Cavin Soh Wanted To Buy An iPad To Make Script-Reading Easier But He Decided To Save The Money For His Kids Instead

By now, we’re pretty much used to seeing our local stars get involved in side hustle after side hustle. There's the predictable (F&B, anyone? Anyone at all?), to the current (say hello to your new live stream sales towkays), and the unexpected (marketing consultant Zhang Yaodong, florist Kayly Loh, and TCM doctor Pornsak come to mind).

So, we weren’t that taken aback when we saw that Mediacorp actor Cavin Soh, 51, was listed as an “actor, host, watch dealer and singer” on his Wikipedia page.

Now, that’s a fancy side career, we thought to ourselves.

And so, we asked Cavin about it when we had the opportunity to chat with the actor after the press conference for Mediacorp drama Dark Angel.

Turns out, Cavin, who plays a power-hungry lawyer in the Zoe Tay-vehicle is most definitely not a watch dealer.

But he is very much a family man, having put his love for watches aside in order to focus on providing for his kids. Cavin has two kids — Kayden, 11, and Bethany, nine, with his entrepreneur wife, Serena Yeo.

8DAYS.SG: So… Your Wikipedia page actually lists you as a watch dealer…

CAVIN SOH: (Confused face)

What’s up with that?

Watch dealer? On Wikipedia? 

Yeah, you're not a watch dealer, right?

No... I just like watches. But it's not like I'm a huge collector with a collection worth half a million or anything. I don't have that kind of money. But I just like looking at them.

Like this one that I have on right now. I quite like it, it's second-hand actually. When I bought it, I wasn't very well-off, so I thought that since I worked so hard, and my pay wasn't too high at that time, I should save up some money to buy a watch.

And so I searched and searched, and when I saw this watch, it looked so good. At that time, it was about $3,600. The price was within my budget and I really liked how simple it was. And from there, I slowly started learning more about watches.

But I'm not very knowledgeable about watches 'cos if you don't have the capital, there's no need to think too much about it. All the Patek Philippes and what not, [I can’t afford those].

When did you buy this watch?

Wow, many years ago. About 20 years ago?

Was it the first big purchase that you made?

Yeah, this watch is from IWC. It's a very simple watch, and there's a calendar. It's not synced right now 'cos I didn't set it properly this morning. What's very comforting about this watch is that when it runs, the ticking of the second hand is very smooth, unlike the electric watches.

For this, you can see the vibrations, but it’s not tick tock tick tock, rather, it’s ticktickticktick, so it’s really… wow. Very comforting.

Have you bought any watches recently?

No leh. I've been monitoring, but I've not bought any. You know, my son's only 11, and my daughter's nine. And then I have to pay for the flat, my kids, the car and all. There's too many things, so all of my money is for my kids and flat.

Like the other day, when I asked my kids what they wanted if they had $10,000. When they asked me, I said my first answer will be an iPad, so that I can read my scripts and email. The screen’s bigger, so it’s better for us people with lao hua yan [presbyopia].  It’s only about $2,000 but I’ve been hesitating to buy it 'cos I rather save for my kids.

If you could, is there a dream watch you would want to buy?

I don't even dare to look at watches. If I were to look at them, I'll feel like buying them, and might even save up for it. But I have to think about my kids too... so I just don't look at watches at all.

To save yourself the heartache, right?

Yes, yes.

So, speaking of your kids, your son’s taking the PSLE next year. Are you guys worried about it?

[When it comes to grades], I’m more relaxed, but [my wife] isn't. I think there needs to be a balance. It's not a bad thing that my wife wants him to do well, but to me, there will definitely be a certain level of stress, so when he wants to destress, he'll come to find me. 

Does your wife have the final say when it comes to their education?

I’m more of the discipline master at home. My wife’s not too good at Chinese, so when she told me that our son’s Chinese wasn’t too good either, I started revising with them.

But now that my son's older, he doesn't look for me anymore. He knows that revising with me has a certain level of stress to it, since I'm a host with Mediacorp and all. So when I ask him if everything's okay, he would say okay even when it's not. And my wife will be like, 'No, no no. Your compositions, compositions!'

Do your kids attend tuition classes?

Tuition, yes. My son goes for science and maths tuition. But wow, the maths and science now is so different. For example, they have these models for maths, that they have to use to solve for their answers. We used to just go by logic and workings, but now you need models.

You have to draw those out, right?

Yes, yes! You have to draw out the boxes, like, what?! Is that a train? (laughs)

The NC16 version of Dark Angel is available on meWATCH here. The PG version will air on Channel 8 from Sep 12, 9pm. You can catch the first episode below.

Photos: Mediacorp Photo Unit, Pyron Tan, Cavin Soh/Instagram