Yours, Mine, Hours

Don’t you love how sometimes, time just flies by, while other fleeting moments feel like forever…in the best way? That was my experience with this pair of gorgeous sisters, Cheryl and Rachel Wee.

I first met Cheryl in 2011, at a photoshoot featuring a dozen scions—right before she pursued her showbusiness dreams in Taiwan. Now a mother of three, she is as effervescent as ever and we picked up right where we left off, 11 years later. As for Rachel, I only just met her three months ago at our Asia’s Most Stylish 2022 shoot, and despite the brevity of that connection, we clicked, and I remember thinking how fabulous she was flaunting that baby bump on set. Finally together for this Jewels & Time cover shoot, we breezed through their shots hand-in-hand—their wrists entwined by Hublot Big Bang timepieces—and caught up for hours and hours as they opened up about their unbreakable sisterly bond, being brave for each other, and the love language of quality time ( p.64). Rachel mused: “Even though we’re so different as individuals, our values and morals are very aligned, especially when it comes to parenting. We’re raising our kids the same way our parents raised us—to be a big, close‑knit unit with our extended family. We come together every weekend, that’s a promise we make to each other, and our children aren’t just relatives, they’re best friends. And we hope they’ll grow up and grow old together as well”.

Also on the concept of treasured moments, marked by equally covetable timepieces, we’ve rounded up all the horological highlights to look out for this year, from a curation of technical masterpieces in our Watches Report ( p.18) to a dazzling homage to the deep blue sea from Rolex ( p.28). In the realms of scintillating stones, we get romanced by the ephemeralturned-eternal Chanel No. 5 high jewellery collection ( p.46); the rare and rarefied offerings of homegrown houses including Flower Diamond, B.P. de Silva and Vihari Jewels

( p.76); and the Art Deco resurgence seen at the likes of Bulgari, Cartier and Graff. This, all while traipsing through the lush, botanical collections of Tiffany & Co’s Botanica: Blue Book 2022 and Harry Winston’s Majestic Escapes.

But bona fide collectors don’t just bedeck themselves in watches and jewellery purely for the love and craftsmanship of it all. From their latest acquisitions to long-term investments, Benjamin Swan, Edmund Lin, Hendi Widodo, Rany Moran, Ryan Ong, Trina-liang Lin and Willabelle Ong unlock their vaults and vitrines to let us in the appreciation and value behind their prized possessions— precious assets they wear on their sleeve that remind them to “seize the day”, and “that great things do last forever”.