The angular Tetra sets a striking tone with four new limited-edition models. Each bright facade houses sound, traditional craftsmanship from the Glashütte manufacture. Our test shows how it all fits together.

Colorful versions of the unusual, square Nomos Tetra watch have been on the scene for a while now. Earlier renditions had more delicate nuances, and most came equipped with the hand-wound Alpha caliber, like the Immortal Beloved with its turquoise dial or the Divine Spark with its copper dial. The Grenadine clearly drew inspiration from the pomegranate, and the Matcha from mint tea. Now Nomos Glashütte has left understatement behind. Its four new Tetra models are thin, elegant and equipped with the DUW 3001 caliber, automatic, and presented in superbright colors. Here, colors are applied to the base material in a way that reflects light hitting the surface. This special technique creates a glossy effect that is similar to enamel.

The result is intense color of incredible depth and clarity. The striking, light beige Nomos type has a different effect on each dial color, with a yellowish tone on the red dial but appearing almost white on the blue one. The off-white dial is the exception. Here, the numerals, indexes and scales are printed in blue. The thin steel-like hands are like all the other models, except for the small seconds hand, which is red. The red hand also makes an appearance on the black dial — because, why not?

“These watches make a bolder statement than wearing sneakers with a sport coat,” says head of product management at Nomos, Heike Ahrendt. “Whether you’re a businessman or an NFT artist, a political up-and-comer or a YouTube star, a molecular research scientist or an interior designer, with these watches, Nomos Glashütte was thinking about confident, modern people who don’t follow the mainstream. In shape and size, they are neither masculine nor feminine; they are for everyone.”

Well, that’s certainly simply put and contemporary. The fact that the Tetra measures 33 mm along the case edge does not reveal its true size. This angular relative to the Tangente measures 46 mm across the diagonal, so it’s clearly not small. The Tetra’s elegance comes from the narrow frame of the two-part case, with its slender height of only 7.45 mm, combined with the small crown and fine, tiered lugs. A frictionfit sapphire crystal viewing window in the caseback is splash proof and pressure resistant to 3 bar.

Behind the exciting, colorful, angular façade, the Tetra is respectable and down to earth, maybe even a bit conservative. Nomos Glashütte leaves nothing to be desired, and with the automatic Caliber DUW 3001, underscores its longestablished, in-house, “Made in Germany” expertise. And with the proprietary Nomos swing system, which became a part of this movement in 2015, the company finally gained independence from Swiss suppliers. Nomos’s own balance wheel, with a Carl Haas tempered blue hairspring, oscillates beneath a sturdy bridge at a rate of 3 Hz. The three-quarter plate of the DUW 3001 (typical in Glashütte watchmaking) obscures the gear train as well as the ratchet wheel and double click wheel for the self-winding mechanism. This complex and efficient system converts the bidirectional motion of the rotor into a single-sided winding of the mainspring and creates a power reserve of up to 43 hours.

A look through the round sapphire crystal window in the square Tetra friction-fit caseback reveals signature Glashütte decorations, such as Nomos perlage on the mainplate, Glashütte ribbing on the bridges and the skeletonized rotor, tempered blue screws, and gold-enhanced engraving — including the individual movement registration number on every Nomos caliber. DUW stands for “NOMOS Glashütte Deutsche Uhrenwerke” and the manufacture spells this out in capital letters on the rotor of the DUW 3001 movement, which is adjusted in compliance with the chronometer standard. 

One question remained unanswered: Is it the square cases that house the thin, round automatic movements or is it the striking dials that cause each movement to tick a little bit differently? All rate results remained consistently within the self-imposed chronometer standards, even when we saw fluctuations into the minus range and sometimes close to the border area. For example, the DUW 3001 in the red Tetra gained 5.9 seconds when fully wound, while the movement in the black version lost 2.1 seconds. And after 24 hours of running time without additional winding, the same movement was running in the plus range with a daily gain of 2.8 seconds. The red Tetra proved itself in daily wear with a gain of 5.3 seconds on the wrist, while the black version had a minor deviation of only 1 second when worn.

