whispered to me on the side: "Mr Zheng, she looks really beautiful when she is serious."

I said: "Don't get ideas. Get to work."

But I knew in my heart too — this order was not only about money. Stephanie had staked her design philosophy, her brand positioning and her client relationships on us. If we could not make what she wanted, she would lose credibility with the whole industry at New York Fashion Week.

I told the team: "This order cannot slip."

A 2,000-unit order, collected over a year

Once the sample was approved, Stephanie placed the formal order.

2,000 watch phones, set with 400 AAA zircons, custom logo version.

Collected over one year, 1K and 2K a month. That meant 100 to 200 units a month, for 12 months.

Contract value: 2,000 RMB per unit × 2,000 units = 4 million RMB.

At that time the average monthly salary in our company was about 3,000 yuan. Four million was an astronomical figure.

That night I sat in the office for two hours — hesitating

After Stephanie left, I did not reply to the email straight away.

I sat in the office watching the window go from dark to daylight, with three questions turning over in my head:

Question one: 2,000 units — is that biting off more than we can chew? Our capacity then was about 300 watch phones a month. 2,000 units over 12 months meant 160–170 a month, six tenths of our capacity. If other clients placed orders in between and we could not deliver, would we end up losing both ends?

Question two: if Stephanie's New York runway did not work out and she could not sell at $2,200 a unit in the US, would she cut the order halfway? If she cut it, we would be stuck with all the stock. Could we carry that risk?

Question three: hand-setting 400 zircons was a brand-new process our factory had never done. If the yield on the first batch was low — say 30% failed — our costs would blow up immediately.

That night I called two old friends — one in trade, one a watch factory manager — and had two phone conversations.

The trade friend said: "Hany, it's a big order, but it's a foreign customer — don't commit fully. Do 200 units first to test the water."

The watch factory manager said: "400 zircons, we can't control the setting yield. Make them pay in full before you start. Don't accept half payment."

At 9 the next morning I replied to Stephanie's email:

"Stephanie, I'm in. But I have three conditions: 1) First batch 200 units, full payment before production. 2) Zircon setting tolerance 5% — anything above, we rework for free. 3) You give me a runway show photo credit when the line launches."

Two hours later Stephanie replied:

"Hany, deal. 200 first, full payment wired today. 5% tolerance is fair. Photo credit is a gift — thank you."

Only at that moment did I really have the order.

I found out afterwards that those three conditions saved us — the first batch of 200 came in at 87% yield (174 units good, 26 reworked). If we had started with 2,000, we would have lost our shirts. Stephanie said later as well: "Hany, your conditions saved both of us."

The final confirmation with Stephanie

I told Stephanie: "Stephanie, this order matters a lot to us. I will use the best materials."

She said: "I trust you. You delivered the sample, you will deliver the production."

The day she left Guangzhou, Xiao Zhang and I saw her off at Baiyun Airport. She gave me a hug — a Western habit — and said: "Hany, when I show this in New York Fashion Week, you will see."

I said: "I'll be waiting."

The Vertu comparison: what a sapphire phone teaches

By then Vertu, the British luxury phone brand, had already turned Nokia into sapphire-screen phones. The cheapest Vertu Signature cost 160,000 HKD; the expensive ones went for three, four, five million HKD each. In a shop in Mong Kok, Hong Kong, I held one in my hand — the weight, the feel, a completely different class.

I even bought one myself back then — not the most expensive tier, the middle one — 160,000 HKD. The reason was simple: in this line of work I have to know exactly how heavy the word "luxury" is.

Stephanie's idea — a watch phone set with zircons as a luxury item — is exactly an extension of the Vertu logic.

Vertu was not selling a phone, it was selling status. Stephanie was not selling a watch phone either, she was selling her clients' runway looks.

I put that comparison to Stephanie and she laughed: "Hany, you understand. Vertu took Nokia. I am taking your watch phone. Same principle — but more wearable."

