“What's interesting about watches is you have wealthy people versus actual collectors, who aren’t necessarily wealthy but through time have collected what are now huge investment pieces,” says Loulou Bontemps, Guy Ritchie’s go-to costume designer. “These watches essentially get passed down through the family, so we played with that idea in The Gentlemen.”
The Gentlemen is an eight-part Netflix drama riffing off Ritchie’s 2019 pithy film of the same name that delves into the chaos that ensues when aristocrats, gangsters, travellers and crazy Scouse drug dealers try to do business together. While the characters’ lives are worlds apart, one similarity unites them: watches define status.
The majority of the characters are noticeably rocking wristwear throughout – most are real but there are a few fakes, too. And in the case of any empty wrists – like loyal groundsman Geoff played by Vinnie Jones – the lack of a watch speaks to a classism that the show feeds off; if you’re not from money, you’re unlikely to inherit a watch.
Inheritance provides the framework of the show. It opens with ‘His Lordship’ (owner of Halstead Manor) on his deathbed wearing a vintage early ’60s Omega Constellation. When his will is read out, older brother and absolute dingbat Freddie (Daniel Ings) assumes he’s in line to inherit everything. But in a twist of fate, the much more competent younger brother, Eddie (Theo James) gets the call up to run the estate – and with it the majority of their father’s possessions.
“Constellations like that don't retail at anything more than £2,000 but it was his [Lordship’s] favourite everyday watch,” says Bontemps. “And actually, Freddy inherits that one. It's a bit of a dig at Freddie because now he's been snubbed because he's an epic failure. If he's gonna get anything, he'll get this £2000 pound watch. Whereas Eddie gets the watches that are worth an absolute fortune.”
When we first meet Eddie, he’s on military duty so it’s fitting a simple Bremont military watch is on his wrist. But as soon as his fortunes change so does his watch. The next time we see him he is wearing a rose gold Patek Philippe Nautilus ref 5990. “Now he's becoming a gentleman gangster, we gave him three different watches [including a Panerai Luminor] that he could play around with throughout the rest of the show,” says Bontemps. “The Patek is the kind of watch that is purchased once and gets passed down through the family, or is locked in a safe because they do tend to increase in value.”
Throughout The Gentlemen, Bontemps says she used watches to provide important clues about each character, from how trustworthy they are to their class and background. Henry Collins, one of London’s most successful (read: dodgy) boxing promoters, wears a slightly trashy, very showy but ultimately beautiful gold Rolex Daytona. Gangster bonafide Bobby Glass (Ray Winstone) wears a Bremont ALT1 – a nod to his great British pride – while his daughter Susie (Kaya Scodelario) is spotted with a Cartier Tank, creating an air of class and elegance that conceals her true identity.
Sticky Pete, an acquaintance of Freddie’s, is a liar and a gambler. “He's the kind of person who bets away all his inherited money, so would never be able to go and spend £10k on a watch,” says Bontemps. With that in mind, he’s seen wearing fake Patek and Rolex-looking watches – “something that is pretending to be a £250,000 watch but is actually knock off.”
It begs the question though, where were all these watches sourced?
“Doing the basic maths, we have at least six million pounds worth of watches in the show, which were all loaned out,” says Bontemps. “Just to know that and to have that attention to detail is really good fun.”
“It’s great that The Gentlemen’s costume team actually wanted to showcase real watches as so many films and TV programmes go down the route of using source props,” says Nick Tolfree from Suite Nine, specialists in pre owned watches, where Bontemps loaned the majority of the show’s watches.
“It’s a sign of the times, because people are so much more aware of watches now and can recognise particular pieces,” adds Suite Nine’s Warren Feather. “So if you want to depict wealth and status in a show, often the best way is to have a heavy emphasis on costume design – but that can’t be let down by a plastic gold watch.”
When asked by The Gentlemen’s costume team to put forward options, Suite Nine presented over 100 watches and were pleasantly surprised by what interested them, and what was ultimately chosen to feature on the wrists of actors. “They were definitely looking for more unique items,” says Feather, admitting it was a shame they didn’t go for a unique Harry Winston, which is “exactly the kind of watch you’d find some owner of stately homes randomly picked up for himself.”
It was with Uncle Stan (an American East Coast billionaire played by Giancarlo Esposito) that Suite Nine and Bontemps had the most fun. “He has the balls and the confidence to wear watches that someone like Eddie would never wear,” says Bontemps. With a penchant for velvet suits and brash shows of wealth, he also has by far the most surprising collection of watches. “Uncle Stan has a whole room dedicated to a multitude of watches, whereas Eddie inherited his so we were playing with this old money versus new money conversation,” says Bontemps. Early in the show, he is seen boasting about wearing the grailest of grail Patek Philippes – a ref. 1518 perpetual calendar which in 2016 sold for £9m IRL. Then he’s spotted in a beautiful FP Journe Chronometré Souverain worth £65,000, and later a rare and flamboyant white gold Girard-Perregaux x Ferrari Chronograph is on his wrist.
In total, Bontemps reckons she and Ritchie spent a whole week talking about watches to decide what everyone was going to wear. In particular they wanted to convey the monetary value attached to them. “The conversational provenance and how the price point of a watch changes just because someone like Elizabeth Taylor or Cary Grant wore a timepiece really interested Guy,” adds Bontemps. “It adds millions to the value of it, which is what’s crazy but wonderfully fascinating about watches.”
