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By Cam Wolf
LeBron James is the kind of player who makes our current basketball era imaginable without a position. It’s an incredibly balanced superstar who can do anything. No one understands the importance of a balanced technique like James: he scores whenever he wants, takes away the historical blockages pursued when he is called, and throws him into the corner when an open guy waits. This philosophy is also evident in his watch collection. While other people who can do so chase a brand or type of watch (or infrequently a bachelor style!), James has an arsenal of portions for each and every occasion. LeBron is a style collector, the guy with a watch for each and every situation. While almost no one can buy the precise watches James puts on his wrist, following his style is a winning recipe. With the return of the NBA (and LeBron), we couldn’t resist exploring the star watch collection that has brought together the sport’s most productive active player.
Each collection wants a smart base and there’s no watch more coveted than James’ Nautilus. Designed in the mid-1970s, the Nautilus was Patek Philippe’s access to the world of unsaturated watches. Originally made of stainless metal to cope with the hustle and bustle of life, the Nautilus was a huge flexor with a watch that matched as well with a T-shirt as it was with a tuxedo. James understands bending: his Nautilus is gold and (unlike the one seen here) is set with diamonds.
No high-powered athlete in 2020 is complete without a matching high-powered sports watch. But before Richard Mille took the stage, sports watches looked a lot like an ordinary watch: the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso with a case that turns into a metal helmet was made for the polo shirt, the Rolex Daytona and Omega Speedmaster were built for racing. But Richard Mille watches reinvent everything from elastics to the moves designed for the herbal jolts of running or playing tennis, golf and even football. The RM 11-03 is the most popular in the Richard Mille range, a racing watch like no other with a dial that even looks like the dashboard of an area vehicle.
There is little greater approval for Richard Mille than the fact that basically each and every celebrity who gets one end up with another and another. LeBron returned to RM 11-03 in another color. The TPT quartz curtains that make up the case of this watch edition can be injected into other colors to create the look of the sweet shell on this sapphire watch. It is named after Jean Todt, former racing engine and former Ferrari CEO.
LeBron James’ schedule does not cover all NBA games and pre-game tunnels. He is expected to attend awards ceremonies, elegant dinners with small gougeres worn on sets and more galas than a functioning U.S. senator. For God’s sake, even your normal Taco Tuesday wants some spice. For this, it has the Patek Philippe 6102R, which turns out to be one of the most amazing dress watches out there. Simply put, the clock follows what’s happening about us in the night sky. The dial manages to hint at the trend of the sky stars observed from the northern hemisphere, but also keeps a record of the moon’s stages when it rotates around the dial.
Last week, James captioned a photo of his shoe collection: “Light Day at Baskin-Robbins,” referring to the abundance of 31 flavors. Observing the wide diversity of existing Day-Date watches inspires the same feel: it’s set with opulent diamonds, colored dials, rose gold and platinum, or Arabic numerals on the dial. The clock is known as the president, an arrangement that has existed since Lyndon B. Johnson put it into effect, but on James’ wrist, he looks more like the king.
For most people, a watch becomes theirs over time. Maybe it’s an engraving on the back of the case or a blow after making a ferocious overturn and hitting the clock on the edge. (Only ‘Bron?) James is a guy used to making pieces just for himself: his exclusive shoes or this Royal Oak Offshore collaboration presented with Audemars Piguet in 2013. Unlike many collaborations from athlete brands, the result here is to provide the colors of any of James’ groups or any other reference touch in basketball. The mixture of gray and rose gold is unusual, the kind of color you only get when you take photos.
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