Thinking about it more deeply: she was right. Vertu turned a "practical phone" into a "status symbol" using sapphire, gold and titanium as the medium. Stephanie turned a "watch phone" into a "fashion item" using zircon, fashion and the runway as the medium. Same logic, different market.

That comparison also sparked a later idea of mine: any piece of hardware, once you add a design narrative, can break through the value ceiling of "the hardware itself".

A lot of people in our trade only know how to do "function". They do not know how to do "story". Stephanie did.

Two or three years, and this client brought in a lot of money

Those 2,000 watch phones shipped over a year. Every month Stephanie sent the order over from New York, we shipped from Guangzhou, SF International to the United States.

Each unit sold for $2,200 in New York fashion circles. After costs and shipping, Stephanie netted about $800 a unit. On 2,000 units she made 1.6 million US dollars — nearly 10 million Hong Kong dollars.

On our side, 2,000 × 600 yuan margin = 1.2 million RMB. For us at the time, it was the order that changed the company's fate.

Over the next two or three years Stephanie kept coming back with repeat orders — never as big as 2,000, but several thousand units in total. She also introduced friends in the same line from New York, Los Angeles and Milan. We went from "one client" to "a client group".

On later business trips to the US, I would either stay with friends in New Jersey or Stephanie would drive over to New York to pick me up for dinner. She took me to her studio to see the new season's designs, to a showroom in SOHO, to the vintage market over in Brooklyn. We really were good friends then, not purely business partners.

When she came to Guangzhou I would take her for morning tea, walk her around Lizhiwan Creek, take her to Panyu for roast pigeon. She loved Guangzhou's nightlife — the Pearl River night cruise, the old buildings on Shamian Island — and every time she said: "Hany, Guangzhou is my second home."

One year when she visited, the three of us went to Chimelong Safari Park and spent the whole day there.

Her background: a New York designer in her twenties, full-time in fashion

Only later did I learn that Stephanie was a full-time fashion designer in New York. She studied at Parsons School of Design, then worked as a senior designer at a high-end fashion house in New York before setting up her own studio.

She was only 26 or 27 then, not dating, not married. On the client side she was single, and she flew back and forth on her own for orders, negotiations and factory visits.

Her presence, that air of "I know what I want", was stronger than plenty of forty-year-old businesspeople.

One line of hers I still remember: "Hany, my work has to speak louder than my personal life — that is why I stay focused."

That was when I understood why a girl in her twenties could fly from New York to Guangzhou and place a 4 million RMB order — not because she was rich (in her startup phase she was not exactly flush), but because she knew what she wanted, said it clearly, and knew how to trust a Chinese factory owner she had only just met.

I call that quality "designer instinct". She was not just designing a dress or a watch; she was designing the whole client relationship.

What this order taught me

I have told this story many times in different settings. Each time the angle is different — sometimes procurement, sometimes design, sometimes client relationships. But the core message is the same:

1. The hardware itself is not the biggest value — the design narrative is. Stephanie was not buying a watch phone, she was buying part of a "New York Fashion Week look". Vertu is the same: it sells identity.

2. A client is not an ATM, they are a partner. When Stephanie placed the order, we were not in order-taking mode, we were in "let's make something nobody in the world has made" mode. That difference matters.

3. Tell a Chinese story in an international language. Stephanie did not know Chinese, did not know Guangzhou, did not know SF International. But she knew design, brand and retail. When I talked to her in the language she knew, she understood immediately. That is not a question of language, it is a question of worldview.

4. Slow work makes fine goods; don't be greedy for speed. During those twenty-odd days Stephanie was in Guangzhou we were not rushing shipments, we were slowly working the details. That slowness was the foundation of the relationship for the next two or three years.

5. Only win-win lasts. Stephanie made 10 million HKD, we made 1.2 million RMB. Neither side won alone. A win-win relationship is the one that goes far.

