A man in Singapore hauled his former father-in-law to court over several luxury watches which he claimed were gifted to him prior to a divorce.
The older man defended himself by arguing that the watches were never intended as gifts and that he merely passed to his then son-in-law to wear.
Received watches during marriage
According to a court judgement, Pua Wen Jin tied the knot with Lam King Keow’s daughter, Cheryl Lam.
While the couple were still married, Pua got five luxury watches from Lam on separate occasions between June 2013 and January 2017.
Out of the five watches, only one, a Panerai Luminor, was given to Pua as a wedding gift.
Sues former father-in-law
Unfortunately, Pua and Cheryl’s marriage didn’t last as it began to disintegrate at the end of 2022.
Cheryl later moved out of the flat she shared with Pua and took the four luxury watches with her, where she passed them back to her father.
Court documents showed that the watches were a Hublot Big Bang, a Rolex Submariner, a Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Eight Days, and a Corum Bubble.
On Apr 18, 2023, Pua sued Lam in an attempt to recover the watches or be paid damages for them.
Watches were often passed around
Lam told the court that he had a collection of 200 luxury watches and would often “rotate” them within the family to keep their “mechanisms” going.
He added that there was a shared understanding that the watches, while being passed around, didn’t cease to be his property.
Cheryl corroborated her father’s account, saying that she wasn’t an exception and that she had no ownership of the watches whenever her parents passed them to her to wear.
Allegedly showed disinterest in luxury watches
Lam also claimed that Pua was often seen not wearing the luxury watches and opted for a digital smartwatch instead, with Pua saying that wearing luxury watches was “not his lifestyle”.
According to a slew of WhatsApp messages, Cheryl said Lam had asked why Pua never wore the watches he passed to him, but chose a “lousy” digital smartwatch instead.
Pua replied that while he wore the Rolex and the Jaeger-LeCoultre, he found the Hublot to be “too loud”.
Pua also said that he felt the luxury watches were “not appropriate to wear at this age…at least not for [him]”.
Court sides with ex-FIL
In delivering his judgement, District Judge Jonathan Ng Pang Ern said the WhatsApp messages proved that Pua didn’t seem to have an interest in luxury watches.
He noted that though the evidence implied that Pua genuinely believed the watches were a gift from Lam, the case wasn’t dependent on his belief but on Lam’s intention.
The judge also said that since Pua couldn’t prove that Lam expressed intention to relinquish ownership of the watches, his lawsuit was dismissed.
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