Rolex unhappy after Italian PM Matteo Renzi makes 'Daddy's boys' jibe about rioters trying to disrupt the opening of the Expo 2015 World Fair

Any publicity is good publicity, public relations gurus claim. Not so for Rolex, the Swiss watchmaker which has found itself at loggerheads with Matteo Renzi, Italy’s reforming and ruthless Prime Minister.

Mr Renzi took a swipe at anti-capitalist Black Bloc hooligans who rampaged through Milan last Friday, wrecking shops and torching cars, by suggesting that many of the masked and helmeted protesters were really “Daddy’s boys with a Rolex on the their wrist”.

His comment’s resonated with the suspicions of many after video and photos surfaced of what appeared to be a Black Bloc rioter carrying spray cans, wearing an expensive wristwatch.

The right-wing Interior Minister, Angelino Alfano, was actually the first to make the Rolex jibe. Soon after the rioting, which was designed to disrupt the opening of the Expo 2015 World Fair, he said: “Yesterday on the street I saw lowlives in hoods and Daddy’s boys with Rolexes.”

Mr Renzi repeated the insult a day later in Bologna. This was too much for the chief executive of Rolex in Italy, Gianpaolo Marini, who appears to have no time for the notion of radical chic, nor the old maxim that any publicity is better than no publicity.

In an open letter to the government, published in several newspapers, Mr Marini said that the Prime Minister’s comments, which were picked up by much of the press, caused an “unacceptable link between the brand and the devastation in Milan and the world of subversive violence”.

“On this occasion, I personally, as a citizen of Milan, could not but appreciate the sacrifice and dedication of the police. I must, however, as part of my role, express deep regret and disappointment at the association you made between words ‘destroyers of shop windows’ `and wearing a Rolex watch on your wrist,” he wrote. “The quality of photos and videos that have been released by the media make it highly unlikely that it is possible to reliably identify Rolex (and even less, genuine Rolex) watches.”

He asked Mr Renzi and Mr Alfano for a “courteous declaration of correction”. The Prime Minister’s office declined to comment, but Mr Alfano dismissed Mr Marini’s letter. “There was no polemic,” he told the Ansa news agency. “Just a way of underlining the contradiction and incongruency in the protests, following the photos and the newspaper headlines. It surprised me that they’ve repeated the publicity.”

Attempts to disrupt the World Fair in Milan came from anti-globalisation activists and anti-austerity campaigners. But what started as a large anti-Expo march through the centre of Italy’s financial capital was swiftly overtaken by anarchist groups that smashed shop windows and set fire to vehicles. Luxury cars such as BMWs, Mercedes and Audis appeared to be the rioters’ main targets. Police fired tear gas into the crowds.

Some of the protesters were thought to be associated with the “No Tav” campaign group, which is vehemently opposed to a proposed high-speed rail link between Turin and Lyon. No Tav campaigners frequently heckle the Prime Minister during his public appearances.