Kanye West loves watches. Also, he kind of hates the fact that he loves watches. Take “All Falls Down” from his debut album, 2004’s The College Dropout: “Man, I promise, I’m so self-conscious,” he raps. “That’s why you always see me with at least one of my watches. Rollies and Pashas done drove me crazy.” While West embodies the extravagant consumerism of hip hop in his lyrics, persona and star-studded watch collection, it’s always tempered with an awareness that his obsession may stem from a lack of confidence.
Still, his taste in timepieces is telling. Sometimes it reflects his aesthetic of the moment; other times it’s simply an expression of his offbeat and singular sensibility.
In short, he often likes to mess with you.
When West released The College Dropout, his image was defined by a colourful preppy sensibility, and the “Rollies and Pashas” of “All Falls Down” both tap into and push against that vibe. Rolexes dovetail nicely with The College Dropout style, while a love of the big, round Cartier Pasha is an altogether different proposition. Originally a one-off design for the Pasha of Marrakesh, Thami El Glaoui, dating back to 1931, it was revived by the house in 1985. Alongside the Breitling Chronomat and the Piaget Polo, the Cartier Pasha became one of a new generation of big, bold watches that were the reason why suit sleeves were pushed up to the elbow in the 1980s. In 2004, the Pasha was simply not on the radar of neither rappers nor watch connoisseurs. It was a hell of a curveball.
Straight after The College Dropout came the “stadium rap” of Late Registration, when, despite having every resource at his disposal, West chose to wear a succession of Casio G-Shock watches in gaudy colours, including a famous bright pink model for the cover of Complex magazine. This big, bold, colourful watch was all of a piece with the bright lights and pyrotechnics of a stadium tour. Similarly, the musical and aesthetic volte-face that was the 808s & Heartbreak album saw West wearing a yellow-gold Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Skeleton Perpetual Calendar with sharply tailored jackets. In the same way, the baroque opulence of his collaboration with Jay-Z for the Watch The Throne album was symbolised by an Everose gold Rolex Daytona on a rubber strap, which can be seen in the video for “Otis”.
Today, Kanye rarely raps about or even wears watches, but when he does, he has a knack for pre-empting new directions in watch collecting. Most recently, there was the Cartier Crash he wore while being interviewed by David Letterman in 2019 for the Netflix show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. At this point, rich and famous men were rarely seen without their Hublots, Rolexes and Richard Milles, so a watch as peculiar and surreal as the Crash, which resembles a dripping clock in a Salvador Dalí painting, was notably individual. Along with the rest of Cartier’s storied back catalogue, the Crash is now one of the world’s true, connoisseur watches.
In 2021, it’s West’s debut collection for Gap that his fans are waiting for rather than a new album. What new design aesthetic will it usher in? And, perhaps, just as important for readers of this column, what’ll be on his wrist? Because whatever demons he’s battling, Kanye West remains one of the world’s most original and fascinating collectors.
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