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It’s going to take more than a shelter-in-place order to keep watch obsessives away from their wristwear. In March, a RolexForum user asked the group if they were still wearing their watches in quarantine. The answers spilled in: “Of course.” “Absolutely.” “Yup, everyday.” And: “Why wouldn’t you want to wear it at home?” Celebrities, too, won’t let self-isolation get in the way of showing off their best timepieces. There are still ‘fit pics, IGTV episodes, and even snapshots from workouts to flex for. For Drake, a family photoshoot was reason enough to bring out not one but two Patek Philippe watches, either of which would be the crown jewel in anyone else’s collection. In this edition of Watches of the Week, we run through the best watches we’ve clocked since the world hit the pause button in March.
Drake’s Patek Philippe 40th-anniversary edition Nautilus
You know the Nautilus: it’s the unexpected grail watch that leads ordinary collectors suck up to boutiques and wait years to get their hands on. In other words: extraordinary. Well, even extraordinary doesn’t quite cut it for Drake. He already owns a Nautilus customized by designer Virgil Abloh. And the one featured in this photo is a limited-edition version of the already scarce piece: only 1,300 pieces of this 40th-anniversary model were released in 2016. The watch is embossed with a series of numbers (1976-40-2016) commemorating the anniversary, and ten diamonds stand in for hour markers.
But because Drake is nothing if not a show-off (see: his jet, his palace), one killer watch wasn’t enough for his family portraits. In another photo with his son Adonis, he wears a Patek Philippe reference 5271P—a watch with a gorgeous black dial and a bezel set with 58 baguette diamonds. There’s only one explanation for why Drake unleashed two watches at once: he wasn’t hiding his watches from the world, he was hiding the world from his watches.
John Mayer’s G-Shock GWG-1000-1A Mudmaster
A roughly $470 G-Shock watch feels like an odd choice for John Mayer, who is best known for collecting unique Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet watches. But ever since Mayer outed himself as a serious watch collector in the early part of last decade, he’s been sure to clearly define his taste to include all watches. “I love Patek Philippe perpetual calendars only marginally more than I dig the Casio Frogman G-Shock—but for different reasons—and if you’re wearing either, chances are I’ll sidle over to you and start a conversation about it,” he wrote for Hodinkee in 2012.
The G-Shock Mayer worn during a recent episode of “Current Mood” is a release from 2015 designed to withstand mud, hardscrabble environments, and intense vibrations. It’s a watch that looks like it could rough it through anything—a sign of battle-readiness from Mayer during trying times.
Steve Carell’s Omega Speedmaster in Space Force
Most people watching the trailer for Space Force, the new workplace comedy starring Steve Carell, probably saw the makings of a hopefully funny new show that will help kill a few hours in quarantine. Watch obsessives saw something else: an Omega Speedmaster. Kudos to whoever put together the costumes for Space Force, because the show nailed at least this detail. Since the ‘60s, NASA has issued Omega Speedmasters to all its astronauts. The watch’s super-accurate chronograph function has saved real-life missions, but Carell looks like he’s going to need more than a stopwatch to get him out of this one.
21 Savage’s Patek Philippe Aquanaut
Long live the fit pic. Cartier glasses, a tie-dye Palm Angels hoodie, and a navy blue Aquanaut—21 looks like he could be an apprentice in an Uncut Gems sequel called 2 Uncut 2 Gems. If you’re going to wear a $40,000 watch with a sweatsuit while self-isolating, the Aquanaut is really the only choice. The rubber-strapped model is the most casual in Patek Philippe’s line—think of it as the Nautilus’s sporty younger brother.
Jimmy O. Yang’s Rolex GMT-Master
Last week, we featured a list of pieces selected by watch dealer and expert Eric Wind. He shared a story about helping the director of Crazy Rich Asians find a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona for a scene in the movie. Wind’s connection to the movie goes deeper, though. After filming, the author of the book connected Wind and Jimmy O. Yang, one of the film’s supporting players. Wind wrote that Yang was looking for a Rolex GMT-Master, a watch that would help the comedian keep track of multiple time zones as he trekked across the country on a book tour. Hodinkee first spotted the watch on Yang’s wrist during his new comedy special Good Deal.
