The Unlikely Watch Collector: Ralph Lauren

One of the most interesting things about Lauren’s collection is that he buys watches to wear, not keep locked up in a safe. Moreover, as he said in a 2015 interview with Hodinkee’s Ben Clymer, he views his watches as an extension of his lifestyle.

“I see watches as I see clothes, part of a world that we live in, and an elegant watch fits such a particular part of life, so it never made sense to wear just one watch every day,” Lauren explained. “We don't wear the same outfits every day, so why wear the same watch?”

But the Cintrée is not the only Cartier in the collection. In total, he probably has six in total, including his beloved Cartier Tank Louis Cartier.
 

Lauren has gone on record numerous times saying that he was greatly influenced by early-20th-century glamor, citing Cary Grant and Fred Astaire as his greatest style heroes. No wonder he admires the elegant size and silhouettes of these watches.

And we won’t lie; there has always been a bit of a Jay Gatsby vibe to Lauren’s worldview. Lauren even designed the costumes for Robert Redford’s character in the 1974 adaptation of The Great Gatsby.
 

Like Gatsby, the Tank Louis Cartier, or the Tank L.C., was first introduced in the Roaring Twenties (1922, to be exact) and featured slightly softer corners than the original Tank, the Normal (which hit the market in 1919). The yellow gold case represents the Tank L.C. at its most luxurious.

Lauren’s Menswear encompasses everything from Wall Street suiting to rugged cowboy individualism, so it should come as no surprise that his watch collection would include pieces from all over the horological spectrum.

Take, for example, Lauren’s Panerai Luminor 6152 from 1954 and which was actually made by Rolex. (Fun Fact: From 1936 through 1956, Rolex made all of Panerai’s watches.) He is frequently spotted wearing this oversized (47mm) model over a field jacket or bulky sweater.
 

Lauren’s also featured some of his vintage Panerai models – like his humongous Panerai “Big Egiziano” – in advertisements for his clothing.

A vintage Radiomir GPF 2/56 from 1956, this reference was produced at the behest of Commander Fawzi of the Egyptian Navy, who attended the Italian Navy’s Command School, and is notable for its 8-day Angelus movement and for being the largest diameter watch (60mm!) Panerai has ever made.

While Lauren’s watch wardrobe is eclectic, he does seem to have a thing for vintage. Take, for example, his ultra-rare IWC B-Uhr “Observation Watch” (Ref. 431) WWII-era military watch from 1940. Unlike the Cartiers, this is a big boy – 55mm in diameter, in fact. It is also a rarity.

Known simply as the B-Uhr (or the plural “B-Uhren”), the Reference 431 is considered one of the rarest and most sought-after IWC pieces, as only 1,000 specimens of these watches were produced, and more importantly, it is the watch upon which the brand’s Big Pilot collection is based.
 

The B-Uhr also has a dark side, as they were sent to the IWC agent in Berlin, Siegfried Heindorf, who later sold them to the Luftwaffe.

More recently, you can perhaps see some hints of the B-Uhr in Lauren’s Safari collection (though it was not directly inspired by the Reference 431). Plus, as Ralph Lauren’s fellow Richmont brand, IWC developed and supplied the manually-wound Calibre RL1967 exclusively for the Ralph Lauren Automotive Skeleton.

Lauren isn’t totally married to vintage. He’s also a fan of independent watchmaker Urwerk. Consequently, in 2017, he was photographed for the New York Times wearing a Urwerk UR-210Y “Black Hawk.” Reportedly, he owns a few of these models in different colorways.

At first, it seems like an unlikely pairing, but then again, Lauren also collects cars, so this high-tech titanium-and-steel timepiece from 2014 makes sense. Urwerk’s futuristic timepieces must also appeal to Lauren’s eye for detail.
 

The display features retrograde minutes and hours, with a patented power reserve that lets you know when you’ve only got two hours of juice left. Fortunately, its generous dimensions (43.8 × 53.6mm) are not felt on the wrist thanks to the lugs, which were designed to wrap around the wrist.

When it comes to watches, Lauren has said that he is not a follower of fashion. For instance, during his 2015 interview with Ben Clymer, he said, “If I wanted an everyday watch, I suppose a Rolex or a Patek would do just fine, but I don't find the emotion there. I will say I never collected watches to make money – bought what I liked, and that's it. No Paul Newmans, no James Bond Rolex.” Of course, that isn’t to say he hasn’t acquired a few Rolexes in his time.
 

Keeping with his affinity for square and rectangular cases, one of Lauren’s favorites is his Rolex Prince. The Prince is noted for its distinctive dial configuration, which is divided into two parts: the hours and minutes in the upper half, with the seconds occupying equal space in the lower half. The ultra legible seconds made the Prince the darling of doctors, and it quickly became known as a “doctor's watch.”
 

In the 1980s and ‘90s, Lauren was also fond of wearing a leather strap, which is how he often wore his “Pre-Daytona” reference 6238.

Launched in 1962, the 6238 was Rolex’s last chronograph to feature a simple smoothed and polished metal bezel and an internal tachymeter scale. It can also be described as Rolex’s first modern chronograph, and one that would pave the way for the reference 6239 Cosmograph Daytona (hence the nickname “Pre-Daytona”).
 

Lauren has also been photographed over the years wearing various iterations of the Rolex GMT-Master II Pepsi. Ralph Lauren, the brand, also featured this watch in its iconic ads with Tyson Beckford.

There’s nothing more preppy than a Polo shirt, but Lauren is also a man of the people. There’s no better illustration of his everyday aesthetic than pictures of Ralph wearing a vintage Citizen Aqualand.

You can tell that Lauren appreciates both form and function with this choice of watch, shown here on the runway with a simple black t-shirt, jeans, and a southwestern belt (Lauren is also a collector of Indigenous craft and has worked with artists such as Diné weavers Naiomi and Tyler Glasses).
 

Now part of the Promaster collection, the Aqualand debuted in 1985 and was the first watch to incorporate an electronic digital depth gauge. Lauren’s Aqualand appears to be a first-generation stainless-steel model on a rubber strap with a “C02x” movement series.

Finally, another reason that Ralph Lauren has managed to stay relevant over the years is that he’s attuned to the youth. Take, for example, his playful Preppy Bear collection.

Aside from the RL Preppy Bear collection, perhaps no brand represents fun street style like Casio. In fact, Lauren was ahead of his time in embracing this bold resin timepiece back in the 1990s.
 

Here he is pictured wearing a bold black-and-yellow Casio CBX-1000 with a rubber strap. Another thing to note is how he styles it – “over the cuff” – as if to proclaim his love of watches on his sleeve.