This week, I wrote a guest post for Sprezza, a newsletter by friend-of-the-program Clayton Chambers. Because it’s for a men’s style audience, it’s more high level than the typically deep newsletter here — fun and different, in other words.
When Sprezza asked me to do a guest post, the pitch was to write about watch icons like James Bond and Steve McQueen.
To which I said: Why let all the old (dead) white dudes have all the fun?
Clayton replied: excellent question.
Many already know that Sean Connery’s James Bond wore a Rolex (and Daniel Craig’s an Omega); Steve McQueen a Tag Heuer; and Paul Newman, the Paul Newman. Listen, these watches are great, but it’s past time we mint some new, modern icons.
Speaking of old, white dudes, many know that Sean Connery’s James Bond wore a Rolex (and Daniel Craig’s an Omega); Steve McQueen a Tag Heuer; and Paul Newman, the Paul Newman.
And listen, these watches are great, but it’s past time we mint some new, modern icons.
So what makes a watch iconic?
In hopes of defining a better standard than the Supreme Court’s know-it-when-you-see-it maxim, it’s some combination of a famous person wearing a watch that’s [also] legendary in its own right.
Watches are an integral part of the culture, but because they’re discrete and kind-of expensive, they often go unnoticed. But once you start to see them, you can’t stop.
It’s more than just Pop Smoke rapping about his blingy Audemars Piguet or Drake bragging about his Virgil Abloh-customized Patek Philippe. Whether it’s an Apple Watch or rainbow Rolex, watches are an integral part of how people — not just celebs — communicate something about who they are to the rest of the world.
It’s time we listen.
1/ Ralph Lauren’s Cartier Tank Cintrée
Legend, wearing legend.
One of my favorite Ralph Lauren moments is perfectly displayed in this 2019 profile on the man from The New Yorker. On HBO’s Very Ralph, the camera pans over Lauren’s New York office, old-timey and wood-paneled in all the way you’d expect of America’s prep-in-chief. It’s stuffed to the brim with dozens of objects and mementos compiled over the years.
Surveying the room, Lauren says,
“Everything in this room is a mix of everything that I love. They all mean something. And they’re not just things….They’re the beginning of a concept.”
To Lauren, watches are just one piece of that puzzle.
One of Ralph Lauren’s most iconic watches from his fabled vintage Cartier collection is this Tank Cintrée in yellow gold.
In Matt Hranek’s A Man & His Watch, Lauren tells the story of how he acquired the gold cuff that complements the Cintrée:
“I went to an auction of Andy Warhol’s watches, and I loved this great gold cuff on one piece. The watch it was attached to was nothing, but I purchased it and had the gold cuff sized to my wrist and put on this Cartier Tank Cintrée. It is one of my favorite watches. The combination is unique, and such a personal expression of a one-of-a-kind heirloom timepiece.”
The Cartier Cintrée is a watch that’s already legendary in its own right, before you throw it on Andy f*ing Warhol’s gold cuff. The Cintrée is the bigger, bolder, curved version of Cartier’s classic Tank model — perfect for an audacious innovator like Lauren, in other words.
Lauren’s Cintrée accessorized by Warhol’s cuff perfectly captures what watches are all about: a beautiful object with a beautiful story to tell, passed down across generations.
But more importantly, it just looks damn good.
2/ Nina Rindt’s Universal Geneve ‘Nina Rindt’
Nowadays, it’s a mostly-defunct Swiss watch brand, but back in the middle of the 20th century, it was making watches, particularly chronographs, with the best of them — Rolex, Patek, Omega, you know the list.1
If you find yourself curious about vintage watches, UG must be one of your first stops.
You’ll find old-school photos of legends like Eric Clapton and President Harry Truman wearing Universal Geneve watches, but none is more important than Nina Rindt.
Wait, who?
When the above photo of Nina Rindt wearing a Universal Geneve chronograph surfaced, prices for the watch skyrocketed up to around 10-20x, depending on the vibe. All from one, iconic photo? Woman at the race track, huge (Chanel?) shades, and a Universal Geneve wristwatch cuffed to her wrist? You bet.
That’s the stuff that makes an icon, and a market.
(L) Nina Rindt; (R) Universal Geneve “Nina Rindt”
Nina was the wife of Formula 1 driver, Jochen Rindt, who tragically died in a crash at 28. But Ms. Rindt is still alive today — and she’s still got her Universal Geneve too.
