Mark Zuckerberg wore a rare Swiss watch worth nearly $900,000 as he announced a sweeping policy overhaul across Facebook and Instagram and offered to help Donald Trump take on governments deemed too censorious, according to a report.

In a video message posted to Facebook on Tuesday, Zuckerberg vowed to prioritise free speech after the return of Trump to the White House, and said that Meta Platforms – the world’s largest social media business – would ditch its third-party fact-checkers and recommend more political content across its social networks.

Meta, which also owns WhatsApp and Threads, plans to “work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more”, Zuckerberg added.

Meta would also “get rid of a bunch of restrictions on topics like immigration and gender” that were “out of touch with mainstream discourse”, the 40-year-old billionaire said, while wearing a Greubel Forsey “Hand Made 1” on his left wrist, Bloomberg reported. The watch retails for $895,500 before taxes, according to the outlet.

On its website, Greubel Forsey says only two or three Hand Made 1 pieces are produced each year. According to the company, 95% of the watch is crafted by hand-operated tools and a single timepiece requires 6,000 hours to make.

Zuckerberg, whose sartorial choices in the early days of Facebook consisted of gray T-shirts and navy zip-up hoodies, has been seen sporting several rare high-end watches in recent months.

A viral video taken during the wedding of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant last year showed Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, admiring a $1m Richard Mille RM 30-01 worn by Ambani, the youngest son of Asia’s richest man.

“This watch is fantastic,” Chan exclaimed in the video. “That’s so cool,” Zuckerberg agreed, saying: “I never really wanted to get a watch, but after seeing that, I was like: ‘Watches are cool.’”

Since then, Zuckerberg has been seen wearing luxury timepieces by Patek Philippe, Jaeger-LeCoultre, De Bethune and two pieces by FP Journe.

According to Forbes, Zuckerberg surpassed Oracle founder Larry Ellison on Monday to become the world’s third wealthiest person, with a net worth at $217.7bn.

Meta did not immediately respond to a Guardian request for comment.

• Mark Zuckerberg
• Meta
• Social networking
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Threads
• WhatsApp