Leong Poh Kee, a low-key player in a glamorous trade
THE name Leong Poh Kee is definitely unassuming in the world of luxury watches. The homegrown distributor of high-end timepieces has its headquarters in Beach Road, which does anything but call attention to itself: It is a sparse, cramped office in the back of a watch shop that looks more like a pawnshop than a business dealing in upscale watches.
But the company is well known among those in the watch trade, particularly for its practice of paying for everything in cash. One Orchard Road watch boutique manager said: "Leong Poh Kee is flush with cash. They have vaults filled with money."
At the annual Baselworld watch fair in Switzerland, the world's biggest, Leong Poh Kee impressed visitors with its booth for SARCAR, a high-end Swiss brand.
The company has named its subsidiary Chong Seng Enterprises as exclusive distributor of SARCAR, but many in the watch trade believe William Leong, the managing director of Leong Poh Kee, is the owner of the brand.
He is also said to be the owner of Leonard Timepieces, a Swiss watch company that owns the Apple Watch trade mark in Switzerland.
In Singapore, SARCAR has a boutique in Marina Bay Sands and another in Raffles City. SARCAR is also involved in charity projects in Thailand and Bhutan.
The company Leong Poh Kee had its roots in 1931 as a watch repair shop in Chinatown. Founder Leong Poh Kee was joined by his nephew, Leong Lou Teck, who arrived from Guangdong, China, in 1937. The younger man eventually took over the shop and expanded the business to include sales and exports.
Old-timers in the watch trade fondly refer to him as Teck Sok (Uncle Teck), recalling him to be a kindly gentleman whose customers were mostly sailors and seamen.
Watch dealers who couldn't clear their stocks in those days could always count on him to buy them up and then export them to markets in the region. One watch retailer described Mr Leong, who died several years ago, as being very resourceful. "If you want 100 pieces of Audemars Piguet watches, he would get them for you."
Mr Leong was well respected for his integrity. One story has it that a customer had left him gold bars for safe-keeping, and when the customer failed to return for the gold bars, Mr Leong did not encash them. Instead, he told his children who succeeded him in the business not to touch the gold bars, but to wait for the rightful owner to return to claim them.
Leong Poh Kee is today run by his low-profile younger son, William.
