Bernard Cheong
Encyclopedia
Bernard Cheong is a world-renowned watch collector/horologist, medical doctor, and the CEO and partner of Lifeline Medical Group (YTL Community).
Cheong is a well-known "pioneering customer of unique, academic, often controversial and almost always misunderstood" watches Cheong helped formulate the transparent jury system for Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve and helped to create the annual Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve in Asia. He is one of the world's first non-industry "civilian" chairmen, as well as one of its 8 jurors from around the world.
Cheong currently resides in Singapore
with is wife, Dolly Ong, and two daughters.
. His earlier days were spent practicing medicine in hospitals in India and Singapore. In 1987, he founded Lifeline Medical Group (YTL Community), which he expanded into one of Singapore's 5 largest medical groups during his 23 years as CEO and partner.
He is reported to have been a strong supporter of innovative, unique and controversial watches, and has helped to bring many of them into the main stream. Ever since he was young, he chose the path less travelled when it came to watch collecting as can be shown from a young age. In 1982, when he was just 23, he bought his first watch, an Omega Seamaster Titanium, while his friends opted for the more mainstream Rolex Submariner. His interest in esoteric watches, and passion for them and collecting them are thought to have evolved out of his "fascination with photography, cinema history and architecture".
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, as Cheong grew his business, he also grew his collection of wristwatches, particularly those of academic and cultural relevance. His close friendships with innovative watchmakers, such as Rolf Schynder, Vianney Halter, Maximillian Busser and the late Gunther Blumlein, in his early years of collecting gave him an unusual heritage of connections deep within the watch industry.
Cheong also gained a lot of influence and fame in the watch community through sharing his horological insights and unique perspectives online. For years he has exchanged thoughts and opinions with manufacturers and other collectors on websites such as WatchProSite, ThePuristS, and Horomundi Horology-Switzerland. Although he has never worked in the industry, his knowledge anthology in the field, its history, models, brands and technology goes beyond that of many professionals, and the internet has helped him gain fame and influence for his knowledge and opinions. Maximilian Büsser, founder of Maximilian Büsser & Friends, and creator of the innovative and now world famous HM3 Frog and HM4 Thunderbolts, observed that the views of collectors such as Cheong on watches hold a great deal of weight in the community of watch collectors and connoisseurs. This is apparently a very new phenomenon for creators, which is reshaping the whole watch-making industry. According to Jerome Lambert, CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre, "the collector is helping to create the myth around a brand, and forge his reputation… the Internet is playing a huge role today, accelerating the influences in the community around the world, and enhancing exchanges with the industry". Cheong writes syndicated monthly columns translated into 9 languages in 12 countries..
Since 1998 Cheong has regularly been invited to speak at financial conferences about wristwatches as portable assets. He has made a lot of money out of investing in innovative and obscure brands, which later became mainstream and increased in value, such as his Panerai collection. He finds watches to be much more promising, lasting and meaningful investments than those of wines, cars or jewelry. His watch collection represents more than 3 million Swiss francs today, including 6 exceptional pieces totaling alone 1 million francs. In 2004, publications and television stations from various parts of the globe (New York, Japan, France, China and Thailand) identified Cheong as the singular Renaissance watch collector. Subsequently, he has been highly sought after by watch collectors, connoisseurs, reviewers and investors to name the "next new wave".
In April 2008, investigative French journalists from Economie LeHepDo Paris described Cheong as one of the hidden influences in an already highly covert industry. Cheong was to become part of the formative committee of the Grand Prix Haute Horology in Asia, and later a juror in the Geneva GPHH.
Cheong holds a unique position within the watch-makers community Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève
, being financially independent from it, buying and not usually selling, yet a significant influence on it. The past 30 years of collecting have afforded him with incredible opportunities to work with both collectors and the industry, royalty, political figures and celebrities. With his influence, Cheong's goal is reportedly to bring watch collecting further and much higher than the world of automobiles, art and wine, and to transform it into a post graduate study and subject matter for such disciplines as architecture, design, engineering and especially anthropology.
Cheong is a well-known "pioneering customer of unique, academic, often controversial and almost always misunderstood" watches Cheong helped formulate the transparent jury system for Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve and helped to create the annual Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve in Asia. He is one of the world's first non-industry "civilian" chairmen, as well as one of its 8 jurors from around the world.
Cheong currently resides in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
with is wife, Dolly Ong, and two daughters.
Medical profession
Cheong became a medical doctor in 1982 after receiving his medical degree from NUS in Singapore. He did his primary and secondary education at Anglo-Chinese SchoolAnglo-Chinese School
The Anglo-Chinese School ; is a family of Methodist schools in Singapore, and Indonesia.The name is usually abbreviated as "ACS", with the junior college as "ACJC", and its students and alumni referred to as "ACSians" , or "ACS boys" .ACS was the first school...
