Hands up if you’ve been accused of watching too much television lately. Guilty looks all around? That’s ok. We’ve all been there. When there’s such a constant deluge of binge-worthy TV series and great movies premiering one after another (hello Squid Game), how could we be blamed? Most recently we’ve got our heads wrapped around Suicide Squad TV spin-off The Peacemaker (seriously, give it a chance) and Korean sci-fi horror flick The Silent Sea, to say nothing of how absolutely chuffed we were by Return to Hogwarts now streaming on HBO Max.
So having spent a ludicrous amount of time on the couch and at the cineplexes these past few months, we are happy to report new timepiece sightings on screens big and small—and boy have we got lots to unpack.
Nominated for four Golden Globe awards this year, Don’t Look Up is the satirical science fiction film about an impact event, namely a meteor, on its way to obliterate life as we know it. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence who are two astronomers trying to alert the world of this potential threat. Supporting cast members include Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Ariana Grande, Jonah Hill, Timothée Chalamet and more.
As news of their discovery make it to the White House, the scientists are granted an audience in the Oval Office with President Janie Orlean played by Meryl Streep, accompanied by Jonah Hill who plays her chief of staff and mildly sociopathic son, Jason. Immaculately dressed with an unabashed soft spot for flashy accessories, he pairs his designer suits with logomaniacal belts, shoes and bags, then tops everything off with a hypebeast-worthy timepiece by haut de gamme watchmaker, Richard Mille.
Mind you, it was no ordinary Richard Mille, but the RM52-01 Skull Tourbillon which retails upwards of half a million dollars a pop. Although word on the street is that that specific piece, like that Hermès Birkin he totes around nonchalantly in the crook of his elbow, was a replica bought off Amazon just to film the movie.
Likewise, Madame President doesn’t shy away from a little flash, and that’s putting it politely. Throughout the film, her strong penchant for luxury is plain as day. Along with that diamond-festooned US flag presidential pin, she wears chunky gold jewellery studded with diamonds made by a plethora of jewellers including Cartier, as well as an unmissable Piaget Extremely Lady timepiece in pink gold studded with diamonds, featuring a bracelet fully covered with the maison’s Palace décor engraving.
DiCaprio, too, wore something by Cartier. One final moment in Don’t Look Up we’ve dwelled over was when he returned to local news program The Daily Rip for a second interview, wearing a lowkey but iconic Cartier Tank Solo watch as he raged out on ‘live’ television.
Of course, luxury watchmakers have consistently dressed celebrities on screens both large and small. 007 flick No Time To Die obviously featured an Omega timepiece on James Bond’s wrist. If you didn’t know it already, it was a Seamaster Diver 300M 007 Edition co-designed by none other than Daniel Craig himself and specially for the movie.
Its strong yet lightweight titanium case and mesh bracelet manufactured in a NATO style was the perfect fit for an undercover agent. Ditto that aluminium dial and bezel ring finished with a “tropical” brown colour.
Another watch company that recently created a special timepiece for a movie is Jaeger-LeCoultre for The Kings Man. Taking us back to the time before Harry met Eggsy, the film stars Ralph Fiennes and Harris Dickinson as a crime-fighting father-and-son team. Knowing the Kingsman franchise’s penchant for concealed weaponry and dapper Britishness—shoes with blades, anyone?—Jaeger-LeCoultre designed the Master Ultra Thin Kingsman Knife Watch.
Not only is the watch ultra elegant but its design is also completely era appropriate, being modelled on a 1907 Jaeger-LeCoultre pocket watch. Worn by Fiennes on the wrist, rather than in the pocket, its edges slope down from the crystal resembling the blade of a knife, hence the name, but this is one knife he won’t be hesitating to bring to a gun fight.
Also set in the early 20th century is the 2021 remake of American neo-noir psycho thriller Nightmare Alley starring Bradley Cooper alongside Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, and Rooney Mara. Joining in for the ride is Tinseltown regular Hamilton, whose watches have appeared in movies like Interstellar, TENET, the MIB series, and many more.
This time, it provided two very different timepieces to the set of Nightmare Alley. The first, a vintage Hamilton Hastings watch from 1928 that was manufactured in America, from back in the day when Hamilton was very much an American company. Bradley Cooper who plays carnival hustler Stanton Carlisle wore it throughout the movie.
The second watch, this one worn by Rooney Mara’s character Molly Cahill as well as Cate Blanchette’s Dr. Lilith Ritter, is a vintage-inspired ladies watch reminiscent of Art Deco cocktail watches. A perfect match to the film’s lavish set design and costumes, the watches enjoyed ample screen time, from Cooper’s numerous sleight-of-hand tricks to Mara’s clever use of her Lady Hamilton timepiece as a pivotal plot device—which is always a treat whenever beautiful watches make guest appearances in the movies.
