Hurum Horology was founded in 2024 in Seoul, Korea with the goal of sharing the beautiful world of timepieces to a wider and deeper audience.
Our mission is to enrich watch culture, and enrich culture through watches.
We want to spread our appreciation of watches to everyone and to contribute to the community in our own little way.
FOR BEGINNERS AND EXPERTS
Hurum started out as a way to give beginners a one-stop, comprehensive, and accurate resource that would eliminate the weeks and months of slowly getting familiar with terminology and watch culture. Our Handbooks represent our mission to introduce everyone to the beautiful world of watches.
To those in the know, Hurum is a reliable and extensively-researched resource that is uncensored, unfiltered, and honest. We refuse to go with the usual brand fairy tales and marketing lies.
EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD OF WATCHES
Our Journal provides deep dives into the history, engineering, science, art, and business of watches.
We cover every corner of the world of watches and timekeeping. From the great verge escapement clocks of medieval Europe to the atomic clocks of today, from vintage pieces to the latest releases, and from watches worn by history’s greatest heroes to those worn by the everyday man, we love them all.
ART & CULTURE
We think that watches are vessels of art and culture more than they are cutting-edge timekeepers. Technology moves fast, but the beauty of timepieces is that they preserve the spirits of eras long past. It is fantastic than in the age of smartwatches and phones, technologically obsolete wristwatches are still loved and sought after around the world.
Hurum treasures what watches represent. We produce art that captures the beauty of these timepieces, and highlight timepieces that capture the beauty of art and human culture. And as a business proudly based in Korea, preserving Korean and East Asian culture is of particular importance to us.
FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME
Hurum Horology is a business, but one driven most by our love of timepieces. We want as many people as possible to join us in keeping this culture vibrant. To this end we will put out as much high-quality free content as we can, especially for newcomers.
You can expect even more out of our paid content. We take what we do seriously with a focus on delivering maximum value to our readers. It is also the way we remain unaffiliated with any brand, independent, and free without running advertisements for products we wouldn’t actually recommend.
Why We Love Watches
A wristwatch is a magical little machine. It’s an incredible feat of engineering and human ingenuity. A mechanical watch is a fascinating contraption brought to life by a flick of a spring. A quartz watch essentially electrocutes a rock to keep the time. How awesome is that? We love ALL watches, not just for the beautiful craftsmanship that goes into a select few high horology masterpieces but because every single watch holds the inherent magic of a timepiece - that it is perhaps the most personal, intimate, useful, long-lasting, and meaningful piece of technology one can own.
Stellar examples of the three major types of watch movement. Left: the hybrid ‘Spring Drive’ movement of a 2020s Grand Seiko wristwatch with an electronic microchip powered by a mechanical spring and gear train. Middle: the mechanical movement of a 1920s Patek Philippe Calatrava wristwatch. Right: the quartz movement of an F. P. Journe Élégante wristwatch outfitted with a power-saving ‘standby’ mode inputted by a mechanical motion sensor. Image sources (left to right): Grand Seiko, Christie’s, Phillips.
What do we mean by this? A watch can be a bridge to others. Every collector probably has at least one friend they met through watch appreciation. A watch is often a great conversation piece. It says something about the wearer, sometimes as a simple status symbol or a complex signifier of taste (or perhaps a lack thereof), and may reveal something you didn’t know or expect about the person. But at the same time, a watch is a deeply personal object. You don’t have to leave your house to enjoy it, and even when outside you can conceal it under a cuff. Most people can’t really tell watches apart, and it doesn’t make a loud noise that announces its presence. More than anything, it’s attached to you. Technically you can go your whole life without your watch ever leaving your wrist (we do not recommend this for hygiene reasons). Your watch travels with you everywhere you go, and every scratch it picks up carries the memory of your past.
Your watch connects you not just to your personal past, but to the centuries-old tradition of mechanical watchmaking, the prehistoric ritual of human timekeeping, and the most mysterious, most elusive concept of time itself. It is a portal to a different era when things were done differently. In a world so focused on the future, where traditions seem to matter less and less, and where products appear to be designed to be replaced by the next best thing, a well-made, well-used watch is a vessel of values that transcends time. When our timepieces pass onto our children’s hands, they will hopefully serve as an instrument to teach them the importance of taking care of things, whether they be material possessions or immaterial values.
Norman Rockwell (American, 1894-1978), What Makes It Tick?, alternatively known as The Watchmaker, 1948, Oil on canvas, 66.7 x 66 cm. Image source: Christie’s. Original image copyright: Norman Rockwell.
