Jaguh's World

Jaguh's World

Today, while checking the time on my watch, I was reminded of a friend and colleague of mine who is based in Singapore. For the sake of anonymity, I shall refer to him here as "Jaguh".

Now, Jaguh is a very interesting guy: He is one of the top directors in the multi-national that I work for. Being so successful, he also has very expensive tastes. We all look up to him as the benchmark for what we should all aspire to in our career with the company. He drives a high-end S-class Merz in Singapore and has a huge collection of Rolex watches: GMT-Master, Submariner, Yatchmaster, Daytona--you name it, he has it. And being a bachelor still in his forties, he is often seen in the company of stunning women.

Jaguh reminds me of the successful real-estate salesman character, Buddy Kane, played by Peter Gallagher in the award-winning movie, American Beauty ("In order to be successful, one must project an image of success at all times").

When I was based in Singapore, I occassionally did end up going on business trips together with Jaguh. During the madness of the dot-com boom a couple of years back, we happened to be in Hongkong together attending a conference. It was a fun time, we wined and dined at expensive restaurants in HK and Macau on company's expense. (But sadly, those days are gone now).

I am someone who is not known for my good taste in clothes or accessories (As for my taste in women--hmm, I'll leave that as the subject for another posting). On one of those nights in HK, Jaguh glared at the watch that I was wearing--a relatively cheap Mondaine watch which I bought during my trip to Geneva in 1999 for the ITU conference. I liked its minimalist design which makes it resemble a Swiss railway station clock and I had been happily wearing it for sometime.

Many people--especially women--told me that they thought the watch was cute. And I had half-hoped that they actually meant the guy wearing it.

But Jaguh looked disapprovingly at my watch and declared that as a regional executive, I am an embarassment to the company: I didn't drive a fancy car (in fact I did not even own one), I never wear designer brands (his suit was at the very least a Hugo Boss and mine was made by a Malaysian Chinaman tailor) and my watch--in his own words--was an "Ah Beng watch".

Suddenly I began to suspect that the women who had commented about my watch being "cute" were actually politely telling me that it was "cheap" and that the guy wearing it was a "cheapskate". I began to feel very self-conscious of my "short-comings".

Together with another HK colleague, he dragged me to a watch shop nearby and asked the salesman to present to me their array of Rolex watches. An hour later I was out of the shop--poorer by an obscene amount of money--with a Rolex Oyster Explorer II strapped to my wrist, gleaming under the bright neon-lights of Kowloon. There was a smile of approval on Jaguh's face. ("A man needs a good watch to show that he has arrived"). So overnight, I was transformed from an Ah Beng to a towkay; and I wasn't sure whether I should be happier for it.

Being based in Jakarta these days, I don't get a chance to meet Jaguh often. But occasionally he does drop by to town and you can bet that he'll be dragging me from one nightspot to another. I am quite fond of him and admire his zest for life. But I can never keep up with his stamina and certainly not his taste for expensive things.

No, I don't wear my Rolex here in Jakarta (it lies unused in my drawer back home in Subang Jaya), as I am always prowling the seedy sidestreets of Jakarta shooting digital photos or doing my "research". My trusty Mondaine still keeps good time and is not as conspicious, making it easier for me to blend into the Jakarta street crowd.

But whenever Jaguh comes to Jakarta on one of his many corporate boondoggle trips, I'll make sure that he doesn't get a chance to see what watch I am wearing. It is tough, but so far I'm succeeding.