Destiny, fate, or whatever you might call it, has a lot to answer for. We might not even begin to comprehend her mysterious ways, but when she so conspires, it would be foolhardy to defy. Her hand in the love story of Hong Kong-based newlyweds Kingston Chu and Kelly Lo is inexorable. 

Says Kingston, vice-chairman and managing director of regional luxury watch retailer and distributor Sincere Watch, “There’s a sense of fate that we got together and got married. Her family is in music, while mine is in finance. We fit well together; we don’t encroach on each other’s territories. She was born and brought up in the US. When her father passed away when she was 10 years old, her mother moved her and her brother back to Hong Kong. Otherwise they would have stayed back in Los Angeles, and we would have never met. In a way, it’s fate.” 

If it’s fate, other little signs seem to be confirming it: Kelly’s mother’s name is Sincere; and “1031” is the stock code of Kingston’s family business in Hong Kong, and Kelly’s mother’s birthday is on October 31 and even her phone number has “1031” in it, Kingston reveals. 

The couple recently tied the knot last November—with an intimate celebration in Koh Samui and a lavish 1,000-person affair in Hong Kong—and their contentment is palpable when we meet them a couple of weeks later for this interview.

Marriage was, after all, the next natural big step following their eight-and-a-half-year courtship, which had endured long periods apart when Kingston was studying at the University of Southern California while Kelly pursued her degree at Parsons School of Design in New York. Evidently, they made it past the five-year mark that his mother, Pollyanna, had warned them about (“There is a low probability of couples getting married after five years together”). 

They had met when they were studying at Hong Kong International School. Kingston, four years Kelly’s senior, chose her as his dancing partner at the dance club, for the simple reason that she was the smallest in the class and easiest to partner with for swing dancing. It would only be four years later after Kelly’s high school graduation that their relationship became official. “It was unspoken,” Kingston shares, “but there was a connection.” 

Dance, music and drama still play an important part in their lives: for their first dance as a married couple, they grooved to the beats of Benny Goodman’s Sing, Sing, Sing, the song to which they first danced together in high school. Their performance at their Alice in Wonderland-themed wedding was accompanied by Kelly’s students from the Yip’s Children’s Choral and Performing Arts Centre, founded by Kelly’s family and a place she practically grew up in.

Even Kingston’s proposal to Kelly was tied to her love for the performing arts: she was playing the role of Beauty in the performing school’s “professional amateur” reproduction of Beauty and the Beast. After the last bow, Kingston surprised her (and the entire audience and cast) by dancing onto the stage, and singing Can’t Take My Eyes Off You. Kingston admits, laughing, “I really don’t remember much of it, until I was already down on one knee. I basically blacked out in the middle because of nerves.” Kelly smiles, “All our performers were crying—perhaps more than I was!”

Easy Work

Despite coming from different backgrounds and choosing different vocations, their temperaments are quite aligned. Muses Kingston, “To be honest, it’s been very steady with us.” Kelly agrees: “Yeah, we don’t really argue. We are tolerant, patient and easygoing. You need to be flexible for a relationship to work; it also happens that our personalities work well together. I feel like we sometimes don’t even have to try, so we are very blessed.” 

Kelly is an interior designer, heading her eponymous design firm. The award-winning designer has worked on various residential and hospitality projects including the Casa Real Hotel in Macau. Kingston is the scion of the Chu family, which founded Kingston Financial Group, a Hong Kong-based public-listed company. His mother Pollyanna Chu, one of Hong Kong’s richest, acquired the Sincere Watch Group and its Franck Muller operations in Asia (ex‑Japan) in a $232m deal in 2012. 

Two years ago, the couple collaborated on the Franck Muller maison in Hong Kong, with Kelly as design consultant. “It was the first time we sat in a professional capacity together. It was easy. She gave a lot of input in the overall aesthetics and visual merchandising,” Kingston recalls.

Kelly adds, “Kingston is a very fair person. Just because I was his girlfriend at that time didn’t mean that he would immediately do what I said. He listens to his other directors and respects their opinion before coming up with his own. “That’s something I admire about him. He can clearly see what’s right and what’s wrong; even if there’s no right or wrong answer, he will dissect the situation and be fair to everyone.” When the couple is not working, their passion lies in wanderlust. Says the soft-spoken Kelly, “Travelling is great for a relationship as you discover new things together. The experience helps you bond.” 

In 2014, the couple travelled 36 hours from Hong Kong to the salt plains of Bolivia, Salar de Uyuni. As Kingston whips out his phone to scroll through awe-inspiring photos of the duo standing amid the expansive salt plains with nothing but the reflective surface of water around them, Kelly enthuses about their Bolivian adventure, even finding the lack of electricity and water after a certain hour charming. 

“It’s high altitude, so you have to take pills every day. Even the two steps from the room to the sink made us feel out of breath and light-headed. Everything was extra slow, and there was no yelling. That’s the key! I’m thinking of moving to Bolivia,” jokes Kingston. Instantly Kelly retorts, “Baby, I don’t yell!” 

Their banter is charming and in some instances, they even finish each other’s sentences. Like when they tick off dream destinations on their bucket list: India, Galápagos Islands, Kenya, in no particular order. For now, however, the only thing the couple disagrees about is welcoming a third dog into their family: Kingston, throughout the interview, tries very hard to persuade his wife. He even names the dog Christmas, hoping to catch her out when she says, “I don’t want Christmas!”