Indeed, when we become a spacefaring civilization, Earth time may become less relevant and little more than a reference time. But even then, the timepieces of our era will remind our descendants of their terrestrial roots and values. And who knows? If the wonder of watchmaking continues to inspire future generations, they may produce amazing timepieces beyond our wildest dreams. There is definitely something poetic about the most cutting edge technology of the age being used to perfect a technically obsolete machine designed centuries ago. We’re already doing it!
Our Name and Emblem
Our emblem consists of three gnomons from the Angbu-ilgu hemispherical sundial commissioned by King Sejong the Great. The King - a genius ruler who also personally invented the Hangul writing system used to this day - oversaw the development of several horological innovations during his reign, including the Self-striking Clepsydra of the Borugak Pavilion. The mass-produced sundials complemented the massive hydromechanical clocks used in the palace and provided time to all in public streets and squares.
In the way King Sejong made time accessible to everyone, we aim to make the arts of timekeeping and watchmaking open for all to enjoy. True to our Korean roots, the name ‘Hurum’ comes from the Korean word for ‘flow’.
An example of the Angbu-ilgu hemispherical sundial. The sundials were cast in bronze and typically treated with a black coating with contrasting silver-inlaid markers and indexes. Above is an example with exposed bronze and silver-inlay which was purchased by the Korean government from a private American collection at auction. Image source: Republic of Korea Cultural Heritage Administration.
A closeup of the nebulous gnomon of the sundial which inspired our emblem. Image source: Republic of Korea Cultural Heritage Administration.
A Letter from Our Founder
First and foremost, thank you so much for visiting Hurum Horology.
Hurum Horology uses the pronoun ‘we’ but in fact, this is a one-man operation. (‘We’ just sounds more professional and a bit less self-absorbed) It’s quite a lot of work to write, draw, design, and plan alone, but this project means a lot to me because watches mean a lot to me.
Unlike a lot of people in the watch world, I did not like watches from a young age. The first memory I have of a timepiece is a Swatch triple-register panda chronograph that I wore into the waters off Hawaii.
After about an hour of surfing, I emerged onto the beach with a whole ocean inside the watch. That’s when I learned about water resistance. Maybe it also sowed some doubt in me about the usefulness of wristwatches. Sure enough, the Luminox watch my father bought me soon after mysteriously stopped after a couple months.
Unreliability aside, the fact that I couldn’t actively use a watch like a pen or a car made me think they were boring and dull. How can you like something that not only suffocates your wrist, but also just sits there doing nothing only to break down every now and then?
But towards the end of high school, I found myself infatuated with mechanical timepieces. I still don’t quite remember how that happened. I do clearly remember spending hours on sites like Hodinkee, Fratello, and aBlogtoWatch and binge-watching unhealthy amounts of watch content on YouTube. I ended up in a college in Hong Kong, where I thoroughly enjoyed living in one of the watch capitals of the world and exploring the most unassuming stores hidden throughout the city. And while I was a soldier, my reliance on tough quartz watches matured my love of mechanical timepieces into a truly personal appreciation for what any timekeeping tool can mean to a man. Now I can say that watches brought me some of my best friends and most treasured memories.
I made this site primarily to make the very thing I wish I had when I was first getting into watches: a one-stop, focused, and accurate resource that can get anyone up to speed without having to wander awkwardly into watch websites until you slowly get the hang of it in a couple weeks. But I also wanted to make something for the seasoned enthusiast as well. Hurum Horology materializes some of my favorite stuff about watches: their history, their design and engineering, and the various cultures that revolve around them. I particularly wanted to focus on how watches mingle with my other passions such as cars, architecture, art, and history. Fortunately, a lot of watch lovers seem to share these interests.
I have something of a vision for this project’s future, and I hope that it will one day become a reality. For now, I will focus on making the accurate, exciting, and meaningful content that I set out to make in the first place.
Thank you again for visiting Hurum. From the bottom of my heart, your interest and support mean so much to me.
Sincerely,
Bankasayu
Our Promise to You
Hurum is not affiliated with or sponsored by any manufacturer, corporation, government organization or any other third party entity. We are committed to remaining independent, unbiased, and true to our beliefs. All content produced with any involvement of third parties will be accompanied by a disclaimer which clarifies our relationship with said party.
We appreciate and respect the people and organizations whose contributions sustain the watch community. We feel honored to be able to give back to the community in a small way. All content that we directly reference from other sources, including text and images, will be properly cited and/or credited to the best of our ability. In return, we ask that you do the same for all of our originally produced content. All content on our website should be regarded as original unless stated otherwise. Please refer to the Terms of Use for more information. If you would like to contact us regarding use of our content or our use of your content, please refer to our Get In Touch page.