Wearing wrist
watches were customary – they were to be hand wound – automatic watches were
costlier. Now this post is about a watch
worth Rs.2.52 crores approx. – leaves to imagine, if one requires a watch for
showing time – why and how can a watch be so costly ? – what extra will that
offer ? – what sort of utility value it has ??
Richard Mille is a brand of luxury Swiss watches from the company of the same
name founded in 1999 by French businessman Richard Mille. After studying marketing
in Besançon, Richard Mille, started work at Finhor, a local watchmaking company
in 1974. In 1999 he founded the company Richard Mille SA in collaboration with
AudemarsPiguet. Its first product, the RM001 went on sale in 2001. Richard
Mille SA is based in Les Breuleux, in the Canton of Jura, Switzerland.The
brand's most famous models are the Tourbillon RM 008 (chronograph tourbillon)
and the sapphire split seconds (chronograph tourbillon) RM 056. The RM 008
combines a tourbillon movement with manual winding, a chronograph
split-seconds, a torque indicator, and a power reserve indicator. Claimed to be
one of the most advanced watches in the world, it is priced from 500,000 Euro.
Tatyana AleksandrovnaNavka, is a Russian ice dancer of Ukrainian
origins. With
partner Roman Kostomarov, she is the 2006 Olympic champion, a two-time World
champion (2004–05), a three-time Grand Prix Final champion (2003–05), and a
three-time European champion (2004–06). Earlier in her career, she competed for
the Soviet Union and Belarus.
Putin’s
aide - Dmitry Peskov, 47, married former Olympic ice dancer Tatyana Navka, 40,
in a lavish ceremony last weekend. The eagle-eyed
opposition spotted the extravagant watch in photographs taken at the “wedding
of the year”, in Sochi. Opposition campaigner Alexei Navalny spotted the watch,
which is claimed to be worth just under £400,000. Mr Navalny claims the watch is evidence of Mr
Peskov's corruption, and said that even
if it was a gift he is forced to declare it under Russian law. The Swiss wristwatch, which features a gold
skull on the dial, has been identified as a limited edition Richard Mille 52-01
watch, only 30 of which have ever been made.
The opposition campaigner demanded that the Kremlin explain just how Mr
Peskov came by it. The Q is - ‘How could the head of state’s press secretary
have a watch worth more than four times his annual income?’
The
watch, which features a gold skull on the face, is claimed to be a
limited-edition Richard Mille 52-01, only 30 of which were ever made. There are allegations that Vladimir Putin's
Deputy Prime Minister owns a secret £12million apartment just a short walk from
Downing Street. Mr Navalny added if the
watch was a gift, anti-corruption laws forced him to forfeit it.Officials in
Russia have to declare gifts that are worth more than 3,000 rubles (£30), he
added on the blog.
One
wedding guest leapt to Mr Peskov’s aid, claiming that the watch was merely an
elaborate ruse, designed to fool journalists that would inevitably analyze the
wedding pictures.Oleg Mitvol, a politician who attended the wedding, said that
Mr Peskov borrowed the watch from a very rich friend for the trick.The
opposition refused to accept the explanation, however, holding up another
photograph taken two weeks before the wedding, in which the luxury wristwatch
can also be clearly seen.
Mr
Peskov later insisted that the watch was a wedding present from his new wife
and that how much she spent 'is no one else's business’ and added that the
watch is really expensive but considerably less expensive than some comrades
are saying.’ He further said that Tatyana, who won an Olympic gold medal in
2006, bought the watch with her own money and how much she spent ‘is no one
else’s business’.The Kremlin official declared his income to have been
9,184,358 rubles (about £93,000) in 2014.The Kremlin has yet to respond to the
allegations of corruption.
This
isn’t the first time the Russian elite’s love of extravagant timepieces has
landed them in hot water.President Putin himself was called out by the
opposition – which devotes itself to exposing corruption – in 2012, when it was
revealed his collection of watches was worth £500,000, considerably more than
his declared income.Meanwhile Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian
Orthodox Church, provoked internet backlash when his £19,000 Breguet watch was
airbrushed out of a photograph.He was found out when keen-eyed internet users
spotted that the watch could still been seen in a reflection on the top of the
table at which Kirill was sitting.
Scenes and venues may change ~ but people and their attitude do
not change !
With
regards – S. Sampathkumar
4th Aug 2015.
