Just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? Punch and pie for anyone who manages to repeat that one ten times quickly. A good friend of mine recently alerted me of a great article from the Russian press, in which a newspaper has compiled a list of pictures of bunch of Russian political bigwigs and what watches they wear. Some of the prices seem to be in Swiss Franks which is rougly equal with the American dollar at the moment. “руб” denotes Russian rubels, 30 of which are about a dollar.
Admittedly, it would be a lot more interesting if I had the slightest knowledge of Russian domestic policy, or recognized any of these fellows. However, I’d rather take part in office watercooler gossip if it concerned these sorts of matters rather than, let’s say, Tiger Woods. When people say that the difference between the West and East is slowly fading away, they really ought to take this sort of business into consideration. Bill Clinton wore a Timex while in office (yes, I know that he’s all about Pannies these days), but these dudes sure know what’s up.
Below is a selection of my favorites.
Ned Flanders over here played it safe with a pretty low-key Calatrava (bit of a tautology, I know), a ref. 5107 I believe, just like this one right here on James. All in all, the pictured gentleman does give me the impression of a well-mannered trustworthy politician in the mold of someone like Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. Some of the others examples pictured below? Not so much.
If anything, the just mindnumblingly brave comb-over should be given some sort of special award. Would you elect this man to handle any sort of state affairs? I’m not sure I would invite him to my own home. He does sport quite a hefty piece of gold, however. I managed to dig up a more detailed picture of the DeWitt, since there’s a brand new one in Pennsylvania at the moment.
Mr Grumpy has undoubtedly finer taste in watches than he has in hairstyles. Weird almost Trump-esque late 1980’s hair seems to be a reoccuring theme in Russian politics. Luckily, his open-heart Breguet tourbillon more than compensates for that shortcoming. A gold variant is also available in Pennsylvania.
Now we’re talking. This dapper gentleman decided to splurge on the famous Sky Moon from Patek. Considering the relatively low price quoted in the article (some variants of the Sky Moon go for upwards of €1,000,000), I’m going to go ahead and guess that it’s a ref 5102PR in platinum and red gold.
Chilling, playing it safe with a Patek retrograph in an officer-style case.
It’s nice to see that there’s interest in non-Swiss watches among the oligarchs. A. Lange & Söhne always keep confirming my belief that some of the most exciting and innovative watch designs are coming out of Germany. Although, you would think that atleast someone would, you know, wear Russian watches? A Raketa is what, 5 bucks? The Grande Lange 1 can be found here.
What did I just say about the haircuts? It looks painted-on! But who’s looking at the hair, anyway? Ulysse Nardin is such an underrated brand. Their non-traditionalist approach to nautical watches is always fresh and interesting. You can save over a grand if you take a closer look at the Maxi Marine here.
Kings of thin Piaget is always a safe-but-never boring choice, so much in fact that I wrote an article about an upcoming version of the Altiplano a month ago. Can’t wait? There’s an identical one in, yet again, Pennsylvania.
Wow. I’ m just speechless. Where do you even begin? On the one hand, it’s cool to see a politician sporting an automatic Luminor with a suit. On the other, it’s a little disheartening to see that he fancies himself some sort of a throwback superspy lovechild of Jason Bourne and, well, the dad from Family Ties.
Not sure that I even need to come up with something witty for this one. This pictures deserves a Pulitzer. I think the watch might be a black dial Colt GMT.
And finally, my favorite. Why can’t my local politicians sport quirky double tourbillons like this one from Greubel Forsey? Astonishing.
