THE JOURNAL

The 'Gold Rolex' obsession of the Hong Kong triads

News centrePublished 2014-04-24

Whenever you mention Hong Kong triad members, you instantly picture Brother Nan or Chicken, “ but times have changed and Hong Kong no longer has triad members ”--Golden Chickensss. Exactly, today we want to talk about a comedy that was hugely popular, or rather quite “ racy ” in Hong Kong recently, Golden Chickensss, in which “ Gordon ” played by award-winning actor Nick Cheung and “Jackeyboy ” played by Eason Chan rely on a Rolex to express their brotherhood in the underworld.

Still from Golden Chicken SSS

Seeing this Rolex in the film was genuinely a bit surprising; did the Hong Kong underworld make that much back then, considering this is a RolexDAY-DATEspecial edition18948? Putting aside whether it is a special edition or not, just looking at its full18Kyellow gold material, the diamonds on the bezel and dial, alongside the “ logo that Hong Kong people have always adored,Rolex” is enough to show that this watch is worth a fortune. It suddenly brings to mind Anthony Wong's line in Infernal Affairs: “ Murder and arson bring golden belts, while repairing bridges and roads leaves no bodies ”, though a film is just a film, so there is no need to take it too seriously—it is purely entertainment.

Still from Golden Chicken SSS

American eBay e-commerce website

Sandra Ng, who plays “ Big Breast Kam ” in the film, says the watch is still worth half a million to six hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars today. At the time, that felt a bit exaggerated, especially since this model is now vintage and extremely rare on the domestic market, particularly considering that a similar currentDD118348retail price is only around50ten thousand and a bit. However, this watch does indeed exist on American e-commerce platformsEbay, priced at over4ten thousand US dollars. Factor in the exchange rate, taxes, and profit margins, and it could easily fetch four to five hundred thousand RMB back home, which equates to fifty or sixty thousand Hong Kong dollars. Therefore, “ Big Breast Kam ” was not exaggerating all that much after all.

A film is ultimately just a film; in reality, where would you find such a loyal “Jackeyboy ” holding onto a watch worth half a million to six hundred thousand for their boss for over a decade? Besides, if that were the case, you would first need to own a watch worth half a million to six hundred thousand anyway.

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