
Introducing
@itselevenxi
A while back I read a fascinating book called The Culture Map by Erin Meyer. In it, the author explains how various cultures perceive things differently, how customs can influence the way one thinks, and more interestingly, how two cultures will never communicate exactly the same. It is in this book that I first heard of “low context” and “high context” cultures. In low context cultures, people express themselves as directly as possible without using metaphors or a complex vocabulary. Conversely, in high context cultures, people express themselves indirectly and one has to learn how to read in-between the lines, pick up on different tones and what they imply, as well as understand when to speak and when not to. Oftentimes, people who come from high context cultures are perceived as being more sophisticated because they can understand nuance and compare (or match) what one says to how one acts—i.e. body language. But why am I bringing this up?
It’s simple. So far in the series on women in horology I mostly interviewed English-speaking female watch collectors, content creators, and brand owners. English-speaking people, and especially Americans, are considered to be very direct in their speech. (And I prefer people who say things the way they mean them although I can also appreciate nuance.) Anna @chrono.girlf.life was the first non native English speaker I interviewed and I had immediately noticed a difference in how she expresses herself, something I also noticed when speaking with Xi Wang a.k.a. @itselevenxi, the protagonist of today’s profile story. Both were at first positive when speaking about the experience of being a woman in horology. And both eventually felt more comfortable expressing themselves more directly on this topic. Because regardless of where in the world you come from, women always have to play in the boy’s club.

Horology Was in the Cards for Xi
Being or becoming a watch person is not something that is written in our DNA, something we are inherently born with. More often than not, we stumble upon it by way of a friend, family member, or creative person whose work—which is somehow related to it—we admire. I got into watches because my dad was a watch collector, and my best friend got into horology because his colleague is a watch person. Xi became one of us through her parents who both worked—and met—at a watch and clock retailer shop in Shanghai, which means that she grew up around people who liked and/or appreciated watches. When I write about Western watch collectors I often find myself writing something like this: this person was handed a watch down from a parent. However, in Chinese culture gifting and receiving watches has a whole different meaning.
When one turns 20, one receives a watch to celebrate their coming of age. When she approached that milestone, Xi and her dad traveled to Hong Kong from Shanghai to choose a celebratory timekeeping device. Although she didn’t wear watches before then, she did know that she wanted a rectangular one and, after doing some research, was hoping to get a Longines Dolcevita. However, as her dad would have it, he didn’t consider the latter to be an appropriate timepiece for a 20-year old woman, and he further indicated—given his experience servicing watches—that a quartz-powered model was better suited for daily use. So Xi settled for a Rado which was and still is a reputable Swiss brand in China. It became her only watch that she wore throughout university.


But the idea of acquiring a mechanical timepiece never left her mind. After graduating from college, a good friend of Xi showed her a Cartier Tank she had recently inherited from her mother, and presented the ubiquitous elegant rectangular watch as being the type that can be passed down through the generations—and this became a pivotal moment in her life as it was the very first time she heard someone talk about watches as heirlooms. Xi liked this idea and started learning about the Cartier Tank. As someone who had just entered the professional world, the Tank was the sort of timepiece that was too expensive to buy. Eventually, Xi was able to purchase her dream watch, the JLC Reverso, in her early 30s once she had settled into her career.

Xi Outside of Watches
It’s always fascinating to learn what fellow watch enthusiasts do for a living, even more so when she or he does not work in the niche world of horology directly. Xi is a lawyer by trade. For the first ten years of her career she worked in litigation (when lawyers are called upon to resolve unforeseen problems in court) which she loved doing because of the negotiation-based nature of the profession and the fact that she had to find solutions to complex issues. However, working in litigation was extremely time-consuming and she switched to working in financial services right before COVID-19 rocked the world. (Mentioning the global pandemic will make more sense in a little bit.) Working in that new domain made it possible for Xi to obtain a better life/work balance. And finding such balance would have an important impact on her second career as an artist.
One of the many things I found fascinating about Xi is the fact that she studied drawing, art history, and law all at the same time. For a brief moment she considered becoming an artist, and after a brief stunt working in the world of art auctions, she decided to become a lawyer. (Although she didn’t say so, I feel that her decision to become a lawyer—in other words, a highly educated and independent badass woman—says a lot about who she is.) However, as I mentioned above, being a litigation lawyer was extremely time-consuming and Xi prioritized, then as she still does now, her career. But as fortune would have it for her and many watch enthusiasts, the 2019 global pandemic would have a dramatic—and positive effect—on her life as a watch enthusiast and artist.

