JAKARTA - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is said to be a fan of luxury watches, will distribute complicated locally made watches as souvenirs for world leaders at the ASEAN summit summit held in his country this week.
The photos shared by Hun Sen on his official Facebook page show a close-up look of limited edition watches with gold hands, transparent boxes, and brown leather ropes, decorated with the words "ASEAN Cambodia 2022" and "Cremated Cambodia".
"This watch has been prepared and assembled by a pure Cambodian technician, which is part of Cambodia's science and technology and development," Hun Sen wrote of the 25-hour limited edition.
A video shows the gear inside a complicated watch, engraved with a "tourbilon" and a "twenty-five (25) gem" and the name of Cambodian watch maker Prince Horology.
The price of Cambodia's watches has not been announced.
An expert said ASEAN's photos and watch videos appear to show advanced tourbillon mechanisms, which require high-level expertise and can carry a six-digit price tag, although he declined to speculate on Cambodia's version of the value.
"This mechanism is not important for accurate timeliness, but is marketed as a complicated feature and (part of) a luxurious watch," said Embleh Chan, editor at Singapore-based Revolution magazine, which specializes in high-end watches.
The prime minister's office did not respond to further requests for information about the watch.
"This really represents our country," said businessman Ramaneth Heur. "This gift shows that Khmers can do it and enter the world stage," he continued.
As for Sok Eysan, spokesman for the Cambodian People's Party led by Hun Sen, said "no one was political or strange" about the watch.
"This is the kindness of the host country to give them a souvenir to the leaders," he said by telephone.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