Nomos is releasing the Tetra Neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte in a limited edition of only 175 pieces of each version (noted by the engraved number on each caseback) and has announced that each watch comes with a gift— a Nomos folding clasp is available at no additional cost, which fits on the highly polished, hand-oiled remborded strap made of Horween Genuine Shell Cordovan. However, we noted that threading the pin of the clasp into the solid leather strap may scratch the horse leather. Also, the loop of the clasp is not fixed in place and can slip over the simple folding clasp. It’s not a terrible thing, of course, but it can be a bit annoying if you’re putting the watch on in a hurry.

The leather for the strap is from a small area on the horse’s back, which cannot be reached by the horse’s teeth or tail. It is particularly thick and durable, so it takes a while for the strap to soften when worn — just as it may take some time to confidently wear a bright red or an intense blue watch in public. It’s certainly not for everyone.

To learn more about Nomos Glashütte, click here, and to subscribe to the WatchTime print magazine, click here.

Hardly any other brand stands for such a wide variety of models as Hublot. In addition to diverse materials and colors, this manufacture is now dedicating itself to form and is introducing a square watch. To what degree is the Square Bang a typical Hublot?

When Jean-Claude Biver set out in the 1980s to make the nearly forgotten Blancpain brand attractive again, he formulated a number of principles. One of them was that a Blancpain watch should always be round. Biver left Blancpain long ago, but to this day, those in charge there have upheld that precept of yesteryear.

Ricardo Guadalupe was one of Biver’s early and longtime comrades-in-arms. He was by Biver’s side at Blancpain and later went with him to Hublot. For the past 10 years, Guadalupe has led the brand as its CEO. He admits, “I like shaped watches. It was always a dream of mine to make a square watch one day. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible when I was at Blancpain.” Guadalupe proved that it is possible at Hublot a few years ago. In 2014, he launched the tonneau-shaped Spirit of Big Bang. There had previously been individual special models in nonround cases, but the Spirit was the first regular line in Hublot’s collection with a shaped case. “The success of the Spirit encouraged me to do the Square Bang,” Guadalupe says. “The Spirit currently makes up 15 percent of our sales. With the help of the Square Bang, in a few years our shaped watches could account for 25 or 30 percent of sales.”

That’s the inside view. But even from an out-of-house perspective, it makes sense for Hublot to break new ground when it comes to case shapes. After all, this brand stands for diversity. “Fusion” is the leitmotif that Biver articulated for Hublot when he joined the company in 2004. And fusion still applies today. Among other things, it can be translated in this context as the combination of very different materials in a single watch.

What began with the combination of a gold case and a rubber strap went on to become an incredible variety. The spectrum ranges from familiar materials, like stainless steel, titanium and carbon fiber, to Hublot’s own developments, such as scratch-resistant Magic Gold, which has 25 percent ceramic content. Hublot has even used materials such as concrete, denim and osmium for its watches. The brand has benefited from the fact that the classic Big Bang case consists of more than 70 individual parts.

But the brand’s disruptive design code can express itself in more than just materials and colors. Just a few years after Biver and Guadalupe reinvented Hublot, the brand released watches with complications in avant-garde cases, such as the spectacular MP05-La Ferrari with 11 barrels and a 50-day power reserve.

The Square Bang is the next step in bringing out Hublot’s expressive design, and specifically that of the Big Bang, into a new shape. There are not many square luxury watches on the market, where about 90 percent of the models are round. As a special configuration of the rectangle, the square is even rarer. Classics like the Cartier Santos or the TAG Heuer Monaco are exceptions to the rule. Thus, from the outset, the Square Bang targets an exclusive clientele — and that is surely not a mistake in an era when most people prefer to distinguish themselves from others.

Similar to the Spirit, the Square Bang clearly reveals that it’s derived from the round Big Bang. The ancestry is evident in the model’s name and still more obvious in its design. The case of the Square Bang consists of even more individual parts than that of the round Big Bang (there are exactly 81), and it is divided like a sandwich into an upper, middle and lower part, as well as the bezel, plus the “ears” attached to the sides. They can all be found on the Big Bang and the Spirit as well, and the same goes for the movement’s container, which is invisible from the outside and around which the case’s components are grouped.

