General Chiang Kai-Shek’s Watch

Museum Quality Watch by ​Louis Audemars, Brassus & Geneva

Grand Complication L. Audemars Minute Repeater, Moon phase, Digital Calendar, 1-Minute Chronograph Pocket Watch. Made by the famous watch maker Louis Audemars, Brassus & Geneva.

Museum quality watch in pristine condition. 7 complications, lever escarpment A1 grade chronometer, 18k solid gold, weight 200g (very heavy for a gold pocket watch). The watch was made for General Chiang Kai-Shek head of the Chinese Kuomintang Party and depicts a hand engraved portrait of him on the case.

Chiang Kai-Shek served as the President of the Republic of China between 1950-1975. He was an early ally of Sun Yat-sen, the first premier of the Kuomintang and the first president of the Republic of China, and a pivotal figure in China’s twentieth-century nationalist movement. While Kai-Shek is credited with modernizing China and resisting Japanese encroachment during the so-called Nanjing Decade preceding World War II, his vigorous persecution of Chinese Communists and dissidents has been condemned by some modern historians.

The Cairo Conference, 1943
In November and December of 1943, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt met with Chinese President Chiang Kai-Shek and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss the progress of the war against Japan and the future of Asia. In addition to discussions about logistics, they issued a press release that cemented China’s status as one of the four allied Great Powers and the declaration, which was drafted by the U.S. and amended by the U.K., mentioned the unconditional surrender of Japan, the restoring to China of Manchuria, Formosa and the Pescadores, and the freedom and independence of Korea.

The photographs of Winston Churchill & Roosevelt with Chiang Kai-Shek and Madame Kai-shek are from my collection.

Item #1176