The watch is an Omega Seamaster 120, bought twenty-six and a half years before Kiriakou described it, and the account he gives of it is mostly an account of a marriage.[1]
At Christmas 1999 he was married to his first wife and “our marriage was not going well at all.”[2] No marriage counselling existed in Greece at the time; the one attempt they made was a priest who, in Kiriakou’s telling, simply shouted at her — “Just do what he says. He’s the husband” — which “wasn’t going to get us anywhere.”[2] He responded by spending: a “gorgeous heavy $2,000 gold necklace”, a six-book set she had wanted, and a dress for parties. “And she bought me a white button-down shirt. That was it. And I was offended and disappointed.”[3]
On 26 December 1999 he flew to another European country to recruit an asset he had been developing, the meeting moved out of the country of assignment so the two could sit in public and “formalize our relationship.”[4] In the Athens duty-free he saw the watch, decided that the $35 Timex Indiglo on his wrist would not do, and bought it on a piece of reasoning he quotes without embarrassment: “I’m the only one working. It’s my money. Merry Christmas to me.”[4][5]
He has worn it since. His own placement of the brand is careful — Omega “is considered a luxury brand, but it’s not like a lose your mind luxury brand like, you know, Patek Philippe or Baume & Mercier.”[5]