History of the ‘Seo Choon’ name in Singapore

Seiko fans in Singapore probably have heard of a watchmaker shop called Goh Seo Choon located at Chinatown market. Those who have been more ‘involved’ in the market might have heard of Seo Choon watches. I have heard of them and always wondered why the coincidence and how did the ‘Seo Choon’ name came about.

 

Yesterday, I received an email from the owner of Big Time@Tekka Mall who is also the owner of Seo Choon Watch. In his email, he told me about the history involved. Here’s what he wrote:

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My name is Leslie.  My wife, Irene and I, are the owners of the retail shop in Tekka Mall named Big Time – as posted in your blog during April 07. Beside Big Time, our other companies include Seo Choon Watch, Edox Singapore Pte Ltd and Lezlie Motorsports. Upon the advice of our accountant, we recently streamlined our operations under one company ie. Leslie Chang Pte Ltd.

 

Seo Choon Watch was started by my father in the early 60’s but was only officially registered in 1968. My dad was previously a colleague of Mr Goh’s father (see the story about a local watchmaker that you posted during March 07). Both men were working under the same boss, Mr Lee Seo Choon. The late Mr Lee had passed on his business and skill to his son who is now operating a repair shop, specialize in restoring old Rolexes, at Level 2 Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre. The name of the shop is, of course, Lee Seo Choon. Hence, it was no surprise to see the ex-workers of Lee Seo Choon naming their start-ups as Seo Choon Watch and Goh Seo Choon respectively.

 

Since 1968 till this day, Seo Choon Watch has been an authorized dealer of Thong Sia distributed Seiko watches. We began wholesaling Seiko watches from mid 70’s. As a kid, I flew with my dad to Japan during school holidays. We would return with loads of Seiko watches, including the early version of LCDs, to meet the ‘crazy’ demands. 

 

By the 80’s, we began exporting Seiko watches and we were constantly turning over thousands of regular Seiko 5s each month. Today, we supply parallel imported Seikos to local EBay sellers and selected watch shops. To beef up our retail business, we started marketing Japan-made Seiko 5s. As these watches are directly imported, we manage to keep the prices really low – see www.chang.com.sg. Beyond the sub-standard pictures and infancy stage of our website, we believe our range will provide value-added products for Seiko lovers especially in Singapore.

 

I grew up in a watch shop and have managed the business for more than 20 years. 

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Here’s more info on ‘Seo Choon’ name.

 

I have a cousin who worked for my dad and, later, opened his own shop at Jurong West. Today, he has a branch along Jalan Besar facing Sim Lim Tower. Both his shops are named ‘Seow Choon Games Specialists’. As the name would suggest, they have dropped their watch line and now sell mainly games including PSP’s. Thus, it explains the numerous ‘Seo Choons’ in Singapore.

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Written by:

Leslie Chang

Big Time @ Tekka
2 Serangoon Road
Tekka Mall, #02-18
http://www.chang.com.sg/

 

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From Leslie’s email, I understand that the ‘Seo Choon’ name as in ‘Seo Choon Watch’ and ‘Goh Seo Choon’ originated from ‘Lee Seo Choon’, their watchmaking teacher  and employer.

These ‘Seo Choon’ watch businesses have been passed down to their 2nd generation and are doing well. Each of them is well-known in their respective fields. The ‘Seo Choon’ name is almost like a brand name in Singapore.

Chinese character of ‘Seo Choon’ 

Note: Big Time @ Tekka is not to be confused with US-based eBay seller Big Time Inc (99watches).