If a Donald Trump fan is on your Christmas shopping list and you are not constrained by the budgets of ordinary people, you might be considering a wristwatch from a certain online dealer that advertises liberally on conservative media outlets.
But I have some advice: Be careful. Because you might not get it by Easter.
The website gettrumpwatches.com makes clear there is no guarantee on when your order will be shipped, or even when it will be made. The website says only that the watches, which cost up to $100,000, will “start shipping in October/November/December.”
“Shipping and delivery dates are estimates only and cannot be guaranteed,” it goes on to say. And if you didn’t get the message, it’s repeated. Multiple times. “We are not liable for any delays in shipments. … Each watch is made to order. We cannot guarantee when an order will arrive. Consider any shipping or transit time offered to you, by us, only as an estimate. We are not liable for any delays in shipments.”
While the products advertised on the website appear exquisite — particularly the Trump Victory Tourbillon, made of 18 carat gold with 122 diamonds — your typical vendor on the cable shopping channel seems to have better customer service. The operation has the vibe of a guy hawking “Gucci” products on a side street in Manhattan — so much so that people on Reddit and TikTok, without evidence, are accusing Trump of running a scam.
In fact, what Trump is doing — licensing his name — is perfectly legal. But the ubiquitous ads feature the president-elect talking about “his” watches, making it seem that he either owns or is personally involved in the business. As with the sale of Trump sneakers and Trump cologne, he has granted permission for others to make money off his name. As The New York Times put it, “Mr. Trump creates companies that function like bank accounts, allowing the people or companies making the products to pay him royalties for the cost of licensing his name.” The Washington Post has reported that Trump has had more than 50 of these licensing deals, including one with the company that produced a Trump Bible.
Many of these businesses are limited liability companies, in which partners can be anonymous in certain states, like Wyoming where the Get Trump Watches business was established. According to reporting by the Times, the company was set up in July by the same law firm that set up the company behind Trump sneakers and fragrances. The addresses listed on legal filings lead to strip malls.
This has fueled speculation online that the ventures are vehicles for wealthy people to court favor with Trump by buying these products. But in fact, there are ordinary people who just want to buy a piece of Trump glamour and to proudly show off their support of the man that Time magazine just named “Person of the Year.”
I was contacted by a North Carolina woman who purchased two watches in early November on behalf of a Purple Heart veteran she assists. “One of the reasons, I ordered these (was) because I thought, Trump’s likeness and name, I could trust this site! Boy, was I wrong,” Florence Hausler wrote.
When they realized the watches would not come anytime soon, Hausler tried to cancel the order and realized too late that the website says “all sales final.” Of course, it’s not exactly a sale if you didn’t receive the product you paid for.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, a consumer is entitled to a refund if they didn’t receive a product within the timeframe it was promised. In this case, of course, the website repeatedly states that it makes no promise of when the watches might be delivered. The buyer’s best recourse, if she used a credit card, is to dispute the charge with the card issuer within 60 days; that might not work on a debit card, however. And this customer had paid $2,244.86 on a debit card. She has used the customer support form on the website and has not gotten a reply. Neither did I when I tried.
A spokesperson for the Federal Trade Commission said that she could not comment on the matter, referring me to the FTC website. One of the suggestions there is for unhappy consumers to post about their experience on social media. But it’s not clear if anyone has received a Trump watch yet. While there are posts on X of people celebrating the arrival of their Trump sneakers, I could not find anyone posting excitedly about their new Trump watch.
Bloomberg’s Andy Hoffman spoke to someone in Switzerland said to be overseeing the venture there. David Gouten, described as “an industry veteran hired by watchmaker Montrichard,” talked about orders received, but did not say anything indicating that any orders had yet been shipped. Significantly, Hoffman wrote, “Representatives of BestWatchesonEarth LLC did not respond to multiple email requests for comment.”
But beyond the trouble for consumers, there are other issues at play in the selling of Donald Trump’s name.
From Mike Huckabee selling “The Kids Guide to Donald Trump” — “free” except for shipping and handling, and you’re also being signed up for future kids’ guides and access to a digital library for $21.90 a month — to the $499 gold Trump sneakers sold by 45footwear LLC — it’s easy to dismiss these as the tawdry excesses of capitalism.
But wait, that’s not all. Trump further muddies that picture by hawking fragrances online using a photo of First Lady Jill Biden, a move that was described as a master class in trolling by Trump supporters and which prompted USA Today to seriously ask “Can Trump use Jill Biden’s image to sell perfume?”
Legal experts disagreed, with one telling USA Today that a person’s image can’t be used in ads without their consent, and another saying that a clearly humorous post on a social media site would have free-speech protection.
Richard Painter, an ethics lawyer in the administration of George W. Bush, told USA Today that although he thinks Trump is using public office for private gain, “there’s no way to stop the president from selling guitars and Bibles and perfume.” But actually there is: If the websites fail to deliver the products, or produce merchandise that is poor quality, there could be a groundswell of rage that threatens the Trump name, and he could revoke the licensing. Trump is only the president-elect, after all. The consumer is king.
Meanwhile, let the Christmas buyer beware. Order Trump watches if you must, but for Christmas 2026.