The most typical Hublot feature, however, are the H-shaped screws. They are what really make a watch a Hublot. There are six of them on the bezel: one at the top and another at the bottom, plus two each on the sides. There are two more screws on each strap lug. Between these is the trapezoidal pusher, which lets you instantly detach the case from the strap and replace one wristband with another. The designers of the Square took all these elements from the Big Bang.

The crown is likewise from the Big Bang, while the square pushers are from the Spirit. Once again showing Hublot’s love of detail, the rubber inlay inside the buttons is divided into three small squares — an almost hidden allusion to the shape of the case, similar to the checkerboard pattern on the rubber strap, which is often lined on other Hublot watches.

Since Hublot stands for diversity, it’s no wonder that the Square Bang is available in as many as five different variations: Pure King Gold and Pure Titanium, each optionally with a black ceramic bezel, plus an All Black version in black ceramic. We chose the last-mentioned version for our test. As flashy and colorful as Hublot often appears, this brand was the first to release an all-black watch, which polarized opinion when it was introduced in 2006. Not only were the case, strap and dial black, but also the numerals and hands. Critics complained that the dial was difficult to read, but Biver countered by pointing out that reading the time is not important for a watch that costs more than 10,000 euros.

Hublot subsequently varied the all-black theme in every conceivable direction, and in 2009, also blackened the screws on the bezel, as well as the crown and the pushers, which still were steel or titanium-colored on the original model. The Big Bang Unico All Black, introduced in 2014, brought a bit more brightness back into play. Connoisseurs could peer through its starkly skeletonized dial and admire silver-gray hands rotating above steel movement parts.

The same was true for the Square Bang All Black. It’s a direct descendant of the Big Bang Unico All Black — and the sister of the Spirit of Big Bang Black Magic, so to speak. The watch’s exterior is completely black, i.e., the ceramic case including the screws, crown, pushers, bracelet and clasp. The larger surfaces of the case, which can also be seen from above, are satin finished and create a nice contrast to the polished flanks. These, in turn, are distinguished from the ears and the middle part of the case, which is made of black Kevlar composite. This design underscores the multifaceted styling of the case and assures that the Square Bang Unico All Black makes a very high-quality impression. This positive effect is confirmed by the watch’s good fit. For example, you don’t feel any transition at all when you slide your fingertip from the sapphire crystal to the bezel and back again. The strap length can be easily adjusted to fit any wrist. This is made possible by a total of 15 holes, two of which are connected to the clasp. Since the rubber strap is elastic, the retaining buttons can easily be pressed through the stretchy holes. The ends of the retaining buttons are widened, which prevents them from accidentally slipping out. This assures that the watch rests securely on your wrist at all times. The clasp can be opened easily by pressing two pushers.

In classic watchmaking, you would expect a shaped case to contain a similarly shaped manufacture movement. The Square Bang is indeed equipped with a manufacture movement, but it is round, not square. It is Caliber HUB1280, which is the second, slimmer and improved version of the Unico caliber that we reviewed extensively when we tested the Hublot Big Bang Integral Gray Ceramic in the December 2021 issue of WatchTime. Although you can see a large portion of the handsome movement from the outside, the fact that it isn’t round doesn’t bother us. The discrepancy is hardly noticeable when viewed from above because the movement is surrounded by the square minute track of the dial, leaving only four small corners. The 11 applied minute markers and the two subdials, one for the small seconds at 9 o’clock and one for the elapsed minutes at 3 o’clock, extend far into the movement, thus creating a pleasing impression of visual unity. Overall, there’s so much happening on the dial that there’s no distracting dissonance between the circle and the square.

Peering through the crystal above the dial, you can watch the chronograph caliber at work. When the stopwatch function is started and stopped, you can see how the column wheel at 6 o’clock advances one position at a time and how the intermediate wheel of the horizontal coupling between 7 and 8 o’clock moves alternately toward and away from the center again, which causes the chronograph’s elapsed second hand to begin running and to stop. Through the crystal in the back, you can see how the actuated pushers engage with the movement. There are few movements that let you understand a chronograph’s function so well.

