i) GIFTS OF TIME

“When I was 16, my parents bought me a mechanical watch with a skeletonised dial from Bucherer, a boutique in Switzerland. I seldom wore it because I treasured it. When I got married, they gave me and my wife a pair of Patek watches. My in-laws also know that I like watches; they got me a Jaeger-LeCoultre Duoface for Christmas 10 years ago.”

 

ii) DO MAKE SUDDEN MOVES

“I like watches with jumping hours – such as my Gerald Genta Retro Solo and the Corum Classical Heure Sautante – because they are different. To make the jumping hours, the watchmaker has to add different layers to a standard base movement. The Gerald Genta was my daughter’s favourite when I bought it four years ago. She was just four years old then, but she could pronounce the brand name. Every Sunday, when I went to my watch cabinet, she would follow me and say: ‘I want the Gerald Genta!’ So, for that whole year, I had to wear the same watch every Sunday.”

 

iii) KEEP THINGS SEPARATE

“I find Chronoswiss a very interesting brand; it was the first to create the regulator wristwatch (a watch with separate registers for the hours, minutes and seconds). The mechanism was by Enicar, but Chronoswiss modified it and made it its own. The Chronoswiss Regulateur was made in 2002 and is the first automatic regulator watch by Chronoswiss. The founder, Gerd-Rudiger Lang, wears the same watch, but his has a white dial, while mine is black.”

 

iv) MY SNAP-HAPPY WAY OF SHARING MY PASSION

“I’m in a few Facebook-based watch groups, like JLC Passion and Swag – the Singapore Watch Appreciation Group. I take a wrist shot every day for Instagram and Facebook. I’ll change watches, because I think, ‘Aiyah, so many watches and they don’t get enough wrist time.’ On weekends, I sometimes wear three to four different watches a day. On weekdays, I sometimes take an additional watch with me to do a midday change. But there are days when I’m too busy to change my watches. (Laughs.)”

 

v) MY MOST WATCH-NERDY HABIT

“I catalogue my watches using an Excel spreadsheet. It lists when I bought each watch and the price at which I bought them. They’re listed according to when I got them.”

Clockwise from top right: Grand Seiko Hi-Beat 36,000 GMT, Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Gran’sport Duo, Gerald Genta Retro Solo, Corum Classical Heure Sautante & Chronoswiss Regulateur

(RELATED: Why Dr Stefan Ma is crazy over Jaeger-LeCoultre watches)

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