From Watch Collector to Watch Artist
As you most definitely have experienced it yourself, with the globalization of COVID we suddenly found ourselves having more time to do things non-work related. Xi used the extra time she had to draw again. Before COVID, Xi was already on Instagram looking at pictures from friends and family, and when her world changed, she created a dedicated IG account for watches, and notably, started posting wrist shots of her JLC Reverso. Because of the lockdowns, Xi found herself unable to visit watch boutiques to perouse through the brands’ novelties, and so instead decided to draw the watches she wished she could see in the metal and eventually buy. Naturally, then, she started doing more research about the watches she was interested in, which intensified her degree of horological nerdiness. (That’s a compliment.) Her early desire (in her 20s) to acquire such icons as the Reverso and Tank changed into a reality thanks to having dedicated so much time and energy into her career as a badass lawyer.


What COVID did for Xi, and therefore what it brought to the watch community, was her first sketches and drawings of watches. Meanwhile, she was also running an Instagram account dedicated to film photography, another one of her art-driven passions. Given the uniqueness of her art and her talent for execution and presentation, her watch IG account got immediate traction and soon, drawing watches became something like a second job, which came along with added stress and pressure. As she explained, she tries to draw every week and especially on the weekends, and completing a piece takes anywhere between a couple of weeks to several months, depending on the complexity of the watch she’s bringing to life on paper. A couple of years in, she now gets commissioned to draw for brands, which she happily does once in a while. Generally speaking her interactions with brands are very positive, an experience which prompted her to borrow a few pieces from them.

How She Sees Watches and Her Art
Unlike many of us watch enthusiasts who primarily see watches as being external representations of who we are or as tokens of past, present, and future experiences, Xi sees watches both as something it is common to wear and as sources of inspiration for her creative work. In spite of that, she considers herself a collector and she wasn’t surprised she had become one. Given her multifaceted fields of studies, Xi is passionate about history and always loved reading about watch brands and models. Now, she mainly looks at watches from the perspective of an artist, paying closer attention to dial layouts and textures, colors, and case shapes. When she wears a watch and glances at it, she delights in seeing a beautiful piece of art and mechanical marvel strapped to her wrist.
Xi does use her watch to keep track of time as she finds it easier to do so rather than pulling her phone out, especially during meetings. Checking the passage of time by way of a timekeeping device is both discrete and an opportunity to look at something beautiful.
You know me, I like to ask interviewees if there would be a chance, whether it be in the near or far future, for them to take their passion for horology to another level—i.e., making it into a career. Xi definitely thought about it but she rather focus on her profession which demands a lot of her time and energy, but which allows her to buy the watches she likes. However, Xi did mention that drawing watches has changed the way she sees them in the sense that she spends more time reading up about horology. And drawing watches was a way to squeeze art back into her busy career and for her to eventually become a part of the watch family. Now she regularly attends Red Bar meet-ups in Melbourne and other get-togethers with fellow enthusiasts.