But what about precision? Our measurement on a Witschi timing machine largely confirmed the stable rate of the same movement that we tested in our December 2021 issue of WatchTime. The daily rate was slightly faster, with a gain of 7.3 seconds in 24 hours. We were pleased to discover that the watch ran a bit more accurately on the wrist, where it gained only 5 seconds per day.

Has Hublot successfully squared the circle? Has the Square Bang managed to take on the DNA of the Big Bang and, by extension, also the DNA of the Hublot brand, while becoming a model in its own right that deserves a place in the collection? The answer is a simple yes. The Square Bang is a typical Hublot, and not only because it successfully adapts the round Big Bang to a square shape. This is a large and expressive watch, but it is also a timepiece with no coarseness whatsoever and with numerous harmonious details and all-around high-quality workmanship. This sporty watch is technically state of-the-art, which fully justifies its price of $26,200. And last but not least, it makes a statement on your wrist. The Square Bang Unico All Black is not made to cater to every taste, so it will always retain a high degree of exclusivity. 

To learn more about Hublot, click here, and to subscribe to the WatchTime print magazine, click here.    

Assuming the familiar silhouette, the exterior is a rounded-edge square with a round bezel situated within it. With dimensions of 42mm by 42mm, each of the four corners of the square case is secured with a bronze screw. Opting for a bronze exterior, Bell & Ross is playing into the quality of the material that causes it to develop a patina with use, giving it a dynamic appearance that changes over time. Its tone is visually reminiscent of the classic fittings used on classic yachts and sailboats, further hinting at its aquatic identity. The unidirectional polished bronze bezel is made complete with a brown aluminum ring. On the reverse, the steel case back is engraved with an old-fashioned scuba helmet, completing the case, which is water resistant to 300 meters. 

Softening the appearance of the robust bronze case is the opaline silver dial within it. Situated atop of the smooth, pearly background are applied rose-gold indices with luminescent inserts. The hour, minute, and seconds hands are all gold plated and sport a skeletonized design. All three hands, like the hour markers, are filled with Super-LimaNova® to ensure legibility even in low light conditions, like the depths of the ocean. Adding another layer of functionality to the watch, there is a small date window between the 4 and 5 o’clock hour markers that mimics the round shape of the indices. 

Powering the new dive model is the automatic caliber BR-CAL.302. It is a commonly used mechanism for Bell & Ross, one that is based on the ​​Sellita SW300-1 a. Offering a power reserve of 38 hours, the watch beats at a rate of 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz). 

The Bell & Ross BR 03-92 Diver White Bronze is available in a limited edition of 999 pieces with pricing marked at $4,700. It is presented on a brown calfskin leather and woven black rubber strap. 

To learn more, visit Bell & Ross here.

The case silhouette of the Maestro 9.0 Tourbillon is one that has become characteristic of the collection, with playful asymmetry, a rippled bezel, and a “smile” at 6 o’clock. For this newest iteration, the steel case has synergized dimensions of 39mm x 41.7mm x 9.37mm, eschewing traditional straight lines and facets for a signature Gerald Charles look. At 3 o’clock is a robust steel screw-down crown with Clous de Paris finishing and an embossed logo, helping ensure the watch as water resistant up to 100m.

In addition to the Maestro 9.0 Tourbillon base model, Gerald Charles is also offering two glimmering Gem-Set limited editions, one with a white gold bezel set with 66 diamonds (ref. GC9.0-A-WG-DIA) and the other with a white gold bezel set with 66 blue sapphires (ref. GC9.0-A-WG-SAPH). These models will be highly limited in production, with each example decorated by the master gem setters of Salanitro Geneva.

The radiant royal blue dial of the latest Maestro is signature of the brand, bringing a rich design history into its contemporary designs. With a brilliant sunburst finish, the main focal point of the display is in its flying tourbillon at the 6 o’clock position, the detail itself featuring a running 60-seconds indication. Visible through the open-heart display of the tourbillon is an 18-karat yellow gold bridge, bringing a warm tone to the otherwise cool palette of the watch. The geometric hands and indices match the cool tone of the steel case and are filled with Super-LumiNova® to enhance legibility. 

