Speaking of which, Blanco didn’t just rock his new watch by itself: Jacob & Co. also designed him a custom 18K yellow gold wedding band set with a round pave-cut ruby and aquamarine, as well as a platinum tennis bracelet fitted with emerald-cut diamonds. And while you won’t be able to snag his custom watch, you could conceivably hit up Jacob & Co. for one of its other boutique watches, a handful of which are sold in small runs of individually numbered pieces. (You might want to check the credit limit on your Amex, however: Some reports estimate that Blanco’s timepiece was a seven-figure investment.)
All told, this pièce unique is almost certainly the wedding watch of the year. No shade to anyone who simply engraves the back of a Lange in cursive, of course, but Blanco’s Jacob & Co. ain’t in the same ballpark—it ain’t even the same sport.
John Mayer’s Audemars Piguet RD#5
How do you keep a brand-new Audemars Piguet a secret in front of 100,000 people? If you’re John Mayer, you ask AP to laser engrave a prototype of its new RD#5—the revolutionary new model that was officially unveiled earlier this week—with a motif resembling watch movement components, effectively camouflaging the watch the way car companies do their concept vehicles. Mayer sported the pre-launch piece last weekend onstage during his appearance at Zach Bryan’s record-breaking concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The RD#5 introduces a novel new approach to how a chronograph functions, giving the age-old complication all the tactility of a smartphone. While the commercial version of the model is made of titanium and BMG, Mayer’s one-off prototype came in stainless steel. In a landscape of increasingly elaborate watch teases, this may have been the most fascinating reveal of them all.
Michael Jordan’s De Bethune Kind of Two Jumping GMT
Courtesy of NBC Sports
Hanging out at the Ryder Cup last weekend with Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, and Brian Scalabrine, Michael Jordan showed off his horological bona fides by wearing the De Bethune Kind of Two Jumping GMT. A fully reversible watch, it can be quickly flipped over in order to display one of two time zones, while a special mechanism ensures that the watch hands are always moving in the correct direction. Constructed of Grade 5 titanium and measuring 43.3mm, it looks like something found in a Star Trek propmaster’s office—and we meant that as a compliment: With its signature De Bethune floating lugs and delta-shaped movement bridges, there’s nothing quite like it on the market.
Andrew Garfield’s Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso
Kristina Bumphrey/Getty Images
Appearing at the New York Film Festival for his new film After the Hunt, Andrew Garfield wore the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Monoface Small Seconds in 18K Pink Gold. A modern take on a watch developed for polo players in the 1930s, the Reverso features a sliding mechanism that allows the case to flip over, protecting the delicate crystal from damage by hiding it behind a solid caseback. For all its practical appeal, this particular version of the Reverso is particularly striking and swaggering, a worthy companion for a big red-carpet appearance.
Dwayne Johnson’s IWC Ingenieur Automatic 40
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While promoting The Smashing Machine on Fallon earlier this week, Dwayne Johnson wore the IWC Ingenieur Automatic 40 (ref. IW328907), one of the newest takes on the redesigned Ingenieur antimagnetic tool watch. Measuring 40mm in stainless steel and featuring a cool “grid”-pattern blue dial, the ref. IW328907 upgrades Gérald Genta’s integrated-bracelet version of the Ingenieur line. The original watch launched in the ’50s, but Genta’s more modern ’70s iteration is perhaps most iconic. When IWC retooled the lineup and debuted it at Watches and Wonders a few years back, it became a luxury sports watch favorite once again.
