Dalai Lama is also a watch lover!!!!! how cool is that!

[genec]

The Dalai Lama just loves watches

DHARAMSALA: The Dalai Lama's commitment to the Tibetan cause can only be described as timeless. So, is the 75-year-old spiritual leader's penchant for watches.

When he was seven, the Dalai Lama received his first watch a gold Rolex - from none other than former United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Roosevelt sent the gift to the Dalai Lama in 1942, as a symbol of gesture to secure relations with Tibet.

"I just like watches. I have 15 watches now, they are mostly gifts. My first watch was given to me by President (Franklin) Roosevelt.

"I like watches, I don't know why. Maybe, because I am a reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama.

"I was told (that) he was fond of pocket-watches, rosaries and horses, but I am afraid of horses," he burst out laughing, in his regular banter during an interview at his headquarters in Dharamsala, the power-base of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile.

Perhaps, the most interviewed and photographed monk, often draped in his usual maroon and orange robes, he leads a monastic life with his staunch followers in the main temple of McLeod Ganj in Dharamsala.

He considers himself a Marxist.

The Dalai Lama was born Tenzin Gyatso in northeast of Tibet to a peasant family and is believed to be the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso.

He fled to India in 1959, when Chinese troops entered Tibet's capital, Lhasa, to quell a national uprising, and he ended up in Dharamsala, northern state of Himachal Pradesh.

Eventually, Dharamsala became home for the exiled spiritual leader and thousands of escaping Tibetans over the past 50 years from where he champions the Tibetan cause. Bernama

[danny]

Considering the fact that the Dalai Lama is supposedly the reincarnation of an Enlightened Being, it is not surprising that he appreciates the value of time and hence his admiration for good timepieces.

 

[takashi78]

I wonder if his Patek will end up being the most expensive watch being sold in future auction (if it does end up there).

[genec]

I wouldn't be surprise if it ends up the most expensive watch ever!
the history behind it is just simply amazing!

FDR gave the gold patek to the Dalai Lama when he was just a young kid, by two intelligent service agents, America was trying to examine the possibility about building a road from India to China that would run through Tibet in order to help the U.S. better provide China with supplies to fight and resist the Japanese. They carried to the Dalai Lama the Patek Philippe and a letter from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

and the patek given to the DL is the famous Ref.1526, a perpetual calender!

simply amazing!!!!!
IMHO I hope the watch doesnt fall into the hands of a (rich) private collector.....because this watch is part of history and should be preserved and cared for for many generations to come!!!!!