French President Emmanuel Macron has been criticized after removing a luxury watch during an interview about pension changes.
This was reported by the BBC.
France has been gripped by protests and strikes over Mr Macron’s decision to raise the pension age from 62 to 64.
Representatives for Mr. Macron said that the president has taken off the watchbecause he “rang the table”.
However, his critics say the watch shows he is out of touch with society.
Some wrongly claimed it was worth up to €80,000 ($86,000; £70,000), but the Elysee Palace said that was not true.
The incident happened during a prime-time interview on Wednesday, when Mr Macron was making his case for raising the retirement age.
There was a thud as he rested his forearms on the table.
The president then placed his hands under the table as he continued to speak. When he picked them up again, the watch was taken off.
His team insisted the suspension was completely innocent. But the missing watch quickly attracted the attention of his critics.
Clemens Goethe, an MP from the opposition leftist party “Disobedient France”, participated in the protests against the pension reform.
She tweeted that while the president has claimed that minimum wage workers have unprecedented spending power, the “last photo” is of him “taking off his beautiful luxury watch.”
“The president of the rich has never worn his name so well,” said her colleague Farida Amrani.
The exact price of the watch has been debated online, with some of Mr Macron’s critics speculating that it costs 80,000 euros.
But the Elysée Palace told French media that the president is wearing a Bell & Ross BR V1-92 model that has been customized with a coat of arms.
Online prices for this watch, without customization, are between 1,660 and 3,300 euros (1,460 and 2,900 BGN).
“He wears it very regularly now more than a year and a half” added the Elysée Palace.
