The Time+Tide Team picks their favourite musical watch collaborations
Time+TideEarlier this week, we saw the 67th Annual Grammy Awards take place in Los Angeles, so we on the Time+Tide team have had music on our minds. Red carpet ‘dos like the Grammys are always a great opportunity to watch spot (with Will Smith’s vintage Universal Genève Polerouter a particular standout), but it also got us thinking about all of the times when watchmakers have teamed up with musicians or bands on collaborative watches. Perhaps because they’re an exercise in teaming up with creatives, these collabs tend to produce memorable designs – from the lairy to the luxurious. We’ve put together a Greatest Hits album of musical watch collaborations that continue to chart in the minds of enthusiasts.
Jamie’s pick: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar “John Mayer”
John Mayer is arguably the most notable celebrity musician watch aficionado on the planet. He basically defined the genre, to ape a musical term. By his own admission, his collection is worth tens of millions of dollars: he’s also served as a juror for the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève and has penned guest articles for Hodinkee. The singer/songwriter, who’s behind hits like Waiting on the World to Change and Your Body is a Wonderland, is best known for wearing IWC (and stunting on Kanye West with his platinum Big Pilot), and the Rolex Daytona ref. 116508 is even nicknamed the “John Mayer” after him, but his collaboration with Audemars Piguet might prove to be the most enduring contribution he’s made to the watch hobby.
The final send-off for AP’s legendary Calibre 5134 (which ceased production after being utilised for this model), Mayer’s signature Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar features a stunning and unique “Crystal Sky” dial that resembles crushed stained glass and nods to the famed Tuscan dials that AP graced perpetual calendars of old with, housed in a 41mm white gold case that’s just 9.5mm thick. A limited edition of 200 pieces that sold out quicker than a John Mayer stadium tour, examples of this watch are asking upwards of US$350,000 on the secondary market as of publishing – well over double retail. Call it horological ticket scalping.
Borna’s pick: Zenith Academy Christophe Colomb Tribute to the Rolling Stones
You might know Zenith for their legendary El Primero, or more recently, the many Revival-series pieces ushering in the past, or au contraire, the Defy Skyline that looks to the future. But the mid-2010s Zenith looked quite a bit different from that, most notably for its Academy collection. This was Zenith at its horological best, incorporating insanely complex timekeeping solutions such as fusée-and-chains, and like the watch in question, a counterweighted escapement system called the Gravity Control module. Think of it as an escapement mounted to a gimbal, where it will always keep the same orientation, regardless of how your wrist is positioned, thus counteracting the effects of gravity affecting the hairspring in various ways. To achieve this, the Academy Christophe Colomb has a sapphire crystal bubble that increases to a thickness of over 20mm at its peak, allowing the escapement to move freely.
Oh yeah, it also happens to be a watch made to tribute the Rolling Stones, which is cool, I guess. Jokes aside, there’s a good reason why this watch was limited to just five pieces, and its astronomical retail price of US$243,000 probably had a lot to do with it, not to mention the complexity of producing such a mechanism, numbering 171 components out of a 479 total. The Academy Christophe Colomb Tribute to the Rolling Stones was actually the second example of the two collaborating, preceded by a much more pedestrian El Primero open-heart model with the band’s logo in one of the sub-dials. How relevant a six-figure, solid gold, ultra avant-garde watch is to someone rocking out to Star Star, I don’t know, but I’m certainly glad it exists, even if the Academy collection is no more.
Zach’s pick: Richard Mille RM 52-05 Manual Winding Tourbillon Pharrell Williams
In my opinion, the best watch collaborations are those showing off each participant’s vision equally. The Richard Mille RM 52-05 Manual Winding Tourbillon Pharrell Williams does not deviate from the tonneau shape that made the brand famous, and from afar, it’s not obvious that this is a special Richard Mille. Up close, looking at the dial, is where you see Pharrell’s fingerprints all over. “If it’s not subversive, it’s just plain. We need things to ‘pop’ in this world,” Pharrell explains regarding the design. “As humans, we spend our time looking out at the cosmos. The ‘pop’ on the RM 52-05 comes from totally changing our perspective a full 180°. It’s the moment we realise, staring at the watch’s face, that what we are peering at, through the vastness of space is … ourselves.”
