Wrists of Fame: A New Celebrity Watch Book is About to Hit Shelves

You know, we like to keep the intrepid Rhonda Riche busy with assignments, but the noted watch journalist (and all-around fantastic person) has managed to find the time to release not one, but two, must-read watch books this year.

First, we saw her efforts in a long-overdue exploration of the heritage of women’s watches back in May, The Wonderful World of Women’s Watches. It was an exhaustive tome on a relatively under-covered subject, to be sure.

Now, for her new book, Watch Spotting: The Collectors (ACC Art Books, 2025), she makes a strong pivot to a relatively over-reported topic: celebrities and their watch collections. However, that being said, this new book brings a freshness and intimacy to the subject of celebrities and their watches that only Rhonda Riche could provide.
 

Over the book’s 160 photo-packed pages, Riche delves into the timepiece activities of 30 prominent, but diverse, celebrity collectors (from Rihanna to Andy Warhol) in a way that goes beyond trendy pop culture and status appeal. No, she digs into the compelling nature of watch collecting, even for the very famous.
 

Here’s some from-the-writer insights on the personalities, timepieces, and journalistic legwork that contributed to the project:

Watchonista: Low-hanging fruit, yes, but which celebrities did you most enjoy writing about for the book?

Rhonda Riche: I think two of my favorites represent two ends of the collector spectrum. Of course, when you report on celebrities versus traditional collectors, there can be the added element of being a “spokesperson.” So, for instance, tennis superstar Serena Williams has been a brand ambassador for Audemars Piguet since 2014, but that relationship doesn’t take away from her love of watches in general.
 

She is just so good at sporting her timepieces in inventive ways that seamlessly blend fashion and athletics, opening up inspired new avenues of younger appeal. Every time I thought I was completing her “chapter,” there would be a new public event where she was spotted wearing a new watch.

On the other hand, performer Ed Sheeran gives you the sense that he is into watches for the sheer joy of it all. His collection is very varied; in fact, he started his collecting journey with Casio watches. His friendly, accessible nature is easy to relate to: You get the feeling that, if you met him, he’d be happy to talk watches with you regardless of what you (or he) was wearing.
 

W: Do celebrities exhibit the same behaviors as typical watch collectors? By that, I mean, do celebrities get drawn to certain types/styles of watches, or can they also be fairly scholarly in their collecting?

RR: Certainly. Victoria Beckham is a perfect celebrity avatar for collectors attracted to specific types of watches. She is famously into Rolex Daytonas, but can be generally pegged as a sports chronograph enthusiast.

Rapper Tyler, The Creator has a remarkably varied interest in watches: He leans into vintage Cartier timepieces (and reportedly owns superb examples of all the Maison’s heritage “hits”). In fact, he has had pieces from his collection featured at events and even in museums.
 

W: What kind of challenges did you encounter during your reporting?

RR: While there is more of a photographic record available to follow celebrity watches than ever before, from red carpet events and such, the biggest tool in my belt is being very good at “zooming in” on smaller shots to help spot what they are wearing.

Even with exhaustive research, there are still plenty of instances where accurately identifying a particular watch model worn is something of a detective story.
 

W: Given Watchonista’s own slice of reporting on celebrity watch collections, The Unlikely Watch Collector series, who do you think is the most unlikely collector from your book?

RR: The most “unlikely” – and “unusual” – collector I profile is definitely Andy Warhol. The artist’s work is not only highly collectible, but he was also an almost compulsive collector of many, many things.

Of course, we have his legacy of timepieces with Piaget, but he owned many different watches over the years and was a bit haphazard about them. In fact, he reportedly just casually tossed the watch he was wearing up on top of the canopy of his four-poster bed when he took it off before going to sleep.