A Cambodian entrepreneur has launched a stylish high-end watch, hoping to promote the Khmer creative talent and increase demand for the Kingdom’s products abroad.

Designer Seth Pitu launched his brand PU a mere 60 days ago, and hopes to combine traditional Khmer art with sleek modern luxury in his watches. Despite his business being in its relative infancy, he is already experiencing a high demand for his watches from abroad.

“We only began operation on October 1, not even two months ago, but surprisingly there is already a huge demand both locally and overseas for our watches."

“Cambodian people have bought nearly 50 watches while we are already exporting overseas to places like South Korea, the Middle East, the US and Australia. Last week, a company in Dubai ordered 100 watches from us, which will be exported next month,” Pitu said.

The wood and metal watches, which come in hand-made Khmer designed boxes and bags, are available in Black and Gold across three models – PU Classic Model, PU International Model, and PU Traditional Model. While the wood is not sourced from Cambodia, Pitu says there is a good reason for that.

“The wood used for the strap is foreign. After many consultations, we decided not to use local wood as we did not want to promote the destruction of Cambodian forests,” he said.

Despite the use of foreign sourced materials, among PU’s main goals is the creation of jobs in Cambodia, as well as the promotion of traditional Khmer design in the product.

“The watch is entirely assembled by hand in Cambodia using Khmer designs and techniques as we want to create jobs for Cambodian people. We currently have 10 staff producing this watch – it takes at least five days to produce one watch.”

In Cambodia, the watch is currently available at a promotional price of $399, while in foreign markets the watch is selling for between $400-500.

You can find more information about the watch on PU’s Facebook page – PU Watch Official.