Watch-obsessed Cambodian PM Hun Sen to give limited-edition timepieces as Asean summit gifts

Hun Sen said 25 watches featuring sophisticated tourbillon mechanism have been ‘prepared and assembled by pure Cambodian technicians’

He has faced public scrutiny in recent years after being photographed wearing luxury watches, including by Patek Philippe, while much of the country struggles with poverty

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Cambodia will give locally made luxury watches as souvenirs to leaders attending the Asean summit in Phnom Penh. Photo: Hun Sen’s Facebook page via Reuters

Published: 3:25pm, 10 Nov 2022

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, an aficionado of luxury watches, will hand out intricate, locally made timepieces as souvenirs to world leaders at an international summit he is hosting this week.

Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for 37 years, has faced public scrutiny in recent years after being photographed wearing luxury watches, including by Patek Philippe and Richard Mille, that cost more than US$1 million each, while much of the country struggles with poverty.

Photos shared by Hun Sen on his official Facebook page showed a close-up of the limited-edition watch face with gold hands, a transparent case and a brown leather strap, emblazoned with the words “Asean Cambodia 2022” and “Made in Cambodia”.

“These watches have been prepared and assembled by pure Cambodian technicians, which is part of scientific and technology and developments of Cambodia,” Hun Sen wrote of the 25 limited-edition watches.

US President Joe Biden is among the global leaders attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in the capital Phnom Penh.

A video showed the elaborate inner gears of the watch, engraved with “tourbillon” and “twenty-five (25) jewels” and the name of the Cambodian watchmaker, Prince Horology.