Former president Donald Trump has a long history of cashing in on his name and celebrity through licensing agreements, but a limited edition series of “Swiss-made” watches being promoted under his name may have one of the strangest backstories of all. Rather than the glorious Alps, the publicly available corporate records behind the Trump Watch lead closer to the Rockies, a CNN investigation found. The network’s reporters traced the company behind the timepiece, TheBestWatchesOnEarth LLC, to the address of a shopping center in Wyoming. Dozens of other companies, including one hawking Trump-themed sneakers through a Trump-approved licensing agreement, are registered there but there was no sign of the watch firm. The office of Andrew Pierce, the man who is the registered agent for the companies, confirmed it is the registered agent for the firms behind the Trump-endorsed products, but that it acts as a business agent for over 100,000 companies around the world and isn't directly involved in their operations. The Trump campaign didn’t reply to CNN’s questions about who is behind TheBestWatchesOnEarth or if they were vetted by the campaign. Pierce’s father and business partner, Mark Pierce, told CNN he was unaware their clients were involved in Trump business and gave a warning to those who would buy the the priciest model of the Trump Watch, which costs $100,000. “Before spending $100,000 on a watch, they should know who they’re buying it from,” he said.