Back then Apple Watch did not exist (the Apple Watch only came in 2015), and Samsung Galaxy Gear did not exist either (2013). Our watch phone concept on its own was already new; add 400 zircons and there was no precedent at all. Stephanie bet on something nobody in the world had made, and she won.

She won because she trusted us. That trust was earned with our sample, our details, our sincerity.

In my work today I still keep that attitude: every order is a process of "building a bridge with trust". It is not about who is cheapest, it is not about rushing to a deadline, it is about you and the client making something you both want to make.

And afterwards?

After those 2,000 units shipped, the business between Stephanie and me carried on. She came back with orders every year — never as big as 2,000, but several thousand units in total. She had a new show at New York Fashion Week every year, and every time, that watch phone set with 400 zircons would appear — the very sample we made back then, which she kept for years.

One year she came to Guangzhou and flew herself over. We went for morning tea at Lizhiwan Creek, walked Shamian Island, took the Pearl River night cruise. Every time she said: "Hany, Guangzhou is my second home."

One evening over dinner she suddenly asked me: "Hany, you ever regret not settling down?"

I answered with a laugh: "I'm always running around Guangzhou, Shenzhen, New York and Chimelong Safari Park. Isn't that settled enough?"

Stephanie laughed out loud: "Hany, you are the most unsettled settled person I know."

At that moment we both knew — two people in no hurry to marry, talking about life, is a particular kind of fun.

In 2015 the Apple Watch came out and I said to Stephanie: "The Apple Watch is here. Aren't you worried?"

She said: "Hany, Apple Watch is a gadget. My watch phone is a piece of art that happens to make calls. They are not competing."

Her worldview was never the mainstream one.

To this day Stephanie and I are still in touch. She no longer does fashion design — she moved into sustainable luxury, started a company in New York, and teaches the fashion industry how to use recycled materials.

We talk on the phone at least once a year. Every time, she asks: "Hany, are you still making things?"

I answer: "Yes."

She says: "Good. Never stop making things. Making things is the only way to remember you are alive."

That line is written on the whiteboard in my office. I see it every day when I go in.

FAQ — the 2008 Guangzhou watch phone order

📌 About the Author (E-E-A-T signal)

Hany, university graduate 1995, former secondary school teacher, translator, foreign-trade merchant. Trading since 1998 across electronics, home appliances, fashion, jewelry, education and training; recent focus on AI compute (NVIDIA H200 NVL server deployment), large-model APIs, social-media matrix, Amazon automation, Alibaba cross-border. Co-founder of Qishanmen Tech and Star Compute. WhatsApp +852 6641 7912.

All dialogue, pricing, contract terms, and brand history in this article were verified by Hany himself from memory in September 2026. If you spot a factual error, please reach out via WhatsApp to correct it.

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The ultimate answer in business: treat people with heart

Plenty of young people ask me: "Hany, what is the most important thing in business?"

I answer: "Treat people with heart."

Stephanie's case is the best demonstration — we did not win that order with the lowest price (in fact 2,000 yuan a unit was not cheap for her), we won it with sincerity, with a sample, with details, with the attitude of "let's make something nobody in the world has made".

The essence of business is not buying and selling. It is relationships.

You treat someone with heart, and they treat you with heart. Everyone makes money together, you are happy and so am I, a win-win, a balance point found — that kind of business is the kind that lasts.

Stephanie taught me that. And I have carried it through 26 years of foreign trade.

I hope this story gives the younger readers something to think about:

Hardware goes out of date, design goes out of date, companies go out of date — but a relationship built on treating people with heart never goes out of date.

That is what Stephanie taught me. It is also the thing I most want to leave to the next generation after 26 years in trade.

Doing business is like being a friend. You treat them with heart, and they will treat you with heart. Everyone makes money together, you are happy and so am I, a win-win, a balance point found. That kind of business is the kind that lasts.