Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a serious watch guy. From Rolex to Audemars Piguet to Panerai to IWC, the man knows how to rock an excellent timepiece. Lately, however, his taste has turned to a fascinating niche: High-end versions of classic Heuer sports watches. We saw it previously when Johnson strapped on the Monaco Night Driver, a brand-new version of an automatic chronograph famously worn by Steve McQueen in 1971’s Le Mans.
This time, his sights have turned to the Carrera, the famed racing watch developed by Jack Heuer and released in 1963. While simple, stainless steel versions of this beloved chronograph are what generally come to mind when one pictures the neck-and-neck automotive escapades of famous midcentury drivers, solid gold versions of the watch were given by the brand to particularly big personalities.
As TAG celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Carrera, the Swiss brand has released numerous special editions and reissues throughout the year. On The Tonight Show this past week, Johnson discussed his return to wrestling with Jimmy Fallon while rocking one such special watch, the Carrera Chronograph ref. CBN2044.FC8313. This version, housed in the brand’s recently rejiggered Carrera case, is an automatic 42mm chronograph in solid 18K yellow gold—pretty baller!
Recalling vintage executions such as the solid-gold 1158 CHN, this execution is automatic. It has a cool black dial with gold totalizers in a sort of “reverse panda” look. Powered by the company’s in-house Calibre 02 automatic movement, it manages to encapsulate the sports watch spirit of the original while imbuing it with a real sense of modernity.
Handle one of these contemporary Carreras and you’ll quickly understand how much thought went into their design, with the 1/5th-seconds track extending to the very edge of the dial and an unobtrusive yet useful date window poking out from the running seconds register. Helmed by Frédéric Arnault, the brand is returning this year to its racing roots and slowly reclaiming mindshare among automotive diehards. Johnson is clearly a fan—strap one of these watches on and you’ll probably feel the same way.
It’s no longer news that Rihanna has an extensive watch collection—or even that she wears watches in unconventional ways. Still, she sent the watch world into a tizzy when she wore an iced-out Jacob & Co. cocktail watch as an anklet this week at the Las Vegas F1 Grand Prix. We have to hand it to her, no one knows how to push the horological-sartorial envelope in quite the same way.
]Barry Keoghan wore an upscale version of TAG Heuer’s Aquaracer Professional 200 at the Los Angeles premiere of his new movie Saltburn. His 40mm watch blends a steel case with 18K 3N yellow gold touches in the bezel insert, crown, and dial elements. It's not all flash, though: with water resistant to 200m, it possesses industrial-strength tool watch bona fides.
Formula 1 superstar Lewis Hamilton knows a thing or two about a winning watch. An IWC brand ambassador, he’s got some major pieces in his collection—including one he designed himself—but his latest is far and away one of the coolest. At a pop-up event at SpeedCity in Las Vegas this past week, Hamilton wore the new Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph 41 Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team. A riff on the brand’s classic pilot’s chronograph, the new reference IW388307 melds a 41mm black Ceratanium case with a triple-calendar chronograph display joined by a day-date at 3 o’clock. The star of the show is the automotive-inspired tachymeter scale on the bezel and signature Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team blue-green accents. Even by IWC’s high standards, it’s one cool chrono!
Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz co-signed John Mayer’s curatorial skills when he called out the new Hodinkee X Online Ceramics G-SHOCK on Instagram recently. “Sometimes a collaboration is so good it reminds you why collaborations became such a thing,” he wrote. The watch in question, a pair-up between Hodinkee and Online Ceramics, is part of a series that Mayer is curating. Past projects include a link-up with Ed Sheeran and there's still another to come. The Online Ceramics spin on the G-Shock is housed in a matte forest green resin case with yellow accents, the 5600-series G-SHOCK reflects Online Ceramics’ trippy design sensibilities.
Though Daniel Craig the spy may wear a water-resistant Seamaster, Daniel Craig the actor was caught red-handed sporting a watch that hasn’t even hit shelves yet: a white-dialed Speedmaster that’s as mysterious as James Bond himself. Could it be a fresh take on the famed “Alaska Project,” or even a full-production model to mirror the white-dialed Seamaster Diver 300M? It seems like we’ll have to wait until 2024 to find out.
Aaron Paul ditched his trusty coral-dial Rolex Oyster Perpetual for a gorgeous IWC, the Portugieser Perpetual Calendar reference IWC 503302. Housed in a 44.2mm 18K 5N gold case, it easily and legibly displays a wealth of information on its silver dial, including the time, day, date, month, moon phase, year, and 7-day power reserve. Mechanically programmed for a whopping 577 years, the automatic, in-house Calibre 52610 with 54 jewels is a marvel of horological engineering, while the sumptuous gold case oozes class. Pair it with a great cardigan like Paul did at Speedy City, and you’re off to the races!
