Gangchol Brand expansion watch band on retail card (North Korea)

Object/Artifact

-

Archive of Cuban Socialism

Name/Title

"Gangchol Brand" expansion watch band on retail card (North Korea)

Entry/Object ID

2025.1.92

Description

An unused (new-old-stock) silver-tone expansion (stretch) watch band mounted on its original printed retail display card. The band is the linked-block stretch type — rows of small rectangular steel links over internal springs — held across a blue-and-pink card by a wire clip. The card is printed in Korean and English: a pink panel at the left reads "시계줄" (sigyejul, "watch band/strap") with a hexagonal logo and Korean text; the blue field reads "Watch Band," "MADE IN THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA," and "GANGCHOL BRAND." The card is worn, edge-torn, and foxed; the band is bright with light tarnish.

Use

Kept by Gertrudis Caraballo Gálvez

Collection

The Cabrera Arús family collection, Gertrudis Caraballo Gálvez collecition

Acquisition

Accession

2025.1

Made/Created

Manufacturer

Gangchol Brand

Place

Country

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Continent

Asia

Notes

MAKER: "Gangchol Brand" (강철, gangchol = "steel"), a North Korean (DPRK) manufacturer; the card states manufacture in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The specific factory is not further identified. DATE / PERIOD: Not dated; 20th century, DPRK. The card style and product type suggest a mid-to-late twentieth-century date. ORIGIN: Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), per the card.

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Notes

Card (Korean and English): "시계줄"; "Watch Band"; "MADE IN THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA"; "GANGCHOL BRAND"; a hexagonal logo with Korean characters. Languages: Korean and English.

Materials

Material Notes

MATERIALS: Band: steel links (silver-tone/chrome finish) with internal expansion springs and end connectors. Card: printed paper/card (blue, pink, white inks); metal wire retaining clip. TECHNIQUES: Manufactured expansion bracelet (spring-linked stamped steel links); mounted on a lithographically printed retail display card with a wire clip. Unused retail stock.

Condition

Overall Condition

Fair

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Gertrudis Caraballo Gálvez

Notes

owner

Related Places

Place

City

Havana

Country

Cuba

Region

Caribbean, Central America

Notes

preservation

Place

Country

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Continent

Asia

Notes

production

Research Notes

Notes

This is an unused expansion watch band on its original North Korean retail card — an uncommon and historically interesting consumer-goods origin. The card identifies the product as "Gangchol Brand" (강철, "steel") and states manufacture in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea); the bilingual Korean/English card indicates a product made for export or for sale in contexts where English labeling was used. North Korean manufactured consumer goods are comparatively rarely seen in family holdings outside Asia, and the presence of one in this material most plausibly reflects socialist-bloc trade: during the Cold War the DPRK had trade and solidarity ties with other socialist states, and Cuba — itself within that bloc — received goods from a range of socialist countries, which is the likeliest route by which a North Korean watch band reached a Cuban household. That is contextual reasoning, not documented provenance for this specific item, and is offered as the probable explanation rather than an established fact.

Created By

María A. Cabrera Arús

Create Date

November 14, 2025

Updated By

María A. Cabrera Arús

Update Date

June 14, 2026