Welcome to Watches of the Week, where we’ll track the rarest, wildest, and most covetable watches spotted on celebrities.
Over the past year, Steve Harvey has gone on a hero’s journey towards righteous style. Gone are the suits he told us were “27 at the knee. In their place are head-to-toe Balenciaga pajamas and highlighter-pink suits. But what seemed to be missing from the makeover, or maybe just hidden under an emerald-green coat, was a watch. Fair enough: Rome wasn’t built in a day, either. But now it seems Harvey is solving for his bare wrists, too, breaking out a Hublot Classic Fusion “Black Magic.”
Hublot is a fitting choice for the newly forward-thinking Harvey. The brand’s ties to the fashion world run deep: A-Cold-Wall founder Samuel Ross, Obey’s Shepard Fairey, and designer-favorite artist Takashi Murakami are all Hublot collaborators. And while Harvey is wearing a monochrome black watch this time around it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him dive into Hublot’s catalog. In our interview with Harvey last year about his new style, he said he was most excited about the color in his new looks. Hublot has no shortage of super bold watches on offer—this year, the brand put out a sapphire watch in grapey purple following a kumquat orange release in 2021. The way Harvey’s style is evolving, it feels like only a matter of time until his watches get freaky, too.
Jason Mendez/Getty Images
Maluma’s Cartier Ballon Bleu
Cartier watches come in such a funky mish-mash of shapes—mimicking cloches, tilting in weird directions, or melting—that it’s a big deal when the brand does something, well, normal. That was the case in 2007 when the French jeweler introduced Maluma’s Ballon Bleu. A round watch may be the industry’s most common shape, but somehow it felt revelatory coming from Cartier. But of course with Cartier it’s never just a circle. Maluma’s version of the watch features circles inside circles: the case, the date window, the crown guard, and even the diamonds around the bezel keep that rounded shape.
Courtesy of The Late Show
Kieran Culkin’s IWC Pilot’s Watch
In his late night spot with Stephen Colbert, Culkin mentioned he came straight from shooting Succession and was still dressed in his costume. We’ve already gotten season four watch spoilers—is Tom Wambsgans’s upgrade to an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph a sign his coup worked?—but it’s trickier to read any symbolism from this IWC. If this stripped down and serious pilot’s piece is what Culkin wears on the show, it might be a sign he’s chilled out and headed for friendlier skies. But this might just be Culkin’s personal watch. He’s worn it before…at a Succession screening. We’ll have to wait until season 4 to be sure.
David Livingston/Getty Images
Rob Lowe’s Rolex GMT-Master II
Some guys just have all the luck, huh? Ageless wonder Rob Lowe is seen here wearing the very collectible “Root Beer” black-and-brown GMT. This has been the year of the GMT. Rolex, Tudor, Grand Seiko, and non-grand Seiko all put out new GMTs. I feel like I’ve been spotting them even more frequently on the wrists of celebrities like Lowe. It makes sense that coming out of a pandemic people and brands are looking towards watches made for travel.
Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images
Darren Barnet’s Seiko x Rowing Blazers “Rally”
Never Have I Ever hunk Barnet wore the watch we would have selected for best affordable release of 2021, were we responsible for handing out that award. Brat-prep brand Rowing Blazers worked with Seiko to bring a few watches back from the archives, including this standout “Rally” edition with a checkered flag pattern on the bezel. It’s a good sign that even though the watches retailed for just $495, celebrities with bigger budgets, like Barnet and former NBA player JJ Redick, both gravitate to them.