Being a Woman Watch Enthusiast
Going back to the introduction of this article, I would now like to talk about Xi’s experience being a female watch collector. As we’ve seen in previous profile stories such as the ones on Sophie, Erika, and Meg—and the goal of this series being to highlight the women’s experience in the watch world—Xi also had her share of negative experiences although she wouldn’t speak about them at first. Indeed, when she and I discussed the Melbourne watch scene, Xi only spoke about it and those who frequent Redbar events in a positive light. And although she does indeed have many—and mostly—good experiences, not everything is sunshine and kittens. As she told me, she was one of the few female watch enthusiasts and collectors at the first meet-up she attended. And although those in the audience were kind and welcoming, she remarked that she was initially reluctant to attend such events as they were so male dominated.
When her dad took Xi to Hong Kong to buy her coming of age timepiece—an experience many of us did not have and probably would love to have had—Xi shared that her father remarked that she should only wear quartz watches which are simpler and more reliable—a kind advice that stemmed from his experience working in the horological industry. He further indicated that she shouldn’t spend too much money on watches which are unnecessary luxury items—as he grew up at a time when watches were a necessity, he doesn’t see the point in spending too much money for a necessary item. Again I must say that Xi has many good experiences in the watch community, and as she explained, she is not the subject of derogatory and misogynistic comments as much as other women have been (for example she does get the “this watch is too big for you” type of commentary.) But the main problem is that she, as a woman, has to painstakingly navigate yet another male-dominated world.


As someone who grew up in a culture that is deeply rooted in community and which communicates in a high context, Xi waited until the end of the interview to share more about her experience of being a woman in the watch world, and the differences that exist between male and female watch enthusiasts. (That or my low context, biased male brain didn’t get it.) All of the aforementioned experiences she had were shared at the conclusion of our conversation once I was ready to say goodbye. And that is also when she also told me that in watch boutiques she generally gets paired with sales associates who are not into watches which is frustrating to her as Xi would love to have productive conversations about horology. Furthermore, she often gets directed to the “woman’s section” of the boutiques which forces her to indicate that she would prefer to look at other sections.
What all of this means, and the impact it had on Xi at the beginning of her horological journey, is that she thought she didn’t like watches because she was always, automatically directed to the lady’s section where she couldn’t find the watches she was looking for. When she was younger, she didn’t feel confident enough to freely walk around the boutiques to find what she liked, knowing that she had done her research before coming in. For example, once she was looking for an Omega but she wasn’t interested in mother-of-pearl dials and diamond-set watches traditionally found in the women’s section. As she explained, it took her a while (as in building up confidence) to figure out that there were many more watches for her in the boutiques than she originally thought. (When she shopped for her first watch with her dad, he directed her to the lady’s section, no questions asked.)


Conclusion: Xi the Artist and Watch Collector
I would be remiss to not talk about Xi’s watch collection and what she likes to wear. By now, you know that she has a quartz Rado, a Cartier Tank, and a JLC Reverso. But Xi’s collection doesn’t end there as she owns a Rolex Explorer 1 (her favorite weekend watch) and affordable Casio’s and G-Shocks as well as a couple of microbrands. As a seasoned collector and enthusiast, Xi first looks at design when shopping for a new watch; how it fits on her wrist (regardless of its dimensions;) what kind of movement is inside and how it relates to the price tag; and lastly, how well it is manufactured and finished. But more importantly, and now that she draws so many watches, she’s the most attracted to the design where she can see the passion the designer poured into creating the piece. The latter point explains why she likes micro and independent brands as the designers behind them tend to be very creative.
As a side note: Xi indicated that she knows what to expect from major brands as each owns their specific segment of the market. But microbrands do not and, as a consequence, are not limited in what they can output. In other words, she appreciates when people put a lot of effort designing a watch just as much she puts lots of effort when drawing them.

In the past few years, Xi went from being a “closeted” watch enthusiast to becoming a prominent member of the watch community. Through her beautiful drawings, she brings attention to the female perspective on watches in a way that is unique to her. And based on the few profile stories I’ve written so far on women watch enthusiasts and content creators, I can confidently say that it comes more naturally to women to live their passion through a unique lens, with authenticity and personality, and to find easy ways to communicate their thoughts and emotions on watches to large audiences. Talking about Western female watch enthusiasts was a necessity, and I feel it is even more so when looking at the watch communities and traditions in other communities.
I thoroughly encourage you to check out Xi’s Instagram account @itselevenxi and to give her a follow.
Thanks for reading.