Time tells many tales, as the saga of Sincere Fine Watches demonstrates. This magazine has been tracking some of these stories, intermittently, over the last 20 years but we have noted one constant: current CEO Ong Ban. He has been in this trade for longer than this magazine has existed - longer than Heart Media as a company, in fact. The fact that Ong has been involved in the watch retail business for so long is not remarkable, in itself. What sets him apart from most of his peers is that he has been with Sincere Fine Watches the entire time, from its heyday as a family-operated business, through all its subsequent ups and downs, and now as part of Cortina Holdings. He rose up through the sales and operational fronts to eventually become CEO in 2008.
One constant in Ong Ban's journey is his passion and enthusiasm for watchmaking, and cultivating an interest in fine watches. One need only begin to wax lyrical on timepieces to get his eyes to light up, if only for the chance to talk about some detail about the watches at the new SHH boutique at Marina Bay Sands. Ong calls this boutique the "forever home," for SHH and it represents for him the core competencies that have always distinguished Sincere Fine Watches.
From the Greubel Forsey Architecture to the Lang & Hyne Georg, these are timepieces that require more than glossy magazine advertisements and display cases; these days, such rare timepieces are likely to be spoken for before they arrive in Singapore. The retail operation needs a person with a certain measure of sang-froid to deal with competing collectors, as well as a measure of gravitas to perhaps get these collectors to agree to display watches that they have bought in their stores. Think of it in the same way as some high-end car dealerships, where some buyers are happy to park their cars at the showrooms.
Esta historia es de la edición Issue 67 de WOW Singapore.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición Issue 67 de WOW Singapore.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
NEW FRONTIERS
The outgoing CEO of TAG Heuer Julien Tornare shares his management style and values. No doubt these will remain consistent in his new role as Hublot CEO, just as they were in his Zenith tenure
STRUCTURAL STYLE
Parmigiani Fleurier CEO Guido Terreni explains the logic of the new Toric collection and takes us through his thoughts on style and elegance
THE CONVERSATION: APROPOS COMPLICATIONS
A watch with complications appeals to different sorts of collectors, and is quite different to a complex watch. The editors of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand discuss the virtues of all sorts of complications and consider when more is really better...
EUREKA MOMENTS
Our extended look at gold in watchmaking comes to a close in this third and final part, with a look at five proprietary gold alloys. Of course, there are certainly more than five so we will leave the door ajar on going even further
MACHINE LEARNING
The mechanical calendar has been perfected over the last 100 years; it remains a challenge that invites multiple watchmaking and engineering approaches. We get into the nuts and bolts of how the perpetual calendar gets the job done
CULTURAL SENSE
The story of our calendar and why it is rife with anomalies
QUANTA OF TIME
Just as hours, minutes and seconds are quanta of time, so too are days, weeks, months and years. We finally explore the story of the perpetual calendar in particular, in a year that invites such ruminations
PURPLE REIGN
H. Moser Cie brings a brand new dial to the party with the Pioneer Perpetual Calendar Concept MD Purple Enamel Sincere Platinum Jubilee Edition
AUTUMN HUE
Grand Seiko continues its celebration of the 20th anniversary of Calibre 9R with the limited edition SBGA499
TWICE UPON A TIME
The world's greatest double tourbillon wristwatch, the Breguet Classique 5345 Quai de L'horloge is back, with new hand-finishing touches
