“I can draw better than this, I swear,” Gabriel laughs, as he tells me over our video chat. Dressed in a crisp white shirt and seated comfortably in his well-furnished office in Hong Kong, Gabriel Lau, better known as the artist LABEG, tells me about his artistic journey since his unique style took off on social media in the past year. For the last five years, Lau has been producing what he calls “watch art”, which, as the name implies, is artwork about watches. 

Though at first glance, it’s nothing what Michaelangelo or Louise Bourgeois will recreate (okay, perhaps it’s a little bit Bourgeois but way less morbid). Lau’s art is a recreation of timepieces as we know it — an MB&F Legacy Machine, an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, an Omega Speedmaster, even a Rexhep Rexhepi RRCC II — but in slightly skewed proportions. In fact, Lau himself has described them as “ugly”. “I draw them in this very whimsical way on purpose, very much like a kid again,” he said. “It’s more fun for me and that’s really the whole point  of it. I really enjoy it, it’s fun, it’s an interesting view on watches, and it makes people smile.”

He captures every single detail in a sandwich assembly of cardboard pieces that dutifully replicates each feature, from case to lugs, crown to bracelet, albeit sans buckle — but no matter, it’s not like they’re being worn. Upon completing the commissioned piece, Lau frames it up and signs off on the bottom. 

“Using cardboard as a medium was very intentional firstly because it’s a medium that I’m familiar with,” said Lau. “When I was in design school, we made use of a lot of paper for prototyping. I remember when we had an assignment to recreate a whole iMac. We learned how to skillfully cut and glue all sorts of paper pieces, much like a paper mache, except we worked with card stock paper or corrugated cardboard.”

As LABEG, the passionate artist and watch lover

“I’ve always been really into art since I was a kid,” shared the marketing professional on his creative beginnings. “Academically, I wasn’t very good at math or science, or even English or history or anything else. I was always good at art. I love drawing and building things with my hands; I loved making models when I was a kid. 

“I ended up going into product design in university. Interestingly, we learned how design is really a problem solver, in a sense that it’s about creating something from a concept that’s 2D and materializing that into something three-dimensional. It’s one of the reasons why I started making the watches because I wanted to experience these pieces in a way that I can, because I can’t acquire all these different watches that I like, right? I like so many different types and it’d be impossible for me to buy everything. So I just started making them. I started to express my passion for watches through art but I wanted to do it in a unique way.

“I drew inspiration from artists that I really like, from Jean-Michel Basquiat to Pablo Picasso, Bill Barminski to Tom Sachs … and they created art with very whimsical, child-like characteristics and a lot of scribbling imperfections. And because luxury watches are about perfection, high value, and expensive materials, I draw them in an imperfect way that carries this juxtaposition.

“In portraying this contrast, I capture each and every detail. I paint every seconds marking, down to the subdials on a chronograph. I hope people can see that I’m not simply drawing a watch but that I am seriously passionate with the attention to detail that I want to express through my heart.”

Lau shares about his favorite projects at length, namely the recreation of the Richard Mille RM 52-05 Manual Winding Tourbillon Pharrell Williams, a limited-edition piece that features a sapphire crystal case. “I’ve always wanted to make that watch because it’s one of the coolest ones I’ve seen and it’s my favorite RM model,” said Lau. “However I never thought I could make it because of the sapphire crystal. But then I found this transparent polymer that’s as sturdy as cardboard. I experimented using the material and I was able to make that watch.”

“I also got the privilege and the opportunity to recreate an RM 67-01 by setting real diamonds on the bezel. It’s a personal watch from a client of mine and he gave me real diamonds to put on the art piece. So I made cardboard 67-01 with real diamonds on it. That was super cool.” 

If there’s a dream watch you wish to have materialized, Lau is open to commissions, although be ready to be on a wait list — which is about 13 months. He charges HK$5,000 (~S$859) per watch. 

During our conversation, Lau wears an Omega Speedmaster Reference 2915 reissue — a beautiful timepiece that’s a true homage to the original reference, also known as the first ever Speedmaster in 1957 reference 2915 — though he shares that his current favorite is a vintage Rolex GMT-Master Ref. 1675.

“I think some microbrands are doing some really cool stuff,” said Lau as we veered towards talking about cool watch brands at the moment. “Namely SpaceOne and Krayon. I’d love to see more brands come up with a totally new complication.”

Growing LABEG: ClockArt and the future

Lau recreates his watches true to scale, but the miniscule ratio is currently a challenging feat to make them, well, operational. So he made them larger than life instead: enters ClockArt. “It takes me about two weeks to make one, as compared to the watch, where I make about two to three of those a week,” said Lau.

“When I started the clocks, it was a bit challenging because of the scale; I never drew or painted something that big. Also, I had to figure out a way to make the art substantial enough that it’s worth paying for. It took me a long time to get it right before I felt confident enough to allow people to commission for it. However, I have been experimenting with engineering and adding interactive elements. I made my first ClockArt in the F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance that features two working clock movements; you can set the time and change the batteries.” 

What would a LABEG × Revolution watch look like?

To wrap up our conversation, I wanted to pry into his creative mind and asked him which of our collaboration watches he would love to recreate. “I have two picks,” he said. “Firstly, the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ceramic Chronograph GMT “Nuclear Option” for Revolution & The Rake. The entire dial is luminescent and I would think that it would be so cool if I used glow-in-the-dark paint to replicate that effect. That’s one element in my art I haven’t done yet — recreating lume.

“My second pick would be the Zenith A3818 “The Airweight Cover Girl”. I personally own a Zenith A384 Revival with the panda-dial. I love the tonneau case and the size is perfect. But as someone who loves detail, the teeth-like markings of the seconds track on the A3818 are so cool. It would be a pain in the ass to paint every single stroke of that but I anticipate that it would be super fun and super satisfying to see the end result.”

Check out LABEG and his works on his website here.