She Co-Founded The Hour Glass, And A Loan To A Different Company Is What Made Her A Bankrupt

The business that makes you famous is rarely the business that takes you down.

There's a watch shop on Orchard Road I've walked past for years without ever wondering who started it. The Hour Glass.

Here's what I didn't know until recently:

The woman who co-founded it was made a bankrupt in 2019. The watch business had nothing to do with it.

Her name is Jannie Chan.

In 1973 she left a lectureship in physiology and pharmacology at the University of Singapore to sell watches over a counter. Her in-laws' shop, Lee Chay. Her husband had left the family firm after differences with his brother over how it was run, and gone back to medicine. She stepped in.

She wanted a high-end watch boutique. She put the idea to her husband's family. They turned it down.

So she opened her own shop. Orchard Watch, Colombo Court, 1977.

Two years later she and her husband Henry Tay set up The Hour Glass with the department store Metro Holdings, which took 51%.

First shop, Lucky Plaza. S$200,000 on the renovations. Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, Piaget.

She was appointed a director of The Hour Glass on 11 August 1979. Managing Director from that day until 31 March 2004.

In the year ended 31 March 2026 The Hour Glass booked revenue of S$1.338 billion. Loans and borrowings, nil. Rolex and Patek Philippe came in as foundational partners in 1979 and, the company says, are still there.

Here's the part that has nothing to do with watches.

On 29 July 2012 a licensed moneylender called SME Care granted a loan facility to a company called JASC. Total borrowed: S$500,000. She owned JASC outright and was its controlling director. She guaranteed the loan personally. She was Executive Vice Chairman of The Hour Glass at the time.

The Business Times reports that JASC was incorporated in 2010 and that its business activities are unknown.

In April 2018 Justice Choo Han Teck recorded in the High Court that the debt "ran up from $500,000 to more than $3,694,666.93."

On 7 May 2018 consent judgment was entered against her. S$2,150,000, plus interest at 5.2% a month.

On 27 May 2019 a bankruptcy order was made against her.

In the year to 31 March 2020, The Hour Glass booked revenue of S$749.5 million.

Here's the thing:

The Hour Glass owed none of the debt. She did.

A personal guarantee is the business decision that never shows up in the business. It sits outside the accounts. Outside the annual report. Outside the thing your name is on. The company keeps compounding. The signature keeps standing.

Two numbers sit at either end of this. S$1.338 billion, the revenue of the company she co-founded, in the year to March 2026. S$500,000, the loan she guaranteed personally.

In January 2026 the Appellate Division of the High Court still described her as a bankrupt.

What have you personally signed for that has nothing to do with the business you're known for?