US President Joe Biden. The wristwatch seen through his left shirt sleeve is a’Datejust’ model of’Rolex’, a luxury watch brand in Switzerland. AP=Yonhap News
The watch of US President Joe Biden, who declared’Buy American’, is controversial. At the inauguration ceremony on the 20th, the appearance of a Swiss luxury brand watch, the Rolex Dayjust, was caught. President Biden’s model costs about 7,000 dollars (774 million won).
On the 25th (local time), in an article titled’President Biden, who insisted on purchasing US-made products, prefers Swiss-made Rolex’, “We couldn’t just ignore Biden’s choice of a $7,000 Rolex watch on the day of his inauguration.” He said. “The American people tend to pay attention to everything about the new president at the inauguration ceremony,” he said.
There have been presidents who have used Rolex watches. Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, and former presidents Ronald Reagan.
Bill Clinton’s wrist is stuffed with a Timex watch. AP Yonhap News
In contrast, Presidents from Bill Clinton and before Trump preferred cheap and American watches. Former President Clinton wore the popular Timex Iron Man watch. The Washington Post (WP) described his watch as a brick-thick, plastic digital watch.
Former President George W. Bush also wore a Timex watch. Former President Barack Obama wore a Jog Gray watch based in California. The price was around 500,000 won at the time.
President Biden’s Rolex watch was revealed even before the inauguration ceremony. However, what caught the eye this time has to do with the’by American’ declaration.
‘By American’ encourages the federal government to use domestic products to help the U.S. manufacturing industry when building infrastructure or buying equipment such as automobiles, and President Biden signed an executive order on that day.
On the day of emphasizing domestically manufactured products, the appearance of the president wearing an imported luxury brand was reported.
The New York Times (NYT) on the 22nd made an exception to former President Donald Trump and pointed out that it is a big difference from ordinary people’s watches worn by presidents in recent decades.
Reporter Bae Jae-seong [email protected]