Powering this contemporary design is the caliber GCA 3024/12 with an automatic flying tourbillon. Beating at 28,800 vph, it is capable of 50 hours of reserved power and is reinforced by a proprietary anti-shock design. Visible through the exhibition caseback is a 22-karat rose gold oscillating weight decorated with a striking honeycomb motif, which was originally conceived for the Maestro 8.0 Squelette in 2022 and is now updated for the new tourbillon.

Behind the rotor, the exclusive mechanism features bespoke bridge designs decorated with a special vertical Côtes de Genève pattern developed by Octavio Garcia, with their style inspired by the world of tailoring, courtesy of Mr. Genta’s Italian heritage. The plates and bridges of the movement all feature delicate aesthetic refinements, including diamond-polished anglage that gently reflects the light and help build the watch’s sense of mechanical theatre. With a thickness of 4.87mm, the caliber combines optimized mechanics with detailed finishing to create an impressive contemporary timepiece.

Production of the Gerald Charles Maestro 9.0 Tourbillon will be limited to 50 pieces for the steel edition with pricing marked at $95,800 USD. 10 pieces each of the diamond-set bezel and sapphire-set bezel iterations will also be produced, with pricing for these available upon request.

To learn more, visit Gerald Charles, here.

In 1962, the story goes, Marilyn Monroe gave John F. Kennedy a birthday gift: a gold Rolex with the inscription “Jack, With love as always, from Marilyn, May 29th, 1962.” The president was anything but grateful. Knowing that the watch would be seen as evidence of an intimate relationship with the actress, he gave it to an aide, Kenneth O’Donnell, along with a note instructing him to “get rid of” it. In 2005, the watch, the antique box containing it and a love poem Monroe had placed in the box sold at auction for $120,000. As many watch fans know, presidential history is loaded with horological tidbits like this. 

When George Washington wanted a new watch in 1788, he wrote to his fellow Founding Father Gouverneur Morris, asking him to buy one for him in Paris. Morris, who would become U.S. minister to France three years later, was making a business trip there. Washington asked for a simple, gold watch of good quality, similar to the big, slender one that Thomas Jefferson had gotten for James Madison. He sent Morris 25 guineas, saying he would pay more if necessary (according to the book Jean-Antoine Lépine, Horloger by Adolphe Chapiro). Three months later, Morris wrote Washington from Paris that Jefferson had warned him against the maker of Madison’s watch, claiming he was a crook. Jefferson instead recommended that Morris go to another watchmaker, named Romilly. Sadly, Romilly turned out to be a bad apple, too, Morris explained to Washington. Morris then asked a merchant for yet another recommendation and was given the name of a watchmaker named Gregson. He was no better than the first two. Finally, Morris sound success when he visited Jean-Antoine Lépine, watchmaker to King Louis XVI and one of the greatest watchmakers to ever live. He bought two identical watches from Lépine, one for Washington and one for himself. They were large, simple, key-wound watches with virgule escapements. Washington’s was numbered 5,378 and remained in his family’s possession until 1935. The watch’s cuvette is engraved with the inscription “Remontez à droite/Tournez les Equilles/Lepine Hger du Roy/A Paris.”

George Washington owned another watch, one he gave to Colonel Thomas Johnson, the first governor of Maryland, elected in February 1777. The watch does not have any visible marks identifying its maker, but it does have the symbol of the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The watch bears the inscription, “Trenton N.J./Dec. 10th 1777/Presented to my Friend/Col. Thos. Johnson of Md./as a Memento/of my great Esteem/Geo. Washington.”

Abraham Lincoln wore a Waltham watch, the same model worn by many Civil War soldiers. It was called the “Wm. Ellery,” named for a member of the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence. The watch bears the serial number 67613 and was made in 1863. The Ellery, which was inexpensive and sturdy, was extremely popular during the war. In 1865, the year the war ended, nearly half the watches Waltham sold were Ellery models. It’s interesting to note that Lincoln’s choice of an American-made watch (from a Union state, of course: Waltham was based in Waltham, Massachusetts) was not merely a matter of patriotism. The Civil War marked the beginning of an era in which American watch companies were the envy of the Swiss. Because American manufacturers had so effectively mastered mass-production techniques, the watches they made were not only less expensive than those of the vaunted Swiss companies, they were more precise.

