It is very common for heads of states to gift something or the other whenever they meet their foreign counterparts. For example, our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi was once gifted a rather dope-looking pair of Maybach sunglasses, when India hosted a convoy of German delegates.

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Keeping this tradition in mind, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, gave Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, a cool pair of aviators, made out of 23 karat gold.

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Joe Biden has always been a fan of aviator styled sunglasses, and can often be seen wearing them, even when he was the vice-president to former President Obama.  

Moreover, what is of interest, is that he doesn’t stick to a single brand - From RayBan to DKNY, he has been seen wearing a wide variety of brands.

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The sunglasses that Joe Biden gifted Putin, come from Randolph, a label that specialises in making sunglasses for the US Armed Forces. 

The sunglasses that were gifted to President Putin, are called the Concorde Teardrop Sunglasses in 23k Gold. They start at $239 for a very basic set-up and go all the way up to $299 or roughly about Rs 23,000.

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The one that President Biden got for President Putin, apparently had some nifty personalisations which would make his particular sunglasses, a one-off. 

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Randolph Engineering, the company that owns the Randolph Label, is seen as a proper, blue-blooded American brand. The company which was founded n 1973, makes these sunglasses by hand in a small town in Massachusetts. 

Because these sunglasses are handbuild, they take about 6 weeks, and over 200 steps to make one pair.

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Randolph Engineering also supplies about 25000 pairs of sunglasses to the US Armed forces, every month. This is the reason, why many political pundits are going bonkers over the symbolism that is behind this gift.

Say what you will but both the Presidents, Joe Biden & Vladimir Putin are men of style. 

Joe Biden has always been a fan of the classic tear dropped aviator, and as we said, has often been spotted wearing a pair. 

President Putin, on the other hand, is an avid watch collector and a horologist and owns some of the most sought after timepieces.

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It will be really interesting to see, what President Putin gifts President Biden. A watch from his very own personal collection is certainly not out of the question.

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