. His earlier days were spent practicing medicine in hospitals in India and Singapore. In 1987, he founded Lifeline Medical Group (YTL Community), which he expanded into one of Singapore's 5 largest medical groups during his 23 years as CEO and partner.
Watch collecting and horology
Cheong began watch collecting in 1973, when his parents bought him the Flyback Seiko Chronograph that he wanted as a gift.He is reported to have been a strong supporter of innovative, unique and controversial watches, and has helped to bring many of them into the main stream. Ever since he was young, he chose the path less travelled when it came to watch collecting as can be shown from a young age. In 1982, when he was just 23, he bought his first watch, an Omega Seamaster Titanium, while his friends opted for the more mainstream Rolex Submariner. His interest in esoteric watches, and passion for them and collecting them are thought to have evolved out of his "fascination with photography, cinema history and architecture".
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, as Cheong grew his business, he also grew his collection of wristwatches, particularly those of academic and cultural relevance. His close friendships with innovative watchmakers, such as Rolf Schynder, Vianney Halter, Maximillian Busser and the late Gunther Blumlein, in his early years of collecting gave him an unusual heritage of connections deep within the watch industry.
Cheong also gained a lot of influence and fame in the watch community through sharing his horological insights and unique perspectives online. For years he has exchanged thoughts and opinions with manufacturers and other collectors on websites such as WatchProSite, ThePuristS, and Horomundi Horology-Switzerland. Although he has never worked in the industry, his knowledge anthology in the field, its history, models, brands and technology goes beyond that of many professionals, and the internet has helped him gain fame and influence for his knowledge and opinions. Maximilian Büsser, founder of Maximilian Büsser & Friends, and creator of the innovative and now world famous HM3 Frog and HM4 Thunderbolts, observed that the views of collectors such as Cheong on watches hold a great deal of weight in the community of watch collectors and connoisseurs. This is apparently a very new phenomenon for creators, which is reshaping the whole watch-making industry. According to Jerome Lambert, CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre, "the collector is helping to create the myth around a brand, and forge his reputation… the Internet is playing a huge role today, accelerating the influences in the community around the world, and enhancing exchanges with the industry". Cheong writes syndicated monthly columns translated into 9 languages in 12 countries..
Since 1998 Cheong has regularly been invited to speak at financial conferences about wristwatches as portable assets. He has made a lot of money out of investing in innovative and obscure brands, which later became mainstream and increased in value, such as his Panerai collection. He finds watches to be much more promising, lasting and meaningful investments than those of wines, cars or jewelry. His watch collection represents more than 3 million Swiss francs today, including 6 exceptional pieces totaling alone 1 million francs. In 2004, publications and television stations from various parts of the globe (New York, Japan, France, China and Thailand) identified Cheong as the singular Renaissance watch collector. Subsequently, he has been highly sought after by watch collectors, connoisseurs, reviewers and investors to name the "next new wave".
In April 2008, investigative French journalists from Economie LeHepDo Paris described Cheong as one of the hidden influences in an already highly covert industry. Cheong was to become part of the formative committee of the Grand Prix Haute Horology in Asia, and later a juror in the Geneva GPHH.
Cheong holds a unique position within the watch-makers community Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève
Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève
The Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève is a contest between high-end watch manufacturers at the Geneva Watch Festival. The prize logo is used by watch manufacturers in their advertising. There is some debate as to the legitimacy of the contest, because many of the judges are journalists for...
, being financially independent from it, buying and not usually selling, yet a significant influence on it. The past 30 years of collecting have afforded him with incredible opportunities to work with both collectors and the industry, royalty, political figures and celebrities. With his influence, Cheong's goal is reportedly to bring watch collecting further and much higher than the world of automobiles, art and wine, and to transform it into a post graduate study and subject matter for such disciplines as architecture, design, engineering and especially anthropology.
Watch collection
Cheong has a collection of over 100 watches, and has bought roughly 180 watches in his life. Some were investments in less known watches, such as his Panerai collection, that later became popular, and which he later sold at a large profit. His collection represents more than 3 million Swiss francs today, including 6 exceptional pieces totaling alone 1 million francs.External links
- The Straits Times: Dr Bernard Cheong
- Horological starts of the Year: http://komunitikini.com/kl-selangor/kuala-lumpur/horological-starts-of-the-year Dr Bernard Cheong cited as most influential collector]
- Watching Horology: http://watchinghorology.com/2011/02/dr-bernard-cheong-appointed-as-haute.html
- Haute Horlogerie Ambassadors: http://www.hautehorlogerie.org/en/delegation-and-ambassadors/asia/south-east-asia/bernard-cheong/
- Discovery TLC Channel: Passage to Malaysia
- Haute Horlogerie Ambassadors: Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie
- Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Geneve The Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix Celebrates its 10 Years Anniversary
- YTL Community Appreciating Time & The Environment at Starhill Gallery