[Opinion] Horological Expenditures

A moderately price watch made by Tissot, a Swiss watch company, took the market by storm in 1915. The popularity of the moderate-price watch served as a momentum for watches to become common. Earlier, Omega, had produced watches in 1902. Watches made by Omega were inspired by an episode of an English officer who tied his pocket watch around his wrist. However, the Omega watches were too expensive and failed to gain popularity among people. Also, most of the watches were made for women. Men were hesitant to use watches because they considered putting on watches feminine. There is a myth that men started to put on watches when the German Navy commanded officers to use watches, which were much easier to find during duties.

Once, watches with the president’s or influential people’s names on them were a vogue. Some of the members of the leading party gave out watches with their names carved on them as presents. There were also some people who pretended to be in close relationships with powerful people with the watches.

In 2002, President Roh, who was the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party at that time, visited former President Kim Young-sam on the last day of April. Pointing to his watch, President Roh said, “Do you remember this watch? You bought it for me in 1989 from a trip to Japan” It seems that President Roh wanted to pull some strings by emphasizing the relationship between him and Kim. However, after this story was revealed, President Roh became the target of criticism that he was trying to do politics based on local feelings.

It seems that the current administration has learned nothing from the “YS watch” episode. Rhyu Si-min, who calls himself a missionary of revolution, handed out 100 watches, which cost 33,000 won each, after he became the Minister of Health and Welfare. He was criticized for wasting the national budget. Worse yet, it has been reported that the current government has used tens of thousands of won of the taxpayers money to make watches for publicity. Last year, the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Agency spent 38,400,000 won and 5,300,000 won respectively in buying watches. Also, it has been known that the government used money for several trivial affairs. The current administration has always insisted that it will carry out revolution and reformation. However, it seems that it is replaying the old practices of the successive governments again and again.

Gwon Sun-taek, Editorial Writer, maypole@donga.com