THE JOURNAL
Insiders Explain How Watches Get On TV (And No, It’s Not Just Product Placement)
Messrs Jon Hamm and John Slattery in Mad Men, series six, 2013. Photograph Mr Jaimie Trueblood/AMC
We can all think of a moment when a watch stood out in a movie or TV show. Mr Ryan Gosling’s getaway timer in Drive; James Bond’s preferred method of escaping a tight spot; the infamous “gold watch” speech from Pulp Fiction.
Even if the watch isn’t driving the plot, it’s still a useful tool for the filmmaker. We might get a close-up shot as the assassin or detective plans their next move, or it might provide a comic beat or an insight into a relationship, such as the Patek Philippe that Tom Wambsgans gifts Logan Roy in the first episode of Succession. “It’s super accurate,” he says. “Every time you look at it, it tells you exactly how rich you are”.
A watch can gives clues to a character’s social status or personality and, on sparkling 4K screens, it’s easier than ever to see what an actor is wearing. How do the watches we see on screen get there? In much the same way an actor does, it turns out: a combination of luck, dogged agents, financial sweeteners, availability and, of course, whom you know.
If you’re lucky, the writer felt strongly enough about the character to include their favoured watch brand in the script. It’s possible that the producer or director is a bit of a watch geek. But, if not, responsibility for a character’s watch rests with the costume designer or prop master. There is no strict rule, but as Ms Tammie Patton, prop master for the recent remake of The Wonder Years, explains, “It’s something that’s a prop rather than costume because it’s a very personal item, something they wear for the whole show. And it’s something they actually interact with.”
Messrs Allen Maldonado and Dulé Hill in The Wonder Years, 2021. Photograph by Ms Erika Doss/ABC
For costume designer Mr Richard Cooke, it’s a different story. “For me, it’s an extension of the costume – but would be treated as a prop if it wasn’t being worn.” Cooke, who is currently working on Prime Video’s upcoming drama Fifteen-Love, set in the world of elite tennis, says that, “Every element matters. You never know what the camera will pick up. A watch is such a good gauge of character. You can pick up on someone’s status, setting, it really helps form a viewer’s opinion. Like someone who’s had money in the past, they’ll have expensive clothes, but they’re getting threadbare – you give them the right watch and really get that point across.”
Fifteen-Love, which apparently features a major plot point that revolves around two watches, will air in 2023. Cooke is sworn to secrecy on the watches involved, but makes the point that whenever you see something on screen, it’s not there by accident.
“A lot of people think that costume is just going shopping and putting an outfit together – but we do a backstory for everyone, even non-speaking parts,” Cooke says. “You can spend tens of thousands of pounds on a single fitting, and you can’t just pick a watch out for the character. It’s a very personal thing, and actors might come with expectations, as might the director. We recently had about 40 at a fitting – you need to see how the colour or metal is going to work with someone’s skin tone, how well it fits: it might look like the right watch but you put it on and it’s all wrong. Sometimes actors are just very particular about the feel of something against their skin. By the time an outfit reaches set, it has been through so much and approved by so many people.”
“Historically, it wasn’t taken that seriously by the crew. But I know actors who are watch people and when they get given a fake or incorrect watch, it drives them crazy”
Costumer designers and propmasters have their own methods of sourcing watches, but often it makes sense to involve someone who really knows the watch world. Vintage watch dealer Mr Eric Wind, who provided period-specific watches for The Wonder Years, can sound like he’s on a one-man mission to make the film industry care. “Historically, outside of a few examples, it wasn’t taken that seriously by the crew. Brands don’t typically have the watches to spare, or understand the set-up. But I know actors who are watch people and when they get given a fake or incorrect watch, it drives them crazy.”
Through his relationships with actors including Messrs Daniel Dae Kim and Ronny Chieng, Wind has supplied watches to a number of productions, such as Crazy Rich Asians. By lending the watches, he covers their insurance, which can be just one hurdle to a smooth shoot. “A friend who’s a producer, he asked a brand for watches, and was told they’d be accompanied by two security guards at all times. Most producers can’t be bothered with that.”
For this reason, as well as our jaded 21st-century cynicism, you would be forgiven for assuming that all modern watches that get prominent visibility are the result of paid product placement, but it’s not always the case. It was the costume designer for GoldenEye, Ms Linda Hemming, who chose an Omega Seamaster for Mr Pierce Brosnan’s Bond; only later did it become a commercial arrangement between Omega and EON, and the most famous on-screen watch of all.
It was widely anticipated that Mr Tom Cruise would be wearing an IWC Schaffhausen Pilot’s watch when he returned to the skies in Top Gun: Maverick, given the watch brand’s association with the real-life Top Gun school, but contractual wrangling got in the way, and Cruise ended up wearing the exact same watch he’d used 36 years earlier (a Porsche Design Chronograph 1), which he had to borrow from producer Mr Jerry Bruckheimer.
Mr Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange, 2016. Photograph by Marvel/Alamy
Sometimes it’s the actor, rather than the movie, who has the commercial tie-in – Gosling wears TAG Heuer in The Gray Man because he’s an ambassador for the brand – but sometimes the relationship begins on set and continues after. The Doctor Strange movies are known for featuring Jaeger-LeCoultre watches in key scenes, but according to the brand, it was one of many watchmakers to answer a call from the movie’s prop master and sent a selection of watches. It was Mr Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Doctor Strange, who made the final choice. He signed on as a brand ambassador for Jaeger-LeCoultre in 2018, two years after Doctor Strange was released.
It is rarely that simple, however. Big-budget blockbusters might have the luxury of calling Swiss brands and asking them to lend thousands of pounds’ worth of watches for an extended period of time, but most productions face myriad logistical challenges that guide their choices.
“We say, ‘One is none; two is one,’” Patton says. “We always need spares of everything we use. You need extras in case one breaks, and for stunts or photo doubles, although for these we might try and source close replicas if we can’t get the exact same one. Once we’ve got them, we need to look after them as well. We have to learn to adjust the size, operate them all correctly, and we have to think about the conditions: is it going to be humid? Is it going to get wet?”
Without the budget to buy watches outright (not to mention needing spares), prop masters have other ways of sourcing what they need. “There are product placement companies that offer us watches from companies they represent,” says Patton. “Other times, I have someone dedicated to finding the right watches online, on eBay maybe. If a show gets more seasons and gets a higher profile, you do get more budget.”
Often, particularly when the show calls for something vintage, prop masters go to watch specialists such as Wind or Toronto-based dealer Mr Derek Dier, who describes himself as “a bit of a department store for vintage watches”. Rather than lending or selling watches to shows, Dier leases them out. It’s a savvy business model. He retains ownership and has built up an inventory of watches that lets him react to Hollywood’s schedules. “For Mad Men, they had 24 hours to get all the characters outfitted with watches. They had contacted Omega, waited seven days, didn’t hear back. They found me through Google and let me choose the watches. If you come through quickly for them, you’ve got yourself a client.”
“We say, ‘One is none; two is one.’ We always need spares of everything we use. You need extras in case one breaks, and for stunts or photo doubles”
Experts such as Dier and Wind will do more than source what’s required. They can help make sure period accuracy is maintained. For a true watch nerd, no effort is too great to guarantee historical fidelity.
“I was asked to suggest a watch for a show set in the 1960s, for a university lecturer,” Wind says. “I thought immediately of a [Cartier] Tank Cornice I had recently sold to a client, but I wanted to make sure it made sense. I researched the average salary for a university lecturer in 1968, worked out the watch’s price when new, deducted a few years for the age of the watch as it could very likely have sat in a store window for a while, and determined it was feasible and plausible.”