Zuckerberg wears $900,000 watch to announce end of Meta fact checks

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Mark Zuckerberg wore a rare Swiss watch worth about $900,000 in a video explaining his company’s decision to end third-party fact checking on its social media platforms in the U.S.

The Meta Platforms Inc. chairman sports a Greubel Forsey ‘Hand Made 1’ on his left wrist in the video posted to Facebook on Tuesday unveiling the policy changes.

The watch is extremely rare and expensive. Greubel Forsey SA produces just two or three ‘Hand Made’ models per year, and the watch retails for $895,500 before taxes.

A Meta spokesperson declined to comment.

Zuckerberg has shown a recent interest in mechanical Swiss watches wearing a diverse selection of complicated timepieces in the past year.

The billionaire has been spotted in the past year wearing watches made by notable brands including Patek Philippe and FP Journe.

However, the Greubel Forsey model indicates a deeper appreciation for watchmaking. Producing just a few hundred timepieces per year, the brand is not particularly well known beyond the most die-hard and well-heeled collectors.

The model Zuckerberg wears in the video is made almost entirely of components constructed by Greubel Forsey. It takes hundreds of hours to assemble and hand finish each watch.

Asked to comment on the Meta Chairman’s latest addition to his collection, Greubel Forsey Chief Executive Officer Michel Nydegger said, “It’s a pleasure to see someone who has played such a pivotal role in shaping the modern digital landscape and lifestyle show true appreciation for the most traditional approach to fine watchmaking today.”

Nydegger took over as CEO of Greubel Forsey last year after the company scaled back plans to significantly increase production and lower average prices from about $500,000 per watch.