Marco Fu has time on his side in bid to clock Ronnie O’Sullivan

Marco Fu’s stylish progress at this Masters is not solely restricted to a gilded playing standard.

Upon closer inspection, it seems that the man from Happy Valley in Hong Kong, a place used to hosting form horses, is sporting what appears to be the biggest timepiece worn by any sportsperson in the world.

There are deep sea divers who would struggle to cope with the size of the face Fu has been busy dismantling opponents in.

Fu has called time on Judd Trump and Mark Allen in the two most convincing performances of this year’s tournament ahead of a timely semi-final joust with defending champion and local favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan on Saturday afternoon.

Fu launched his own limited edition watch supported by Memorigin, the Hong Kong tourbillon brand last July, after spending three months deciding how the watch would look. In keeping with the snooker theme, there are only 147 in the world.

“It has got a bit of snooker involved,” said Fu. “It took my two or three months to design the watch because I’ve been playing snooker, and I’m not always back in Hong Kong.

“There are 147 limited editions. It would cost $47,000 Hong Kong dollars. It is maybe about £5,000.

“A tourbillon watch would usually cost triple that. It is made in Hong Kong. If it was made in Switzerland, who knows what it would cost?

“It has two colours, black and rose gold, and links up with snooker because you need to be very precise in the details otherwise the watch won’t function.

“You need to be very precise in snooker otherwise you won’t function.

“I had never been used to wearing a watch, but I’m suddenly used to the weight of it now.”

Trump prompted a few glances when he donned a pair of Christian Louboutin’s Rollerboy Spikes worth almost a grand at the Masters four years ago. Fu is of a mind that snooker should be aspiring to designer brands 14 years after tobacco's B&H drew their last breath as Masters sponsor.

"On TV, you can see what type of watch, or clothes the player is wearing. And of course, I'm recognised when I go back to Hong Kong," said Fu.

“I enjoyed the creative process. It is good exposure for me and the sport because watches are like luxury items, and snooker is luxury because we dress up very nicely and it is a gentleman’s sport.”

Snooker may be regarded as a sport played by gentlemen, as we hear with the ongoing introduction of the Masters semi-finalist 'gentleman' Joe Perry, but is not always watched by them.

A few boozed up punters were ejected on Thursday night during Fu’s win over Allen after one approached the Northern Irishman, calling him “a f*****g disgrace” after he fell 3-0 behind to Fu in a 6-2 loss.

Fu is entering similar febrile territory against O'Sullivan, whose fans will be expecting a home win as the ‘people’s champion’ continues his quest for a record seventh title at the sport's biggest invitational event.

“It is just another snooker match. It is just when we are finished with the shot that they start to shout a little bit," said Fu.

“That is okay, it is not a big problem. Against some of the popular players, you are going to get the crowd going against you.

“I didn’t know they were swearing at Mark, that’s not good.

“Nothing bothers me much when I’m playing. I’ve seen the guy having the white ball drop In the pocket, and the crowd start cheering. Not nice, but I'm not bothered by it.

“I’m going to try to do the same thing that I’ve done over the past three or four weeks. And focus on my own business."

Fu’s match with O’Sullivan will attract more TV viewers in Hong Kong than some Premier League fixtures over the weekend such is the popularity of the sport. Even if snooker tables are a dying breed in the country.

“I know a few people working over there in TV. They show snooker and Premier League football, but when I’m playing and Ronnie is playing, we get more than some Premier League matches.

“Because we are both playing tomorrow, it should be big numbers for Hong Kong.”

Coached by Wayne Griffiths, son of 1979 world champion Terry, Fu feels he has finally found a potent formula that saw him unfortunate in a 6-5 defeat to O'Sullivan in the semi-finals of the UK Championship last month before winning eight straight frames in a glorious 9-4 win over John Higgins in the Scottish Open final in Glasgow.

There is a touch of class about Fu. He might not be favourite to prevail against O'Sullivan, but he is hardly unfancied.

His career highlights include snagging the 2007 Grand Prix, the 2013 Australian Open, reaching two World Championship semi-finals in 2006 and 2016, the 2011 Masters final and the final of the UK Championship in 2008.

He is quite conceivably playing the best snooker of his career at 39, a suitable age to become a Master of his sport.

“We’ve been over various things over the years with my technique, but we finally seem to have come up with a solution," said Fu.

“I'm a bit more aggressive, I’ve got a little bit of confidence and I’m slowly developing a winning habit.”

A late developer perhaps, but these could be the days of his life.

Yet if Fu has designs on lifting this trophy, he must surely restrict O’Sullivan to a watching brief.