We don’t know which watch former president Ulysses S. Grant wore, but we know he didn’t wear it for long. In 1857, at age 35, when he was trying with limited success to earn a living as a farmer near St. Louis, he pawned the watch for $22. One of his biographers thinks he might have done so to buy Christmas presents for his wife and three children.

Fourteen U.S. presidents have been Freemasons and at least one of them, Warren G. Harding, had a watch to prove it. He carried a so-called “Masonic watch,” a particular type of watch in which Masonic symbols, such as an hourglass, a compass, and a masons’ square, were used as hour markers. Masonic watches — both pocket watches and wristwatches — had cases in the shape of another Masonic symbol, the equilateral triangle. These watches always incorporated a picture of the Masonic All-Seeing Eye or Eye of Providence. On the Harding watch, the eye is on the watch’s caseback, along with a picture of King Solomon’s Temple. The case is marked “Hiram Watch Inc., 14K, No. 145” and the movement is signed by Waltham. Hiram Watch Inc. was named for Hiram Abiff, the central figure in Masonic legend. He was the master mason who directed the building of Solomon’s Temple and who valiantly refused to reveal the secrets of advanced masonry to the three undeserving, novice masons who demanded them from him. The watch also bears the words “Swiss HALLMARK/15 jewel movement/Ser. #3364074.” Harding became a Mason in 1920, the same year he was elected to the presidency in a landslide.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt wore a calendar wristwatch with the name “Tiffany & Co.” on the dial and a Movado movement inside. He also owned a minute-repeater pocket watch from Geneva-based A. Frankfeld company. The watch is elaborately engraved with FDR’s initials and its lid bears the inscription “Presented to/President Roosevelt/by/Dr. Boldan/Former Minister of Education/at Dinner of/Lions Club of Havana on/January 30, 1942.”

Right after World War II, when he was stationed in Germany, Dwight D. Eisenhower bought a steel Heuer chronograph wristwatch with 30-minute and 12-hour counters. (Heuer, a specialist in chronographs, was the precursor of today’s TAG Heuer). Eisenhower also wore a Rolex Datejust. Some Rolex fans say the Rolex company in Geneva gave Eisenhower a second watch, a Day-Date model, in honor of his re-election in 1956 (Rolex launched the Day-Date that year). According to them, the Day-Date became known as the “President” because of the Eisenhower connection. This watch also inspired the creation of a modern-day men’s collection from Tiffany, the Tiffany CT60; you can read about it here.

Down-to-earth Harry S. Truman wasn’t into fashion trends, except, apparently, when it came to watches. During the 23-day Potsdam Conference convened in the summer of 1945 to determine the future of Germany, Truman wore the most popular chronograph of the time, a Universal Genève Tri-Compax that had been released only one year prior. The watch had so many admirers thanks in part to its very complicated, but elegant, styling. There were three chronograph sub-dials (the source of the watch’s name) and a moon phase-with-calendar display at 12 o’clock. Truman had a gold version of the watch. Truman also owned a Flying Officer’s Chronograph made by the Swiss firm Gallet. The watch, which had a rotating bezel enabling the wearer to read the time in time zones around the world, was given to him in 1939 by two members of his senatorial staff.

Being vice president does have its rewards. When Richard Nixon held that job, he gave a speech to the National Association of Watch and Clock Makers and received a Vulcain Cricket as a thank-you gift. The watch is widely acknowledged to be the first wristwatch with an alarm loud enough to wake someone up. In 1960, the year he first ran for president, Nixon wrote a note to Vulcain, saying of the watch, “It has given excellent service over the past five years and has served as my alarm clock around the world.”

