24: Kobe Bryant’s Enduring Effect On The Watch World

A non-basketball obsessed friend of mine recently asked me where Kobe Bryant places in the pantheon of basketball greats. My immediate response was that Bryant was the most versatile player of my lifetime. The shooting guard started out when centers ruled the courts and rose to stardom in an era that saw the mid-range game give way to softer, faster play. No matter how the sport was played, Bryant always managed to adapt his singular talents to the changes.

This versatility applied to off-court Kobe as well, especially when it came to watches. Here, we look at some of the timepieces that were closest to Kobe Bryant’s heart.
 

Bryant was also a rarity in the NBA in that he spent his entire pro career with one team — the Los Angeles Lakers.

It was a good time for the team and Bryant. In 20 seasons he won five championships, was an 18-time All-Star, and named MVP in 2008.
 

After the Nubeo debacle, Bryant stayed away from watch endorsements for a while. But in 2013, he hooked up with Hublot to collaborate on the first of a series of high-end timepieces.

The series kicked off with the limited edition Hublot King Power Black Mamba. In an age when most collaborations with athletes were little more than a limited edition in a player’s team colors with their number worked into the display somehow, this watch seemed to embody Bryant’s essence. Bryant was nicknamed “Black Mamba” after the venomous African snake because the animal summed up his persona: aggressive and single-minded.
 

The King Power Black Mamba was a striking watch. It came in a micro-blasted black, 48mm ceramic case with a layered dial, and featured a silver-colored snake coiled around the counter at 9 o’clock. In a nod to Bryant’s speed, the timepiece was powered by a split-second chronograph movement.
 

One doesn’t have a 20-year career without mellowing a little bit. In 2015, Hublot and Bryant released their second collaboration — the Big Bang UNICO Retrograde Chronograph Kobe “Vino” Bryant.

Vino is a moniker Bryant took on in later years to indicate that, like a fine wine, he was only getting better with age. And the design cues of the Big Bang Vino played off this metaphor.
 

It came with two straps, including one in a deep red python. The sapphire crystal caseback was green, like a wine bottle. And the rich burgundy dial had a dimpled surface, like a basketball.

The retrograde display also provided a more sophisticated interpretation of the chronograph. Perhaps the perfect distillation of both Bryant and Hublot’s unmistakable essences.
 

Bryant was always someone who led when it came to fashion. In 2014, he was spotted touring Apple’s Cupertino campus with then Chief Design Officer, Jony Ive, leading to much speculation that he had a prototype of their as-yet-unnamed smartwatch.
 

That partnership never came to pass, but Bryant was often seen wearing an Apple Watch, most famously to the 2017 ceremony where The Lakers retired his 8 and 24 numbers.

As Magic Johnson said at that event, “For 20 years, he thrilled us. He made us scratch our heads (and say), ‘What did we just see? What did we just witness?’ And he gave us five NBA championships.”
 

Likewise, Bryant set a new bar for brand ambassadors and gave horology four distinct and highly collectible watches. The watch world will certainly miss Kobe Bryant.