It was gifted to her by Jochen so she could time races and laps, and you can find dozens of photos of her at the track, timing laps with her chronograph and generally wearing a Universal Geneve better than Eric Clapton ever could.
That’s an icon: a watch used for its intended purpose by the owner, who still owns and appreciates the watch to this day. Outside of watch circles, “Nina Rindt” may not be a known name. But amongst watch enthusiasts, she’s everything.
3/ Kanye West’s Cartier Crash
We started with the man who defined prep, but now for the one who helped redefine it as something anyone could participate in, not just the WASPs:
“Man I promise, I’m so self conscious
That’s why you always see me with at least one of my watches
Rollies and Pashas done drove me crazy.”
With those intro lines from “All Falls Down”, one of Kanye West’s first singles in 2004, Kanye introduced us to his relationship with watches.
Kanye’s understanding of culture and objects runs deep. He’s a “collector” (see also: Lauren, Ralph). First obsessed with watches as symbols of status and luxury, Kanye has come to chart his own path as a collector. From Rollies and Pashas to G-Shocks and more Rollies to, nowadays, a Cartier Crash:
Erik Oken and I are @Cartier brothers pic.twitter.com/tGMRbO9L6o
— ye (@kanyewest) December 15, 2018
The Cartier Crash was already an iconic design before Kanye got his hands on it, but Kanye’s wrist took it to the next level. There’s even an apocryphal story that the Dali-melting-clock design was inspired by a car crash that melted the case of an oval-shaped Cartier timepiece.
It’s not true: sometimes, a great design is just a great design — it doesn’t need some mythical story to raise its stature. Such is the case with the Crash. First introduced by Cartier London in 1967, the Crash has been produced in extremely limited quantities ever since.
Since Kanye posted that tweet, the Cartier Crash has boomed even further in popularity, with prices 6x what they might’ve been back in 2018 when he posted it.
But that’s the Kanye West effect.
While dozens of icons (famous and not) have worn a Cartier Crash over the years, the asymmetrical model’s legacy is now forever linked with Kanye, a man whose career did begin with an actual car crash.
It’s almost too poetic.
4/ Rolex Datejust
President Joe Biden on Inauguration Day, wearing a new Rolex Datejust.
Okay, fine.
It’s not the most exciting choice. But, like, the Rolex Datejust is the most popular watch of all time. From a vintage two-tone “ladies” DJ to the larger modern version President Joe Biden recently picked up.
Remember Paul Newman? As mentioned, his Rolex Daytona chronographs might get all the attention — what with being auctioned off for millions of dollars and all — but he wore a simple vintage DJ in The Color of Money.
How are you gonna argue with this guy in Persols and a Rolex DJ?
Paul Newman wearing a vintage Rolex DJ in The Color of Money.
Paul Newman wearing a vintage Rolex DJ in The Color of Money.
But I get it. Newman’s more salsa than sexy to many nowadays. However, the DJ has suffered no such fate; you’ll find it nowhere near the middle shelves of a fluorescently-lit grocery store piping adult contemporary through the PA system. Today, you’ll still find the DJ in all forms neatly tucked into glossy spreads in Vogue, GQ, and lookbooks from Aimé Leon Dore.
And on celeb Instagrams — so many celeb IGs.
(L) Hailey Baldwin Bieber wearing a gold Rolex DJ; (R) Rihanna, in two-tone.
It’s subtle, but also not. Trendy, but not really a trend. Out of fashion, but always in style. For what it’s worth, a vintage steel DJ like Newman’s is my pick from the seemingly endless array of vintage and modern options (“reference 1600” or “1601”, for those looking for some keywords to start their online shopping).
The best part? It’s taboo to mention, but if you buy it and don’t like it, you can re-sell a vintage DJ via one of the plethoras of pre-owned luxury marketplaces, losing little money for the test drive.
But once you clasp that supple jubilee bracelet on your wrist, trust me, you won’t be flipping it back on The RealReal anytime soon. Like Ralph Lauren, you’ll be telling anyone who listens how it’s not just a watch, but an item that means something to you.
That’s why the Rolex Datejust is the final iconic pick: it’s one you can pick up for yourself. It might be to celebrate graduation; that new gig; getting jabbed with the covid-19 vax; or, just reading a mediocre newsletter.
Because at the end of the day, the most iconic watch is the one that means something to you, not anyone else.