When he took the oath of office on January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy wore an Omega Ultra Thin (ref. OT3980) given to him by Florida senator Grant Stockdale. The caseback bore the inscription “President of the United States John F. Kennedy from his friend Grant.” Stockdale was clearly an optimist: he had given Kennedy the watch the summer prior, months before Kennedy’s hairs-breadth win in November. In December 2005, the Omega Museum, in Bienne, Switzerland, bought the watch at auction for $420,000. Jacqueline Kennedy wrote a letter to Stockdale thanking him for the gift and graciously describing it as “nicer than the watch I gave him.” We don’t know what watch she was referring to, but Jacqueline Kennedy did give her husband a Louis Cartier Tank watch on their fourth wedding anniversary in 1957. The President was wearing this watch when he was assassinated in 1963. Kennedy received at least one other notable gift watch: a Hamilton given him in 1962 by then governor of Pennsylvania David Lawrence. The watch’s dial bore photo-engraved pictures of Kennedy’s children, Caroline and John.

Lyndon Baines Johnson also owned a Vulcain Cricket, as did both Truman and Eisenhower; Vulcain presented a Cricket to each of them. Johnson wore his in a 1964 photo on the cover of Newsweek and wrote a note to Vulcain’s president thanking him for the watch. “I value it highly and feel somewhat less than dressed without it,” he said. Johnson also liked Rolex watches, specifically the Day-Date model nicknamed the “President” supposedly because of Johnson’s affection for it (although some experts say the watch was so named because Rolex gave a Day-Date to Eisenhower when he was in office; see above). LBJ also had a habit of gifting Rolex watches to his friends. In 1973 he gave a gold Rolex to his cardiologist J. Willis Hurst, who had cared for him following his 1955 heart attack. Perhaps knowing that he would soon die, and therefore in a hurry to give Hurst the gift, Johnson instructed Hurst to take the watch to a jeweler himself and have the engraving done. The inscription was to read “To JWH/Love LBJ,” Johnson told Hurst. Embarrassed to make such a request, Hurst demurred, and Johnson wrote a letter to the store asking for the inscription. He died soon afterward.

If you’d like to learn more about the Vulcain Cricket, why it stood above the other timepieces worn by U.S. Presidents and the Vulcain Cricket ’50s President Watch, read this article.

Gerald Ford was in office during the digital-watch craze, which reached its full frenzy in the mid-1970s. Fittingly, he wore a digital: a Hamilton Pulsar (the Pulsar brand is now owned by Seiko). In a photo in the Washington Post, he is shown wearing the watch during the 1974 Congressional hearings on his pardon of Richard Nixon. Hamilton had introduced the Pulsar, the world’s first digital watch, in 1972, and an army of celebrities and politicians, Ford included, found the high-tech gadget irresistible. Ford was so fond of his Pulsar that, when the brand came out with a souped-up, calculator version of the watch, he asked his wife Betty to get him one for Christmas of 1974. She declined, saying its price, $4,000, was too high.

George Herbert Walker Bush may very well have been done in by his watch. In one of the most famous incidents in watch history, Bush dealt his re-election bid a blow when, during a televised debate with Bill Clinton and Ross Perot on Oct. 15, 1992, he twice glanced at his watch as if he were bored with the proceedings and had somewhere more important to be. Asked about it years later during an interview on TV, Bush confirmed that he was, if not bored, at least impatient for the debate to end. “Was I glad the damn thing was over?” he asked, rhetorically, in self-defense. As the debate was ending, he was thinking to himself, “Only 10 more minutes and I’ll be done with this crap,” he told his interviewer.

Since Bill Clinton left the White House he’s become an absolute watch hound. He’s been known to wear a Panerai PAM89 GMT, a Franck Muller, a Roger Dubuis MuchMore, a Kobold Seal, and a gold Cartier Ballon Bleu. The Swiss watch company Quinting has a photo of Clinton on its website wearing the brand’s Dove of Geneva watch. Quinting apparently gave a Dove of Geneva not just to Clinton, but also to four former presidents of Switzerland and a president of Algeria. Clinton wasn’t always a watch man, though. During his presidential campaign and the early years of his presidency, Clinton wore but one watch: a humble Timex Ironman Triathlon. He drew criticism for his loyalty: Gene Weingarten, a columnist for the Washington Post, described the Timex derisively as “a plastic digital watch, thick as a brick and handsome as a hernia.” Before and after the 1992 election, Omega ran advertisements suggesting Clinton should give up the Timex in favor of something more expensive, and he finally did. In 1994, the 50th anniversary of D-Day, Clinton attended the commemoration in France and was given an analog watch with a leather strap from the French watch company Lip.

