Mr. Lim Keen Ban PBM

Founder and CEO of Cortina Watch

I first started to work when I was 14 years old. It was shortly after the end of World War II, where society was ravaged by the war and recovery was a long road ahead. Many of us who came from humble households lived in poverty – it was natural and almost inevitable for many like me to start working from a young age; to help shoulder a part of the family’s burdens. I have once done miscellaneous works in the barracks and waited at restaurants before. When I was 22, I came to Nanyang Watch and became a salesperson there: this would be the true start of my career.

Frankly, I was never interested in the watch business when I first set foot in the industry. Instead, it was the relatively stable income and abundance of learning opportunities that initially drew me in. Slowly, as I started to learn the many ropes of this business, I found myself falling in love with it. One of the first things I learnt was that choosing a fitting and suitable watch takes a lot of knowledge and requires attention to detail – quite similar to choosing a lifelong partner, I must say! Also, I have come to believe that being in the watch industry makes us more respectful of time. First, we learn the importance of cultivating punctuality; after all, punctuality reflects one’s credibility. At the same time, we also learn to better grasp time management. Truly, as the Chinese proverb goes, “一寸光阴一寸金，寸金难买寸光, ” an inch of gold is hard to buy an inch of time; time is undoubtedly the most precious thing in the world, and I am grateful to have come to become centred on the importance of this principle through my job.

Later, I mortgaged my house and set up Cortina Watch. Back then, it was relatively easier to start a business. During the time at Nanyang Watch, I did not “waste time”. While accumulating work experience, I went to night school to continue my studies and to enrich myself, having known back then that a person can only make continuous progress if he constantly improved himself. At the same time, I also developed a good lifelong habit: to be punctual, to do anything early and to be never late. After all, it could be well said that watches primarily exist to help us be punctual. Otherwise, why do we buy watches?

In a blink of an eye, it has been more than 40 years since Cortina Watch was established. When we approached its 40th anniversary, we opened its largest local flagship store – Time Wise – in Wisma Atria. With this, a new starting point for a new blueprint has been paved. As I get older, I also try my best to delegate responsibilities and authority to my children. My requirements for them are the same as those for employees: to be upright, humble, courteous; to have long-term perspectives and to be clear minded so as to not be deceived. I encourage my children to boldly explore with a clear business plan and with substantive market research. At present, they have expanded Cortina Watch from Singapore to various parts of Southeast Asia and Taiwan, with a total of 23 stores. I am very pleased to see that they take care of the family business in a vivid manner.

Perhaps blessed by some higher powers, the road I have chosen has been fairly smooth. Even with the pandemic today, we experienced the same disruptions during SARS in 2004 – disruptions I believe various kinds of businesses, regardless of industry, would somewhat face. However, we still have to look forward. We should learn to coexist with the coronavirus and look forward to the day when the clouds will be cleared.