In this interview, Delugs founder Kenneth Kuan discusses the surreal experience of watching Ed Sheeran perform in Singapore wearing a watch strap he gifted the musician, the power of the watch community and more
On February 17, the second night of Ed Sheeran’s tour stop in Singapore, the British singer-songwriter performed at Capitol Theatre wearing his bespoke Patek Philippe World Time 5230G timepiece paired with a navy rubber strap from Singaporean brand, Delugs.
The watch strap was gifted to Sheeran backstage by Delugs founders Kenneth Kuan and Chia Pei Qi earlier that day, which also happened to be the Thinking Out Loud singer’s birthday. The pair, who are married, are fans of Sheeran’s music. But more importantly, being watch collectors, they were well aware of the star’s famous penchant for watches.
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“I think everyone knows that Ed Sheeran is a watch collector, but after I watched a video interview of him talking about his watches I realised he’s not just a watch collector but he’s actually someone who really thinks about the straps quite a lot. And it’s quite unique. You don’t really hear anyone talking about straps that way,” says Kuan.
When they heard the news back in October last year that Sheeran would be performing in Singapore, Kuan and Chia had the idea to invite him to the Delugs showroom. However, it was not until two weeks before the concerts that the couple started putting their plan into action.
On February 7, they put out a video on social media explaining their wish to meet Ed Sheeran and introduce him to Delugs, and asked their followers for any leads or connections that could make that happen.