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During the Finals matchup against the Boston Celtics and at this weekend’s championship parade, Klay Thompson wore a surprisingly affordable watch. The four-time’s champ gold piece is a Tissot PRX, a $450 gold ticker with the good looks of a much more expensive watch.
The PRX was re-released last year but its origins trace all the way back to 1978. The watch is a perfect product of its time: the PRX brings with it all the qualities typical of watches from the ’70s. The other big hits from that era? The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and the Patek Philippe Nautilus. Like those watches, the PRX comes with a slightly off-kilter case shape and an integrated bracelet. The difference is that the Tissot came with a quartz movement, which is more affordable and more accurate (and some watch enthusiasts might argue less soulful) than their mechanical counterparts. At the time of its invention, as much of the Swiss watch industry was resisting, Tissot leaned into its use of this new technology. The P in PRX actually stands for precise. Today, as the sentiment towards quartz is moving in a more favorable direction among collectors. The easier-to-produce movement is part of what enables the three-digit pricetag. If you’re going to be as reckless as Thompson was—who lost his championship hat, bowled over a fan, and dropped his championship ring—at the parade that’s a good thing.
Don Arnold
Chris Hemsworth’s Rolex Day-Date
Speaking of one of 2022’s best releases, let’s pivot to Hemsworth’s platinum Day-Date. One of my most cherished memories from W&W was trying on this new Day-Date from Rolex—the piece is so heavy and substantial, it just feels like a million bucks. It’s quite handsome, too; the pretty ice-blue dial plays nicely off the platinum.
Hemsworth is wearing an even more souped-up version of the platinum Day-Date with a diamond-set bezel. And I thought the standard version was fancy.
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Jay-Z’s Patek Philippe Nautilus
Apparently, Jay-Z decided this is the watch he wears to championship games. Back in February, Hov wore this exact Nautilus to the Super Bowl and now he’s wearing it courtside at the NBA Finals. This particular model, first released in 1981, is a slimmed-down version of the original Nautilus that Patek released when it realized collectors were fretting over the watch’s jumbo-sized proportions. Up to that point, the Nautilus exclusively came in stainless steel but Patek started incorporating precious metals like gold in the ‘80s. Four decades on, Patek Philippe doesn’t have to worry much about attracting new customers to its Nautilus, but Jay’s represents an inflection point in the watch’s history. The NBA is where amazing happens—and I don’t just mean the play on the hardwood.
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Max Verstappen’s custom Tag Heuer Monaco
The base model of Verstappen’s Monaco is already a killer. The blacked-out version of the iconically quadratic piece is coated in DLC, features rose-gold hands and indices, and is nicknamed the Dark Lord. Tight. Tag Heuer zhuzhed up the watch for Verstappen by adding a fat “1” to the dial at 6 o’clock. The “1” is for Verstappen’s race number but it also coincidentally stands in for the place he finished at last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
RB/Bauer-Griffin
Khloe Kardashian’s Rolex Cosmograph Daytona
The Kardashian family owns a surprisingly great collection of timepieces. Matriarch Kris Jenner has a deep bench of Rolex watches, ranging from the Daytona to the Day-Date, and she’s rocked a Cartier Crash on the red carpet. Kim paid a handsome sum to own the Cartier Tank that belonged to Jackie Kennedy (no word on whether or not she also damaged this piece of fashion history). The Kardashians also reportedly spent $300,000 to ensure the crew that worked on their TV show were outfitted with Rolex watches. This week, Khloe made it known that she’s no slouch when it comes to wristwear, either. She wore the collector-favorite Rolex Daytona in gold on gold.