Travis Kelce Celebrated His Super Bowl Win In a Surprising Vintage Watch
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If you’ve had it up to here with traditional watch-guy fare—Daytonas and Nautilii and the like—then check this out: A known Rolex collector, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce swapped out his Day-Date for a decidedly more under-the-radar option while celebrating his Super Bowl win this past week.
At the XS Nightclub at Wynn Las Vegas, Kelce was spotted rocking a Breitling Bentley Flying B, a collaborative model from the early 2000s that saw Swiss manufacture Breitling step well out of its pilot’s watch comfort zone: Housed in a rectangular, 38.5mm 18K white gold case set with 74 diamonds, it features a white mother-of-pearl dial, diamond indices, and a jump hour complication as well as a sub-seconds display.
XS Nightclub At Wynn Las Vegas
For the uninitiated, a jump hour complication is a type of “digital” display in which the hours are contained on a disc behind a window—at the top of the hour, the hour “jumps” immediately to the next. Patented in pocket watch form by Joseph Pallweber in 1883 and used by IWC on several beautiful timepieces, the complication’s heyday came in the 1920s and 1930s as part of the Art Deco movement, where it migrated to wristwatch form.
Today, the complication isn’t particularly popular and is largely relegated to high-end watches—partially because it requires careful regulation of power in order to maintain healthy amplitude in the movement while powering the “jump” mechanism. The Breitling Bentley Flying B, which debuted in 2006, was meant to celebrate Bentley’s mascot from the 1930s—a time coinciding with peak popularity for the jump hour display. Powered by an automatic, chronometer-certified movement, the model was discontinued in 2010.
The Flying B is a far cry from Kelce’s other watches, many of which seem to be Rollies such as a Submariner ref. 126610 and the aforementioned Day-Date ref. 228238. (It’s also quite a departure from the rest of early-2000s Breitling, which was then mostly focused on oversized pilot’s watches rather than diamond-studded, Art Deco-inspired dress watches.) But this may very well bode well for us, watch people: Maybe the three-time Super Bowl winner will prove to be among the more compelling and unpredictable watch collectors to grace these pages? Time will tell.
Samir Hussein
Front product imageJaeger-LeCoultre
Anya Taylor-Joy’s Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 101 Reine
Many are unaware that Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 101, which debuted in 1929, is still the world’s smallest mechanical movement. For close to 100 years, this remarkable calibre has been fitted to ladies’ cocktail watches—including one worn by Queen Elizabeth II during her coronation in 1953. (And by my significantly less famous grandmother, who received one upon her wedding day in 1951.) Anya-Taylor Joy, who attended the Dune: Part II premiere in London this past week, wore a beautiful “Reine” version fitted to a diamond-studded bracelet.
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George Kittle’s Casio Calculator Watch
While his teammates sprang for Rolex and Patek, San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle won our hearts by rocking a Casio “calculator watch”—the affordable, digital gadget that captivated the mind of every child who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s. Still available for $60 or so on Amazon, the Data Bank features a full numerical keyboard beneath its LCD screen that can be used to input phone numbers and perform basic calculations. In the days before the smartphone (and, of course, smartwatch), this thing was the absolute bee’s knees. Considering the man can afford whatever darn watch he so pleases, we must respectfully award Kittle extra style points, here.
Ryan Gosling’s TAG Heuer Carrera
Stealing the show at the Oscar Nominees Luncheon in lilac-purple Gucci, Ryan Gosling wore a watch that got horological nerds’ hearts racing. A special version (of a special version) of a beloved model, the story goes like this: In the 1970s, Heuer created solid-gold iterations of its Carrera chronograph for several Ferrari drivers. Gosling then wore one of those ref. 1158 CHN watches—on its matching, gold Milanese bracelet—as Ken in Barbie last year. TAG Heuer then reissued this watch within the new Carrera “Glassbox” case in October, but on a leather strap. Finally, for the Luncheon, the maison created a special version of the old, gold Milanese bracelet for Gosling’s own Carrera. (Cue Mel Brooks: “It’s good to be the king!”)
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Timothée Chalamet’s Cartier Tank Cintrée
From within the parade of excellent Cartiers that Timothée Chalamet has worn to red carpet events over the past few years, one stands out for its rarity, its beauty, its price, and its design: the platinum Tank Cintrée that he strapped on for the Dune: Part II premiere this week. Limited to 150 pieces, this gorgeous watch from 2023 is a sequel of sorts to the solid-gold version from 2021, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of the original Contrée from 1921. Powered by a hand-wound movement from Jaeger-LeCoultre and sporting a ruby-studded cabochon crown, a Roman-numeral dial, and a Breguet handset, it’s the type of timepiece that sets watch nerds’ hearts a-flutter.
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