That's Not a "Local" I Recognize

When I think of the Hong Kong I grew up in (till the age of 13), I think of a place with an easy balance between "local" and "cosmopolitan." 

To be rigorous about that statement: handcrafted store-specific wonton noodles existed in harmony with the best imported premium lobster and steak. In other words, Hong Kong was a place where maybe even side-by-side in retail terms, you could find the best of "local," and the best of "cosmopolitan." And they were BFF’s, local and cosmopolitan.

There was no inherent conflict between the two. The emblem of Hong Kong was its very salty, distinctive Cantonese dialect, but also the wholesale permission for expats to use English freely. Hong Kong wasn’t like Tokyo where expats had to learn Japanese. It was the a balance of local and cosmopolitan.

Fast forward twenty years and for a number of reasons there are new fissures between local and cosmopolitan.

Indeed, Hong Kong is gradually polarizing in terms of local-vs-cosmopolitan. 

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Curd-Turd and the Best of All Cosmopolitans

The industry mythologizes the local. Heritage and tradition, it all reduces to local.

And before you are dazzled by the immaculate finishing, remember that part of enduring appeal of that watch is the association with non-cosmopolitan grittiness. It is the quaint image of the watchmaker toiling away at his workshop, squinting and suffering for his art. It is the hopelessly unscalable nature of the Swiss Alps, bucolic as they are, far from any port, a spaghetti of mountains and valleys. 

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