Jay-Z’s Patek Philippe assortment is crammed with so many gems—proverbial and literal—that it may be troublesome to maintain monitor of all of them.
However the watch that Hov wore courtside to a Lakers vs. Clippers recreation this previous week is well a standout. For severe 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 individuals who crave a bit of glitz, there are the bezel, which is ready with 36 baguette-cut diamonds, and the gold-over clasp, which has one other 22 stones. (Whole carat weight: 4.45 carats.) And for individuals who merely love a gorgeous 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 honest, Jay-Z owns extra difficult 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 motive, the 5961R, sitting because it does on the confluence of haute horlogerie and treasured supplies, manages to cram an outsized quantity of options and bling with out feeling…effectively, blingy. Perhaps it’s the baguette lower 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 underneath the radar higher than its yellow-hued compatriot—or perhaps it’s the mushy, black dial. However the 5961R simply feels—not less than on Jay’s wrist—like it may possibly work in any setting.
To wit: the person paired it with a black sweatshirt and Air Jordans whereas courtside at a Lakers recreation. And whereas that is definitely the kind of watch that, regardless of its busy, difficult dial, may very well 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 study 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 may possibly preserve 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. Someway, a metric ton of data is displayed in a method 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 recreation, 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 gorgeous 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 saved wound. Waterproof to 20m, this isn’t a watch that you simply’d wish to beat up—however that’s not likely it’s raison d’être. (The purpose is to be seen in a single at a Lakers recreation.)
Jeff Kravitz
James Marsden’s Omega Speedmaster Moonphase
Everyone is aware of the Moonwatch, however Omega additionally makes a number of extra difficult variations of its well-known Speedmaster chronograph. James Marsden rocked a very cool one on the 2024 Movie Unbiased 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 wonderful 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 today), Jeremy Allen White paired his cream-colored go well with to a women’ cocktail watch from Tiffany & Co. Not that we have now 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 arms is the form of factor that crammed Twentieth-century watchmaking with so many beloved classics. And as for males carrying 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 Automated
Accepting a SAG Award for Excellent Efficiency by a Forged in a Movement Image for Oppenheimer, Josh Hartnett paired a chic dinner jacket with an equally elegant gown watch from IWC, the Portofino Automated. 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, out there in quite a few iterations, is proof that IWC is aware of find out how to gown for the get together.