The former President of Russia wore a watch that cost as much as a luxury car.

The President of Italy wears watches that cost as much as a house.

And even the the modest President Clinton rolls around in a Panerai.

Now when I first mused about this a few weeks ago, the possibility that the President of the greatest nation in the world would roll around the greatest residence in the world with a gift shop trinket on his wrist was only a possibility, but now it is a definite reality, and I am pleased with the outcome.

Now I am not one to generalize especially with my sparse knowledge of anything remotely political, but it seems to be the trend of Presidents of late to try to relate to the common people more by wearing a cheap watch.  George W. Bush did it with his cheap Timex, and I heard that when President Clinton was in the White House he skimped on expensive watches for more basic ones.  Forget the hordes of Secret Service goons, private airplane, helicopters, and instant access to the hottest nightclubs, a President seems to think that if wears the same kind of watch as us ordinary people, then he can somehow relate to us.  Gimme a break!

Speaking of Secret Service goons, if you ever seen watch now President Barack Obama wears on his wrist and ever wondered, “what kind of watch is that?”  Well wonder no longer.

As a recent birthday present for President Obama, his Secret Service goons thought of the laziest present known to man.  They went to the Secret Service shop, bought a watch, gave it to him, and now it’s his daily wearer.

It was produced by the no name company of Jorg Gray, who basically sells cheap Chinese watches of which you can put a logo on and there you have it!

The End!

If you have ever been to a museum you will know that it is largely a big tourist trap for a bunch of people to go to and pretend as though they’re interested in stuff.  From all the world over parents they take their obnoxious kids to marvel at the pretty colors of fish, the size of the bones from long deceased creatures, take some pictures, and then leave.  But before they make their exit, they are inevitably going to notice the shop that sells goods related to their museum visit.

And in this conveniently placed “gift shop” they can buy tacky postcards to send to their relatives, so they know you are cool, in addition you can also purchase books which will never be read, and if you are lucky, you can even buy some freeze-dried ice cream which has the ability to instantly melt three dollars right out of your pocket.

At the upper echelons of these gifts though, you may notice there may be a small selection of watches.  Usually tucked away under the pristine protection of clear plastic, the logoed watches may look appealing as they sell for more than the usual junk they have there.

Now what can be cooler than having a watch with the logo of the National Air and Space Museum on your wrist? Well quite a lot of things quite honestly.

Back on topic though, I have literally been asked one question by a colleague of mine asking me what watch Barack Obama wears, and while I have known some time now, the answer has never really seemed to spark any kind of interest in me to discuss it, but here goes…

As a present for Mr. Obama on a recent birthday, his Secret Service goons went down to the Secret Service gift shop and thought of the laziest birthday present known to man.  They went down to the gift shop and got him a Secret Service logoed watch.  What’s most surprising though is that Barack Obama seems to wear it everyday!

Here it is with Joe Biden’s Omega Seamaster Professional in the distance:

And a close up:

Now the funny thing is that he traded a fairly respectable Tag Heuer for this.  Why?  Well I suppose it’s the same reason that he traded his massive gas guzzling Chrysler 300C for an economical Ford Escape Hybrid, he wants to practice what he preaches and so traded his Swiss timepiece for a American one, or so he thought.

Well I have done a little bit of digging on this one, but the watch is actually made in China like quite a lot of things in this country, and it actually starts off life as a Jorg Gray JGC6500 Chronograph like this one:

You may not have heard of Jorg Gray as a company, and there’s a good reason.  You see all they do is makes generic watches without logos on them so you can put your organization’s logos on them and thus disappoint your friends, family, etc. with your mail order junk.

So to conclude, like George Bush’s Timex, Barack Obama’s watch can be classified in a similar vein a being a piece of mail order junk.
The End!