I find it amusing that this is selling for probably the equivalent of 10yrs wages in North Korea From the item description http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=131531754373Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network Offered for sale is a vintage Omega Constellation with Kim Il Sung signature dial. Its the one of the few that exists, custom ordered for special occasions like head of state visits and presented to high ranking foreign officials(Head of state and delegacy,senior diplomatic representative and similar). Kim Il Sung was the first leader in the Kim dinasty of North Korea and ruled from its establishment 1948 till his death in 1994. He was declared as "eternal President" also know as the "Great Leader" or controversely as a communist dictator but as serious vintage watch enthusiast, I believe that truly interested mature enough to threat historic facts connected to timepieces with a high level of objectiveness and leave all subjective feelings caused by various inputs, aside.
Hi everybody, As I'm lurking around this forum reading and learning for years but not really the type of a conversation starter, I'm glad to chime in finally as I'm the owner of this omega in question. I'm a bit more active at wus(same username) but glad to brake the ice here finally. I have to admit that I'm monitoring the forums as I'm interested in the reactions knowing that it's quite a controverse piece in question. So,just to say hi to everybody at this occasion and regarding the topic,I'm glad to discuss about if any interest and hear your thoughts.... Cheers, S
S certainly a very unique collection.......... Where and how did you get it.... if you don't mind sharing the story
As I mentioned in the listing, it was aquired in Belgrade (capital of ex-Yugoslavia) from a local "dealer", the watch was inherited and found itself up for sale (that's how he got it, living in the residential part of the city and got offered by accident), I have two theories who got it presented and try to source official documents that are listing the gifts from that events(two bilateral agreements were signed in '78 between the two countries) where visits to/from N.Korean officials were made but it seems the gift lists were "accidentally" destroyed during the 90's (war), at least thats the info where I'm stuck at the moment. I don't think any documentation would influence the price but it would be quite an accomplishment for myself to puzzle together a watches history of such controverse provenance.Officially Kim Il-Sung visited Yugoslavia in 1975 and Tito visited N.Korea in 1977 so unfortunately I have to ignore these events as possibility altough I have to admit I was very enthusiastic(before I opened the watch) to connect these dots as good photo and video footage is available from these events and would make up a great story but according to the ser.no 41xxxxx the watch was made in 1978. I will update the thread if I find out something intereseting in the meanwhile regarding the original owner and event when the watch was presented to him.
I've seen a few of these but have no heart to buy. They seem to fetch a bit higher price than normal samples.
http://news.sky.com/story/1053011/north-korea-kim-watches-given-to-top-brass In 1972 and every year thereafter, Kim Jong-Il presented Swiss Omega watches with the name of his father engraved on them on the birthday of Kim Il-Sung. Kim Jong-Il died in 2011. http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2010/08/20/kim-jong-ils-favorite-luxury-brands/ For his timepieces, he prefers Omega, which he also gave out to staff. We actually had an earlier thread on a similar DPRK watch: https://omegaforums.net/threads/kim-il-sung-constellation.3947/ http://www.chronocentric.com/forums/omega/index.cgi?md=read;id=58084
Knowing the content of these certificates, it would be not of much help in my case,at least revealing the part of the story that interests me. Thanks for the links, interesting to hear that they had a good relationship with omega,maybe they broke up afterwards because of the omega pricing policy and now the youngest Kim hands out Invictas I saw the other thread on the OF you inserted, it was the piece from a bay listing I mentioned.
Excellent,I have anyway to contact him and ask about some BB skills I want to master, will throw in the topic casually,at least he could give a call to Kim jr. and ask him about or something
A late follow up on the topic as I was asked in the meanwhile numerous times for a "certificate of authenticity" which I refused to order as I don't see anything questionable but I guess such pieces are more interesting for a non-wis audience therefore I decided at the end to ask for an extract from omega which I got recently....