George W. Bush’s taste for the straightforward and intellectually accessible extended to watches as well. During his campaign, and perhaps afterward, he wore a Timex i-Control alarm watch, which Timex billed as “the world’s easiest to use alarm watch.” (He no doubt liked it also because of his famous concern with promptness.) To set the alarm, the wearer need only turn the bezel to the desired time and pull out a crown at 4 o’clock. We don’t know what watch it was that mysteriously disappeared from Bush’s wrist when he was shaking hands with admirers in Albania in June 2007. At the time, some suggested the watch had been stolen, but the White House said Bush had merely put the watch in his pocket so it would not fall off amid the crush of people.

During his campaign, Barack Obama often wore a TAG Heuer white-dial, quartz model from the Series 1500. (This is according to TAG Heuer aficionado Jeff Stein, who has examined many photos of Obama wearing the watch.)

In the summer of 2007, Obama started wearing a large Jorg Gray chronograph with a black dial given to him on his birthday (Aug. 4) by three members of his Secret Service detail. The watch bears the Secret Service seal. It was most likely this watch that fell off of Obama’s wrist during his Oct. 29, 2007 appearance on the “Ellen” show starring Ellen DeGeneres, an appearance in which he also demonstrated his dancing skills. The accident occurred when Obama punched a pink punching bag that was meant to symbolize breast cancer. Obama quickly picked the watch up and put it in his pocket. In March 2015, Obama doffed the Jorg Gray chronograph and started to wear a Fitbit Surge instead, according to London’s Daily Mail. In his post-president life, he’s been spotted wearing a Rolex Cellini.

The 45th president, Donald J. Trump has been associated on-and-off with luxury timepieces for years. At one point, he even lent his name to a series of quartz watches. The biggest horological story involving Trump, however, goes back to February 24, 1999, when Antiquorum and Tourneau hosted a “Famous Faces” auction in New York City. The idea was that celebrities would donate one of their watches and anybody interested in a piece of horological and pop culture memorabilia could bid on them. Judging by the cover of the original catalog (below), there was a wide variety of actors, comedians, talk show hosts, and musicians involved. Among them are Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jerry Seinfeld, Leonardo DiCaprio, Whoopi Goldberg, and Dustin Hoffman. However, that day, Trump was after something a little more “presidential.” He ended up bidding and winning a Colibri wristwatch that was owned by former actor-turned-president Ronald Reagan for $7,000. During that same auction, Trump also donated a yellow gold Universal Genève Senna Chronograph. You can check out the full results of that auction here.

Joining our list is the 46th and current president of the United States, Joe Biden. Perhaps more so than any of his predecessors, his numerous public engagements over the past few years have revealed that Biden is quite the watch collector. On the day of his inauguration, Biden debuted a Rolex Datejust that entered his collection just in time for his presidency. The 41mm steel model has a smooth bezel and a blue sunray dial. The Datejust was an thoughtful choice for his Inauguration Day, surely the watch-savvy president could have splurged on a true gold “President” watch like LBJ’s, but instead Biden took an understated route, maintaining his reputation as a kind of everyman. 

During the bulk of his campaign, Biden could be seen wearing a two-tone Seiko 7T32-6M90 Chronograph. It is an understated quartz-powered chronograph with an alarm function. This watch also frequented the Biden’s wrist in his days as vice president. Among the most famous watches in American history is the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch, which finds itself in office for the first time on Biden’s wrist. The president was 27 years old when Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon accompanied by their Speedmasters, paying tribute to them now with an undeniable symbol of the country’s achievements. Though his collection of sports watches is expansive, Biden also occasionally swaps out a steel watch for an Apple Watch. When utility is at the forefront, the president always has his trusty smartwatch to rely on.