SINGAPORE – British singing star Ed Sheeran, known for his love of watches, received new straps while he was in Singapore, thanks to home-grown watch strap brand Delugs.

The 33-year-old paired his luxury Patek Philippe timepiece with a navy blue Delugs strap while performing his second show in Singapore at the Capitol Theatre on Feb 17. He played at the National Stadium on Feb 16 to a record crowd of over 60,000.

Delugs co-founders Kenneth Kuan, 30, and Chia Pei Qi, 29, handed Sheeran the straps backstage before his two sold-out performances.

Sheeran also made a video posted on Delugs’ Instagram page in which he described the straps as great and fantastic, and said he loves them.

Formed in 2018, Delugs specialises in luxury watch straps and accessories, and has a global customer base.

Married couple Kuan and Chia knew that Sheeran is an avid watch collector from seeing videos of his interviews. When they found out in October 2023 that he was coming to Singapore to perform as part of his +-=÷x Tour, they came up with a “crazy idea” to give him some Delugs straps.

They had no idea how to set up a meeting with the star, so they did not think much of the plan until two weeks before he was due to play his first show here. The pair, who are fans of Sheeran’s music, did not get tickets to his concerts, but a number of their staff did.

Ms Chia says that with the deadline looming, they knew they had to take a shot. “Ken and I always have big dreams and crazy ideas. We knew that if we didn’t try, and (Sheeran) came and went, we would regret it.”

The company prepared what they thought would be a perfect gift for Sheeran – a case with his +-=÷x Tour logo hand-painted on it. Inside was a curated set of rubber straps, which they knew the singer liked to wear while performing, for his various watch brands and models.

Sheeran has said that he prefers rubber straps because they are comfortable to wear, even when he travels to places with humid weather. According to Mr Kuan, the value of the gift was about $1,500.

On Feb 7, the company made a video posted on TikTok and Instagram, calling on their followers, customers and the global watch community to help them get Sheeran to pick up the gift from their showroom in Ubi.

The crowdsourcing strategy worked. The video eventually reached Sheeran’s United States-based watch dealer, who connected the pop artiste’s team with Delugs.

It was only on the morning of the Feb 16 concert that they heard from Sheeran’s team again, with details on the meeting with the singer backstage at the National Stadium.

According to the couple, this was part of a meet-and-greet with others, and their time with Sheeran lasted only about a minute. Still, they managed to chat with him, pass him the case and a note with details of the straps in it, and take a photo together, which they uploaded on Instagram.

Before they met Sheeran, the couple chatted with members of the singer’s crew, who are also watch collectors. Mr Kuan decided to gift them with straps too, and met them at their hotel the following morning.

Says Mr Kuan: “When they found out that it was very simple to install our straps, that they did not need any special tools, they got very excited.” They ended up chatting about watches for about an hour.

Soon after they parted, Sheeran’s crew contacted Mr Kuan again, asking if he was free that night to help Sheeran install a Delugs strap on his watch.

At 7.30pm, Mr Kuan and Ms Chia found themselves backstage again, this time at the Capitol Theatre. The day also happened to be Sheeran’s birthday, and they could see that a party had just taken place.

Says Mr Kuan: “He approached me and said, ‘Ken, I really love what you’re doing, I saw our guys with your straps.’”

This time, the meeting lasted five minutes, and Sheeran showed keen interest in Delugs’ brand story and details of the straps they gifted him the day before. Mr Kuan then helped him to install the strap on the watch he wore for the Capitol Theatre gig.

That Patek Philippe 5230G World Time timepiece, Mr Kuan says, is “priceless” because the Swiss brand made a special version for Sheeran. It has unique details like the name of his home town, Framlingham, among the time zones that can be read on the watch.

In an episode of video series Talking Watches by US-based watch website Hodinkee, which was hosted by American singer and fellow watch enthusiast John Mayer, Sheeran described it as “the coolest watch I own”.

Meeting Sheeran twice and seeing him wear the Delugs strap felt like a dream for husband and wife. Says Ms Chia: “The whole experience was fascinating.”