Mark Zuckerberg’s $1 million Greubel Forsey watch proves as controversial as his Meta changes
Jamie WeissMark Zuckerberg’s seemingly overnight transformation from a dude who famously only ever had one shirt in his wardrobe to one of the world’s most high-profile high-watchmaking collectors has been equal parts entertaining and bizarre. He might also now be the most minted celebrity watch collector on the planet: as the world’s 3rd richest person with a net worth of over US$210 billion, the founder and CEO of Meta – the world’s largest social media company – can afford just about any watch under the sun. His latest horological acquisition, however, has proven to be highly controversial – not because it’s a bad watch by any means, but because of the context in which the world got a glimpse of it.
View this post on Instagram
Earlier today, Zuckerberg announced a sweeping policy overhaul across Facebook and Instagram. Starting in the US, Meta is ending its third-party fact-checking program, replacing it with an expanded Community Notes feature, and lifting many of its content restrictions on topics like politics and gender. You can read more about these changes in Meta’s press release here, but the thing we want to focus on right now is the expensive watch ‘Zuck’ chose to wear in his video announcement: a Greubel Forsey Hand Made 1 worth around US$906,000 (~A$1.45 million).
Objectively, this is a very cool watch. As the name implies, each Greubel Forsey Hand Made 1 is totally hand-made (not that the typical Greubel Forsey is the type of watch that’s being churned out in its thousands). By that, I mean made with hand tools and no automation, with only a few components such as gaskets and the crystal not handcrafted by Greubel Forsey’s watchmakers. The Swiss brand explains that there are around 6,000 man-hours invested per watch, which means they’re only capable of producing around 3 of these watches every year.
Measuring up at 43.5mm in diameter, the Hand Made 1’s white gold case houses an exquisite open dial with acres of brushed German silver, a tourbillon at 7 o’clock and finishing that can only be described as painstaking, including insane interior angles, black polished counter-sunk screws and a gratté main caseback base plate. Aesthetically, it’s reasonably contemporary, but the watchmaking on display here is utterly traditional. In that sense, it’s a curious watch for a tech baron to own, but it demonstrates some great taste.
Well, perhaps taste is the wrong word. While many people have lauded Zuckerberg and Meta’s change of course – especially those on the right of the political spectrum – many commentators (especially watch enthusiasts) have noted that wearing such an expensive watch while talking about the culture wars is more than a little out of touch.
Zuck was wearing a ~$1M watch in his community notes announcement video.
Nothing says I understand the culture shift of the community more than a watch that costs more than most people’s houses. pic.twitter.com/RAmG0iLMdu
— Deedy (@deedydas) January 7, 2025
Look, I’m not going to wade too much deeper into the debate around Meta’s content policies and how these latest changes can be seen as a concession to incoming US President Donald Trump (or, more accurately, Zuck kissing the ring). Let’s talk about the watch. On the one hand, I’m impressed by the watch – and I’m happy for Greubel Forsey, a brand I’ve long admired that’s just got some great free advertising. I think more people should know about them! At the same time, it does strike me as on the nose that Zuck would choose to wear this while announcing such controversial changes to two of the world’s biggest social media platforms.
The Time+Tide community agrees, too. One of the choice comments left on our Instagram about Zuck’s Greubel Forsey was “He’s a little boy with billions. You expect too much from him if you didn’t realize he’s a boot licker.” Or as RedBar founder Adam Craniotes put it, “f*k this guy already”. Ouch.