Haohua Watch, Ximending's 57-year landmark, ended when its family owners chose to close it

Haohua Watch opened in 1964 and in 1973 moved into the corner storefront of the Wannian Commercial Building at the crossing of Xining South Road and Emei Street in Ximending, Taipei, where it stayed for the rest of its life. The first-floor corner unit — a triangle shopfront facing the district's busiest junction — made the shop one of Ximending's landmark tenants, described in Taiwanese media as an iconic store and a commercial legend of the district.

On 19 November 2021 the company sent a letter to customers announcing that it would end operations on 31 December 2021. The reason given was that the family business had decided to transform; the shop itself stressed the closure had nothing to do with the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement came as Ximending was losing its other long-standing tenants — the district's last KFC had closed in August 2021, and the 60-year-old restaurant Qian Yuan Sichuan Cuisine shut around the same time.

The wind-down was orderly: the shop held a clearance sale, promised that warranties on watches sold over the years would remain valid, and pointed customers needing repairs to each brand's own boutiques. Television coverage framed the closure as the fall of a landmark that had survived 57 years at the district's most visible corner.