While France was at a standstill, Macron’s clock move did not go unnoticed

As the government plan to gradually raise the retirement age to 64 in France has put millions on the streets for weeks, the luxury watch worn by President Emmanuel Macron while advocating pension reform on television has became the country’s agenda.

More than 1 million people took to the streets yesterday in many French cities against the “retirement in the grave” plan, which generated great controversy. Clashes between police and protesters broke out in many cities, including the capital Paris, with some protesters setting fire to piles of rubbish caused by the strike.

The plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, which millions of workers protested with strikes, brought backlash to the Macron administration at its height. As for the plan, which faced strong opposition backlash in parliament, the government implemented article 49 paragraph 3 of the Constitution and ensured that the law was passed without a vote in parliament, sparking heated debates over the status of democracy in France.

The opposition presented a motion of censure to the National Assembly against this step by the government.

‘TIME WAS LOST’

While the country was on its feet, Macron’s removal of the luxury watch from his arm in the show he attended on television became the agenda of social media.

Although he argued that Macron, who broadcast the questions from journalists from the France 2 and TF1 channels on television, argued that the retirement age should be raised, the statement that he had 80,000 euros in his arm generated great controversy.

There were comments on social media that Macron noticed the expensive watch on his wrist and took it off while asking the public to work harder. In the complaints that are on the agenda in the French press, it was stated that Macron took out his luxury watch to avoid criticism, and the value of the watch was 80,000 euros.

Images of Macron taking his watch under the table and putting it aside were also reflected on social media. Some users of social networks commented: “The president of the ultra-rich secretly took out his 80,000-euro watch, which he bought with his pensions.”

Far-right politician Gilbert Collard also shared the video, saying: “The watch was gone in an instant. Why don’t you want to show the clock?

‘IT NOT SO EXPENSIVE’

Sources at the Élysée Palace reported that Macron slammed his wrist on the table and then removed it from his arm when the clock struck. His aides argued that Macron’s watch did not cost 80,000 euros, as he claimed, and that the president had been wearing that watch frequently for a year and a half.

It is stated that the sale price of the watch on the internet is 2400 euros.