Telling Time with Dr Chua Thian Poh, Executive Chairman of Ho Bee Land

Dr Chua, thank you for joining us today. You’ve been a longtime customer of Cortina Watch, am I right?

Yes, you’re right. My relationship with Anthony Lim [founder of Cortina Watch] actually began before its founding 50 years ago. So I’ve been buying watches from Cortina Watch since 1972. I became acquainted with Anthony around the late ’60s when I was starting out and my business was with Indonesia. He was retailing to Indonesian agents and customers out of Singapore at the time, and over 50 years, it’s really evolved into a friendship across multiple generations of both families.

Do you remember which were the first watches you bought from Cortina?

One of the earliest models I bought from Cortina Watch was a steel Rolex watch with a black dial, and I’ve misplaced it in my home somewhere, so I’ve actually been looking for it. One watch that I remember I bought from Cortina in 1973 was a Chopard timepiece with an opal dial. I was at the Shangri-La hotel lobby and I went to the washroom, and I took off my watch to wash my hands. I carelessly left it on the counter and didn’t realise it until a while later, and I went back to the washroom but it was gone.

How has your collecting style evolved over the decades?

In the early days, I just collected watches for fun and I didn’t take it very seriously at all. I acquired watches from brands like Vacheron Constantin, Piaget, Audemars Piguet. These were very prominent brands and they still are, but I guess in the last 10 years, that’s changed a little. Patek Philippe is probably the brand I collect the most now, with some pieces from other brands. I won’t say that I always buy a particular style of watches, but it’s more about the design of the watch. If there’s something striking about it, that’s what attracts me to it, rather than a complication or what’s trending. I generally prefer heftier watches to wear. I think the feel of the watch on the wrist is important, so that’s what I tend to buy.