Awash with watches

The Thai upper crust loves luxury watches. They are a sign of wealth and status. It is no wonder the generals, admirals and air marshals love them too. Everyone knows about the Deputy Dictator’s watches he’s been displaying and their huge valuations.

But what about The Dictator? According to the Bangkok Post, he apparently declared (some of) his watches in 2014. They were:

• A Seiko wristwatch valued at 250,000 baht
• A Patek Philippe with white gold body worth 900,000 baht
• A Patek Philippe costing 600,000 baht
• A Rolex Oyster Perpetual valued at 350,000 baht
• A Rolex with gold body costing 150,000 baht
• A Rolex with a steel body worth 250,000 baht
• A Panerai Radiomir with white gold body worth 200,000 baht
• A Panerai Radiomir worth 150,000 baht
• A Breitling valued at 150,000 baht

That comes to 3 million baht. Did anyone in the anti-corruption agencies ever ask The Dictator how it was that he came by watches that he valued at many times his annual salary? Of course not, just like they didn’t ask any of the corrupt military men how they almost all became unusually wealthy while earning a low state salary.

But is it likely that Prayuth’s watches are really valued at just 3 million baht or about US$92,000?

Our quick check of pre-owned watch sites in the U.S. suggests that a standard Panerai Radiomir goes for about 230,000 baht and a white gold version for about 350,000 baht. We don’t know the models, but a gold body Rolex is likely to be worth about 300,000 baht and more. A Patek Philippe watch with white gold body can go for far higher than 1 million baht. If the exact models and dates were known, we’d guess that The Dictator’s watch collection is worth around 4 to 6 million baht and perhaps a lot more than that.

How did he collect them?