The clocks here made Yang Jing a little dazzled.

Seeing Yang Jing coming in, an old man who looked to be over 60 years old came up to him and said with a smile: "Welcome to the world of time. I think I can meet most of your needs for time. Hello, guest from the East, I am Jean Armand, the owner of this store."

To Yang Jing's surprise, this old man with a typical French name spoke fluent English with a very authentic London accent, without even a trace of French accent.

Yang Jing smiled and said, "Hello, Mr. Armand, I really like the atmosphere here. I am Albert Yang from China."

"Well then, young and promising Yang, is there anything I can do for you?" The old man was polite and very much like the traditional British butlers that Yang Jing often saw. However, Yang Jing always felt that something was not right about this old man. It seemed that although the old man was indeed polite on the surface, his demeanor carried a hint of arrogance and a hint of discrimination.

Yang Jing has been in London for two years, and it is common for Chinese people to be discriminated against in Europe, so Yang Jing is very sensitive to such expressions. Of course, the old man may have hidden his discriminatory expression very well because he opened a shop.

Since the old man did not show obvious discrimination, Yang Jing said politely: "I'll just take a look. Of course, if I find something I like, I will take a few away."

The old man nodded very gentlemanly and said: "Except for some top-level famous watches, you can basically see other watches here. Whether you want antique watches or modern watches, as long as you need them, just tell me." Although he was still very polite, Yang Jing could clearly feel a certain brilliance that flashed in the old man's eyes.

It seemed to be mocking him: "How many more pieces do you want to take away? Just you?"

Yang Jing shrugged and began to look carefully at the clocks in the shop.

You know what, the old man really didn’t lie. Although his shop is not very big, the watches here are really diverse.

With just a glance, Yang Jing saw several antique clocks and several antique pocket watches and wristwatches.

Among them was a table clock. Yang Jin dared to bet that it was definitely a commemorative golden table clock produced by Germany's Kieninger to celebrate the 45th birthday of William II.

I'm afraid that in the eyes of people in most countries in the world, Wilhelm II, who brazenly provoked the First World War, is definitely not a good person. But in the eyes of the Germans, the last German emperor, who was born with Erb's palsy which caused his left arm to atrophy, is undoubtedly very, very great.

Although William II did many things that endangered world peace during his reign, and even brazenly provoked the First World War, the Germans of that era were still very fanatical about this emperor.

Even though William II's 45th birthday in 1914 was when World War I was in full swing, it did not stop many German people from celebrating the birthday of this great emperor.

Kieninger, which had just emerged in the watch industry at the time, presented Emperor William II with a gold and diamond table clock on his birthday.

Foreigners are different from Chinese people. If you give a Chinese person a clock as a birthday gift, he or she will definitely kick you out. What does it mean to give a clock as a birthday gift? Is it to give a clock as a gift to the Chinese people?

But in the eyes of foreigners, whether it is a watch, a table clock, or even a floor clock, it is a very good birthday gift.

Not to mention that the clock that the Kiening family gave to William II was made entirely of gold and diamonds. It is said that the clock alone was worth 18,000 gold marks.

This clock was very popular with William II. Kieninger, which was in its early stages of development at the time, immediately used this clock as a model to build 45 William II commemorative clocks.

Although these commemorative clocks are not as luxurious as the real birthday gift clock, their dials and hands are also made of gold. At that time, such a commemorative clock cost as much as 1,200 gold marks.

Before World War I, the German gold mark was still quite valuable, because the currency of that era was linked to gold. At that time, the most popular currency in the world was not the US dollar, but the British pound. At that time, one pound contained about 7.3 grams of pure gold, while the gold content of the German gold mark was half of that of the British pound. In other words, at that time, one pound was equal to two German gold marks, which was equal to five US dollars.

In other words, one gold mark at that time was equal to 2.5 US dollars, and 1,200 gold marks were equivalent to 3,000 US dollars.

What did $3,000 mean in that era? In that era, $300 could buy a large enough piece of land in Texas and then enjoy retirement life. With $3,000, you could be called a rich man in the local area!

It is indeed true. If you calculate the current US dollar and the US dollar in 1900 based on the changes in the gold price, you will find that 3,000 US dollars in 1900 is approximately equal to 350,000 US dollars today!

After all, the GDP of the United States in 1900 was only 20.5 billion US dollars. You can imagine how valuable these 1,200 gold marks were.

Yang Jing loves watches, which may be inherited from his parents.

Yang Jing's mom and dad both like watches, and Yang Jing has also been fond of this kind of artwork used for timekeeping since he was a child. Therefore, Yang Jing is very knowledgeable about watches.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!