Delays in the sale of Sincere Watch have prompted talk that bids have come in much lower than the earlier valuation of $530 million by ex-owner Peace Mark.

Details of the final bid were slated to be out in early January, industry sources told BT.

But with the credit tightness and the easing demand for luxury products, the bids that came in could have been seen as too low, they said.

'They didn't bid high enough for the liquidator to want to release the company for sale,' said one source.

Speculation is that bids could have come in at between $200 million and $300 million - a far cry from what Peace Mark paid when it bought Sincere in December 2007, said another person familiar with the matter, adding that this might prompt liquidators to call for fresh bids.

The liquidator has maintained that they continue to be in discussions with the bidders.

Potential bidders include Singapore's second- largest luxury watch player The Hour Glass, a consortium of Sincere shareholders, China's top watch player Xinyu Hengdeli and some Malaysian parties, as well as venture capitalists. The Hour Glass and Xinyu did not comment when contacted by BT.

The bid from the consortium is said to include Sincere's founder Tay Liam Wee, who did not return a message from BT.

One source noted that Xinyu's involvement in the bid comes as Xinyu's European shareholders (Swatch Group and LVMH Group) and other watch brand owners are not too comfortable in tipping the balance heavily in The Hour Glass's favour, noting this could be an indirect way to keep the status quo in the three-way game.

The Hour Glass's executive chairman Henry Tay had argued earlier in 2005 that the watch retailing industry must consolidate so as to boost its bargaining power with suppliers.

This followed his purchase of shares in Cortina Holdings in that year that bumped up his stake to 13.6 per cent then.

With the subsequent dilution via a share issue and raise in stake by Cortina's Lim family and an associate, that has been trimmed. It's now at 12.4 per cent, Bloomberg data shows.

This article was first published in The Business Times on Jan 26, 2009.