A detail strikes some spectators, including two opposition deputies: «Luxury watch?». But the president’s answer is different
PARIS Last Wednesday at 13 the French president Emmanuel Macron appears on unified network television, on Tf1 and France 2, for an interview in which he will explain why – despite months of strikes and protests – pension reform is needed and he will not back down.
A detail strikes some spectators, including two opposition deputies: at the beginning of the interview, Macron wears a watch on his wrist. At the end of the interview the clock is gone. Where did it go? A deputy of the radical left, Clémence Guetté, notes on Twitter that “when it comes to talking about the smicards (citizens who receive the net minimum wage of 1353 euros, ed.) who according to him would never have had so much purchasing power, Macron discreetly removes his luxury watch, under the table».
Another deputy, this time from the extreme right, Gilbert Collard, wonders “but why on earth does he not want to show his watch?”. On social media very quickly the sequence accompanied by the rumor that it is spreads a luxury watch: an account hostile to the president says that «the president of the very rich takes off discreetly the 80 thousand euro watch paid with your pensions», another specifies that «Macron wears an FP Journe worth 80,000 euros, perhaps it was said that it was not the best to show off an 80,000 euro watch in front of us poor people».
In reality, the watch is the BRV192 model from the French brand Bell & Ross worth around 2400 euros, and the Elysium therefore speaks of «fake news». «Contrary to what we read on social media, the president does not take off his watch to hide it but because he had just slammed it on the table making an annoying noise – a source from the Elysée explained to Libération -. It can be heard clearly in the full video, a few seconds before the start of the part relaunched on social networks”.
As for the value of the watch, the only peculiarity compared to the version on the market – which costs 2,400 euros and not 80,000 – is the fact that it is personalized with the symbols of the presidency of the republic. «And the French house Bell & Ross has partnerships with many institutions, such as the army and the security group of the presidency of the Republic». A watch that Macron is not in the habit of hiding and which is clearly visible in the images taken by the official photographer Soazig de La Moissonière, for example on the occasion of the state visit to the USA or the trip to Qatar during the World Cup.
March 24, 2023 (change March 24, 2023 | 12:16)
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