You can’t learn everything about a person by the watch they wear.
But Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to wear a US$900,000 timepiece, while announcing the end of fact-checking on Meta platforms, shows the billionaire’s changing relationship to physical displays of power and wealth.
Zuckerberg took to Facebook on Wednesday to declare independent fact-checking will cease on Meta platforms, and will be replaced by ‘community notes’, like those preferred by free-speech absolutist Elon Musk and his X platform.
(Fact-checking operations will continue in Australia for at least one more year.)
Instead of his early hoodie-and-jeans look, or the crisp suit he sported in the US Senate while being grilled about data privacy in 2018, Zuckerberg wore a loose black t-shirt, a gold chain, and on his wrist, a Greubel Forsey watch.
I am a watch enthusiast and a business journalist, which means I spend time around those with the means to purchase expensive watches, and the ability to tell what they are wearing.
It’s Apple Watches, mostly, if they wear a watch at all. After all, mechanical watches are anachronisms, with your smartphone keeping better time than the most sophisticated chronometer.
Yet there are exceptions to the rule. There was the fintech CEO and his Tag Heuer Monaco. The marketing industry leader wearing a rose gold Rolex Day-Date, with the fluted bezel. And a staff member at an Australian technology unicorn, rolling into the office with a vintage Rolex Explorer II.
Both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton appear to be Tag Heuer guys, for what it’s worth.
These observations do not make their way into my reporting. Usually, a person’s decision to wear a watch indicates only two things: they can afford the watch, and like wearing one. These are hardly ground-breaking facts.
That equation can change, depending on the context. French President Emmanuel Macron, for example, removed his Bell & Ross wristwatch while discussing changes to the pension in 2023. Élysée Palace representatives claimed he did so as the watch was audibly banging on the table; nevertheless, footage of the subtle unhanding sparked outrage from his political opponents.
At home, we only need to go back a few years to see how the purchase of luxury Cartier watches by Australia Post executives incensed critics, including former Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Ultimately, an investigation found “no indication of dishonesty, fraud, corruption or intentional misuse of Australia Post funds” when purchasing those gifts.
Clearly, then, it is possible to impute meaning to a luxury watch. And in Zuckerberg’s case, it is hard not to see his new Greubel Forsey as part of his broader aesthetic and cultural shift.
As someone who watched Facebook’s pivot to Meta, and Zuckerberg’s all-in bet on web3 and the metaverse, it is curious to see his newfound interest in mechanical timepieces – physical doodads rendered obsolete by quartz technology 50 years ago.
Greubel Forsey, specifically, is unique, with fine polishing and workmanship only apparent up close and in person. Hardly fodder for someone who once billed the future as virtual – and legless.
His watch collection is growing rapidly, too, and is filling with ultra-exclusive, ‘if you know, you know’ pieces.
It is hard to ignore how these public displays coincide with the re-election of Donald Trump, with whom Zuckerberg dined at Mar-a-Lago in November.
Taken together, his watches indicate a growing comfort with physical displays of influence. The polished and suited version of Zuckerberg who endured a verbal battering in the US Senate is long gone. This Zuck – relaxed, walking back fact-checking, and sporting a luxury house on his wrist – is something else entirely.
Never miss a story: sign up to SmartCompany’s free daily newsletter and find our best stories on LinkedIn.
This article was first published by Crikey.
Senior Business Journalist
Focused on the small business sector, David’s work covers the political, regulatory, and economic issues facing Australian entrepreneurs. Prior to joining SmartCompany, he was a reporter for Business Insider Australia. You can follow him on LinkedIn.
