The first couple of months of the year are always chocked full of glamour and glitz thanks to the multiple Red Carpet events, including the Grammy Awards and the Academy Awards. Generally, all eyes are on the celebrities at these events – spotting not just the gowns and jewels, but also the watches they wear. However, there are a host of other important celebrities that blaze a trail all year long – sporting watches that create a huge buzz and have consumers around the globe asking the question, ‘what watch was that on his (or her) wrist?’.
From racecar drivers to tennis players, actors, boxers, golfers, artists, rappers and more, celebrity influencers can definitely spike an interest in a particular watch brand. Sometimes the attention is so widespread that it even touches off a flurry of fake news.
Such was the case last September when football (American football) player Odell Beckham Jr. of the Cleveland Browns was spotted wearing his $189,500 Richard Mille RM-11-03 watch on the field. It was his first game with the Browns and most likely he felt the bright orange of the watch (made of carbon TPT® and orange Quartz TPT®) was a perfect match with the uniforms. The RM 11-03 Automatic Winding Flyback Chronograph McLaren was created in a limited edition of just 500 pieces so that McLaren customers could match their edition number of the McLaren Ultimate Series car to the number engraved on the caseback of the watch.
The hype around Beckham’s wearing that watch – especially since he was not even a Richard Mille brand ambassador -- was so intense that not only did Forbes cover it, but also a host of other top-level business publications wrote about it. All of that publicity somehow spurred another citing of a Richard Mille on his wrist the following week – that one, though, was fake. Someone took the time to fabricate some fake news around the watch and player.
Richard Mille is one of the first brands ever to require its ambassadors to wear their watches in play (or in their respective sporting platforms), which has naturally garnered the brand a lot of attention, since its brand ambassadors run the gamut from tennis legend Rafael Nadal to golf icon Bubba Watson and more.
Another sensation just spotted wearing a near three-quarter-of-a-million-dollar Jacob & Co. watch is Canadian rapper (and songwriter, actor and producer) Drake. Nee Aubrey Drake Graham, the 33-year-old musician with a cult-like following (especially since he has captured American hearts with his role in Netflix’ Top Boy) just bought the $680,000 Jacob & Co. Astronomia Casino watch.
The manual wind 47mm 18-karat gold watch features a high-domed sapphire crystal that reveals a roulette wheel dial with floating ceramic ball, and is equipped with a Double Axis Tourbillon. Already an owner of Jacob & Co timepieces, his interest in the Casino sparked a lot of social media attention, especially since he was seen on Jacob & Co.’s social media pages just before purchasing the watch.
Of course, it is not Jacob & Co.’s first rodeo when it comes to friends of the brand. Soccer legend Leo Messi has been seen everywhere wearing his eponymous titanium Epic X Chrono (with diamonds, $150,000). Additionally, former professional boxer Floyd Mayweather, who loves bling and about his purchases on Instagram all the time, made a huge sensation a few years ago when he purchased the Jac0b ^ Co. $18 million Billionaire Tourbillon timepiece set with 260 carats of emerald-cut diamonds.
The list goes on, especially as more and more celebs take to social media to showcase their purchases – often sparking huge demand in addition to envy.