Whether or not you buy into the poetry, the dial consists of a three-dimensional figure of an astronaut’s bust and helmet, crafted in grade 5 titanium and hand-painted in white. In the lens of the helmet is a depiction of the Earth as seen from Mars. In order to do such an imagination justice, Richard Mille needed to use red gold for the dial base to properly capture the Martian surface. The blank is hand-engraved and later enamelled to create the gradient and shading of the red surface, along with creating the depiction of the Earth and starry cosmos. As someone who has always found outer space fascinating and thought-provoking, its aesthetic just resonates with me. Launched in 2019, the watch was limited to 30 pieces and has long since sold out. Considering Pharrell still wears Richard Milles despite working for Louis Vuitton as its Men’s Creative Director, I think it is high time for LV to entice him to put his stamp on its burgeoning watchmaking and leave his Richard Milles in a safety deposit box.
Pietro’s pick: Rolex Day-Date Vienna Philharmonic
Green and gold? Is there a better combination in the crown’s catalogue? Rolex has always had a special relationship with this colour, attaching it to most of its anniversary editions (Hulk, the John Mayer Daytona…) and this instance is no exception. Just over a year ago, the Maison quietly released the very special Day Date Vienna Philharmonic, celebrating the 15th anniversary of a partnership started in 2009 with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. And at the iconic New Year’s concert at the Golden Hall of Vienna’s Musikverein, this very model was spotted on the wrists of a handful of musicians.
This Day-Date is not just special because Rolex doesn’t usually release special editions, but also because of the craftsmanship that went into it. The green dial is champlevé grand feu enamel, a complex metier d’art that combines engraving and enamelling, and a technique that’s often the choice of the most revered enamel dial watches out there. Rolex hinted at a return to enamel in 2023 with the controversial Day-Date ‘Jigsaw’, but to be completely honest, I much prefer this latest iteration of the craft. The string instruments in different shades of green are subtle but fascinating when you get closer. They have been designed by Vincent de Peyer, also responsible for the palm dial Datejust. This is a watch equally honouring both sides of the collaboration, and being immediately recognisable without being in your face. Although a gold watch is not that subtle, the fine gold lines on the dial and lack of indices make it magical, almost telling you that you don’t need to read the time when you are enjoying the music of such a classical institution.
Russell’s pick: Vacheron Constantin Abbey Road
While having collaborations that speak to shared aesthetics or vibes can be great in terms of marketing value, I love it when a collaboration happens that aims to make a difference. When Vacheron Constantin teamed up with the legendary Abbey Road Studio, it wasn’t going to be a superficial coming together, but rather Vacheron were looking to make a long-term, financial commitment to helping the home of some of the best music in the world to continue to develop young talent. It’s this push for mentorship that makes this collaboration stand out to me, going beyond adding a different dial to a model that already exists.
While there might not be any natural connection between the brand and the music studio, Vacheron clearly saw a need where they could offer a form of assistance, and while that could feel forced, to me it helps shine a light on this great work that is taking place to help bringing young talent into limelight. It opens a niche to those of us who might not otherwise be aware of it if it wasn’t for this historical watch brand making some noise around it.
Buffy’s pick: Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Depeche Mode
All I ever wanted, all I ever needed is here in Hublot’s catalogue. That’s not a sentence I ever thought I’d admit, but Hublot’s freedom of creativity is one thing it does better than most other brands. In yet another collaborative effort with the titans of goth synth-pop Depeche Mode, this limited Spirit of Big Bang hits the hobnail on the head. Anyone familiar with goth clubs or industrial raves will recognise the clous de Paris bezel texture not from the likes of a Patek Philippe Calatrava, but rather the belt and shoe buckles of shuffling crowds in Demonias. The murdered-out aesthetic is appropriately interrupted only by lighter shades of grey and a tiny blood-prick of red for the “DM” logo at 6 o’clock.
Of course, it’s impossible to ignore the skull and hourglass motif, appropriately associated with themes of Memento Mori, which is the name of Depeche Mode’s most recent album. All of our time is running out, and it’s represented by a flow of black ceramic beads that swish around as your wrist moves. The case is also made from black ceramic in a 42mm-wide tonneau shape, and it’s powered by the HUB171 movement based on a Zenith Elite 670. It has a lug-to-lug distance of 52mm – however, the caseback has some extreme curvature so it fits wrists snugly.