The Champagne Carpet: Watch Spotting at the 95th Annual Academy Awards

The Academy Awards is always a bit of a mixed bag of emotions for those of us who are both cinephiles and horophiles.

On the one hand, many pictures and performances were egregiously overlooked (#violadaviswasrobbed). But on the other, the ceremony itself provides an endless parade of wrist candy for enthusiasts. In fact, so many amazing watches made appearances during the broadcast that we had to rewind a few times to check who was wearing what.

Here’s our list of the most winning watches spotted at the 2023 Academy Awards.

For watch spotters, the Oscars pre-show is as important as the awards ceremony. Celebrities who are neither nominated nor presenting still must run through a gauntlet of people who are famous for asking much more famous people about their fashion choices. When they name-drop their watchmaker, it makes our job way easier.

If neither a nominee nor a presenter, the stakes for these stars are also lower, and thus, their sartorial choices are more relaxed. Which means we get to see personal timepieces.

Four-time Grammy winner Lenny Kravitz (who performed a ballad during the “In Memoriam segment”) arrived bare-chested at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The rest of him walked the carpet in Saint Laurent and a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Classic Duoface Small Seconds in a large-format (47mm x 28.3mm) steel case.
 

Top Gun: Maverick star Tom Cruise skipped the ceremony, but his next-generation co-star Jay Ellis dazzled in a steel Cartier Tank Must (large model) on a leather strap with a diamond-set bezel, silvered dial, and blue synthetic cabochon-shaped spinel.
 

Another awards season trend alert: Actors making bold fashion choices on the carpet, like Top Gun actor Lewis Pullman. He made his entrance kitted out in a custom Thom Brown tux and wearing an Omega Trésor Co-Axial Master Chronometer 40mm in steel on a black leather strap.
 

We also had our eyes on the people handing out the awards. Presenters are often past Oscar winners or just straight-up Hollywood royalty. And the watches on stage were just as iconic.

Take, for example, last year’s Best Supporting Actress winner Ariana DeBose. This year, following Oscars tradition, she presented the Best Supporting Actor award. But DeBose bucked tradition by wearing a steel Omega De Ville Prestige Quartz 27.5mm over the lacy sleeves of her Versace gown, emphasizing a renewed interest in wearing watches Gianni Agnelli-style (trend alert!).
 

Interestingly, Troy Kotsur, last year’s winner of Best Supporting Actor for CODA, also wore an Omega while presented the Best Supporting Actress award, wearing an Omega De Ville Prestige Co-Axial Master Chronometer 40mm in steel and Sedna Gold on a leather strap.
 

Meanwhile, Best Original Score presenter John Cho made a dandy statement in a classic Zegna tux dressed-up with a vintage Cartier brooch and completed his looks with the IWC Portofino Automatic. And the presenter for Best Original Screenplay, Andrew Garfield, paired his formal Fendi suit with a classic Omega De Ville Trésor Master Co Axial Chronometer 40mm in Sedna Gold on a black alligator leather strap.
 

If you’re a star of a certain caliber, you also get asked to present. And if you’re Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, you can get away with presenting the award for Best Animated Feature Film while wearing a satiny pink suit and a sporty TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 200 Date at arguably the world’s most famous black-tie event.
 

Finally, wearing a custom blue jacquard tuxedo, the face of Gucci watches, Idris Elba was spotted in the brand’s G-Timeless Planetarium as he presented the award for Best Director along with Omega Ambassador Nicole Kidman.
 

A past Academy Award winner herself, Kidman is also a style influencer. This year she wore a vintage piece from the Omega Museum stacked with bejeweled bracelets (trend alert!).
 

Next up in the Oscar night hierarchy are the nominees. Again, we have nothing but respect for people who can even get a movie made, so even if they don’t win, the acknowledgment of their skills that a nomination represents means a lot. And what better way to mark an achievement than with a watch?

Hong Chau, Best Supporting Actress nominee for The Whale, showed she has fashion range with a Prada gown that was minimalist pink in the front and a party in the back pink Prada gown. She also matched the dress to the strap of her Panerai Luminor Due Luna.
 

The nominee for Best Actor for Aftersun, Paul Mescal, came dressed to thrill in Gucci and accessorized head to wrist in Cartier. Mescal matched a Juste un Clou earring and an 18K yellow gold Faune et Flore de Cartier High Jewelry brooch with a platinum Cartier Privé Tank Chinoise watch.
 

Nominee for Best Supporting Actor and future superstar Barry Keoghan of Banshees of Inisherin wore an Omega Constellation Globemaster Co Axial Master Chronometer 39mm in steel on a steel bracelet.
 

All of this year’s Oscar winners not only told great narratives through film, but their journeys to the podium also had fantastic stories. However, one film stood above the others. I am, of course, referring to Everything Everywhere All at Once, which won seven statuettes, including: Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture.
 

Michelle Yeoh was clearly going to win Best, so, it was appropriate that she wore a see-through, sapphire-cased white Richard Mille with white straps that matched her downy Dior gown.
 

Meanwhile, though rarely visible under the long sleeves of her glittering Dolce & Gabbana gown, the original scream-queen and all-around Hollywood treasure Jamie Lee Curtis wore her personal Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso when she accepted her Best Supporting Actress.
 

Finally, Daniel Kwan, who, with Daniel Scheinert, took the prize for Best Director for the genre-breaking film Everything Everywhere All at Once, came clad in a purple tux with the proclamation “Punk” printed on the back. And in an equally non-conformist move wore an Apple Watch while accepting his statue. Some people on Watch Instagram took that personally, which, in a way, made his choice even punkier.
 

(Front image. Credit Michelle Watt)