Putin hands over 5500 dollar Swiss watch to cheeky Russian factory worker

Moscow, Sep.16 (ANI): Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin handed over a 5000 dollar Swiss watch to a weapons manufacturing factory worker in Tula.

According to The Telegraph, the metalworker put Putin in a spot after he gave a speech on the economy in the town of Tula.

"Vladimir Vladimirovich, maybe you'll give me something to remember you by?" Viktor Zagaevsky asked.

A bemused-looking Putin gestured he had nothing to give before jokingly asking what the worker wanted. "Maybe your watch," the worker shot back.

After a short pause, Putin handed the watch over, leaving those present stunned.

The watch, made by Swiss company Blancpain, sells for around 5,500 pounds, what an average Russian earns in a year.

Putin's love of chunky Swiss watches matches his macho action man image that goes down so well with Russian voters. He famously wears his watch on his right hand, a quirk that prominent members of his United Russia party have mimicked to show their loyalty.

The most expensive watch Putin has been spotted wearing is a model by Swiss firm Patek Philippe that sells for about 35,000 pounds.

Last month, he "spontaneously" took a watch from his wrist and gave it to an impoverished shepherd's son in Siberia in a choreographed Kremlin propaganda exercise. (ANI)