Jay-Z’s Patek Philippe assortment is stuffed with so many gems—proverbial and literal—that it may be tough to maintain monitor of all of them.
However the watch that Hov wore courtside to a Lakers vs. Clippers sport this previous week is well a standout. For critical watch guys, there’s its Tiffany stamp and its annual calendar characteristic—a complication developed by Patek Philippe itself as an easier model of the perpetual calendar. And for many who crave a bit of glitz, there are the bezel, which is about with 36 baguette-cut diamonds, and the gold-over clasp, which has one other 22 stones. (Whole carat weight: 4.45 carats.) And for many who merely love a stupendous object? Properly, the reference 5961R is 40.5mm of pure rose gold, with a black opaline dial organized in one of many maison’s most lovely designs. What’s to not like, precisely?
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To be truthful, Jay-Z owns extra sophisticated watches and dearer watches. (Not that the 5961R, which options each an annual calendar and a chronograph complication, isn’t costly at $161,430. The Grandmaster Chime, nonetheless, will set you again a cool $2M.) However for no matter cause, the 5961R, sitting because it does on the confluence of haute horlogerie and valuable supplies, manages to cram an outsized quantity of options and bling with out feeling…nicely, blingy. Possibly it’s the baguette reduce of the diamonds, which helps them circle the bezel with the next diploma of subtlety than round-cut stones. Or perhaps it’s the rose gold, which flies beneath the radar higher than its yellow-hued compatriot—or perhaps it’s the tender, black dial. However the 5961R simply feels—a minimum of on Jay’s wrist—like it might probably work in any setting.
To wit: the person paired it with a black sweatshirt and Air Jordans whereas courtside at a Lakers sport. And whereas that is definitely the kind of watch that, regardless of its busy, sophisticated dial, might be worn in 2024 with black tie to an awards present, we’re additionally seeing a bigger development of dressier items worn in on a regular basis settings.
Talking of that dial, let’s look at what’s happening right here: The annual calendar was developed by Patek and debuted within the ref. 5035 in 1996. A stripped-back perpetual calendar, it might probably hold monitor of month’s of various lengths all year long, and solely must be adjusted as soon as on the finish of February. However the maison didn’t cease there: The ref. 5961 combines this complication with a flyback chronograph, streamlining the shows by way of a mixed 12-hour and 60-minute counter at 6 o’clock, plus day, date, and month counters organized in an arc on the prime of the dial. In some way, a metric ton of knowledge is displayed in a manner that’s simply scannable—and even lovely.
Powered by one of many model’s in-house actions, the automated Calibre Caliber CH 28‑520 IRM QA 24H, the 5961R is a horological murals, and simply one of many coolest watches in Mr. Carter’s assortment.
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Odell Beckham Jr.’s Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar
Noticed courtside at a Lakers sport, Odell Beckham Jr. wore one of many coolest iterations of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak: The ref. 26579CS Perpetual Calendar. Housed in a blue ceramic case with an identical, built-in bracelet, it options a stupendous blue Grand Tapisserie dial with time, day, date, month, moonphase, and bissextile year indicators. What makes a perpetual calendar so particular—and so costly—is that it’s “programmed” to recollect the totally different lengths of every month, and thus requires nearly no handbook adjustment as long as it’s stored wound. Water-proof to 20m, this isn’t a watch that you just’d wish to beat up—however that’s probably not it’s raison d’être. (The purpose is to be seen in a single at a Lakers sport.)
Jeff Kravitz
James Marsden’s Omega Speedmaster Moonphase
All people is aware of the Moonwatch, however Omega additionally makes a number of extra sophisticated variations of its well-known Speedmaster chronograph. James Marsden rocked a very cool one on the 2024 Movie Impartial Spirit Awards: The Omega Speedmaster Moonphase is housed in a 42.25mm 18K Sedna Gold case with a black ceramic bezel and a Ceragold tachymeter scale. Its triple-register chronograph show has been altered, nonetheless, to accommodate a (hand-engraved!) moonphase show at 6 o’clock; a mixed date and working seconds show at 9 o’clock; and a mixed hour and 60-minute register at 3 o’clock. Powered by one in all Omega’s glorious Co-Axial Grasp Chronometer actions, it’s a cool, left-of-center tackle one in all watchmaking’s licensed classics.
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin
Jeremy Allen White’s Tiffany & Co. Cocktail Watch
In an uncommon transfer (that’s changing into much less uncommon nowadays), Jeremy Allen White paired his cream-colored go well with to a girls’ cocktail watch from Tiffany & Co. Not that we now have any objections to this resplendent, diamond-covered piece: Crafted from rose gold and bedecked in .85 carats of brilliant-cut diamonds, its white guilloché dial with Roman numeral indices and simply two spade-shaped fingers is the kind of factor that stuffed Twentieth-century watchmaking with so many beloved classics. And as for males sporting teeny girls’s watches? It’s a factor now—and we solely see it changing into factor–ier.
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Josh Hartnett’s IWC Portofino Computerized
Accepting a SAG Award for Excellent Efficiency by a Solid in a Movement Image for Oppenheimer, Josh Hartnett paired a chic dinner jacket with an equally elegant costume watch from IWC, the Portofino Computerized. Measuring 40mm in stainless-steel and that includes a white dial with utilized indices, an identical feuille handset, a date window at 3 o’clock, and 30m of water resistance, it’s atypical fare for the Worldwide Watch Firm, which is extra well-known for its high-flying, tough-as-nails pilot’s watches. However the Schaffhausen-based marque is a flexible and historic firm with wide-ranging product households; the Portofino, obtainable in quite a few iterations, is proof that IWC is aware of learn how to costume for the occasion.
