We usually hear Drake brag about what’s new in his life—the house, the cars, the money, the private jets, and the women—but more than a year has passed since he first boasted that “Vigil [Abloh] got that Patek on my wrist goin’ nuts” on “Life Is Good,” and Drake is still talking about it and wearing it in his most high-profile appearances. That tells you how special the watch is, and now it’s the subject of a new bar on the first track off Drake’s just-released EP Scary Hours 2, “What’s Next”: “Yeah, I got one, Virgil got one and that there is the only two.” Drake’s also wearing the piece in the song’s video. The line includes a smidge of breaking news, too: what we assumed was a one-of-one watch belonging to Drake and only Drake is actually a one-of-two. Abloh used the new track as an excuse to show off a couple of detail shots of the watch in all its gleaming glory on Instagram.
In fact, much of Scary Hours 2 sounds like an audio application for RedBar Group, the global timepiece enthusiast club. “Wants and Needs” includes another reference to watches that goes, “Forty-two millimeter, was made in Geneva.” (This is probably not about the Nautilus, which is typically 40mm.) And on “Lemon Pepper Freestyle,” he raps: “Watch on my wrist never showed me crunch time/’Cause I ain’t never let it come to that one time.” We get it, Drake, you like watches! Some other watch lovers this week include LeBron James, who has one of the new Rolex pieces, and James Harden, who continues to put numbers up on and off the court.
Drake’s Patek Philippe Nautilus Customized by Virgil Abloh
If there’s any one watch worth bragging about on multiple songs, it’s this bejeweled Nautilus. The watch was designed by Abloh and then brought to life by the customizers MAD Paris, who are best known for their blacked-out watch treatments. This Nautilus 5726 with an annual calendar and moon phase complication is completely slimed out in emeralds.
LeBron James’s Rolex Oyster Perpetual
Of course LeBron James has the new Rolex Oyster Perpetual. First announced last September, the colorful new models stole the show from the revamped Submariner. James’s “coral” dial is one of the most beloved out of the lineup of options. The watch, like most Rolex pieces, is predictably impossible to buy from a dealer and prices on the secondary market have floated up to nearly $14,000 even though it retails for “only” $5,900.
The new OPs are a revival of what are known as Stella-dial Rolex watches. In the ‘70s, Rolex released a whole fleet of dials in similarly vivacious colors and labeled them as “Lacquered Stella” dials. The watches were made in limited numbers and not particularly beloved at the time, so you can guess what happened next. These pieces, now considered rare, are highly collectible.
Scott Disick’s Rolex GMT-Master II
The Rolex GMT-Master is most famously associated with its two-tone bezel that inspires a range of fun nicknames: the blue-and-red Pepsi, the black-and-blue Batman, or the brown-and-black Root Beer. However, Rolex does make some flashy versions of its iconic dual-time zone watch like Flea’s gold model and Scott Disick’s completely blinding one. And just because it’s not two-tone doesn’t mean it doesn’t get a great nickname. Fittingly, Disick’s version of the watch is known as the GMT “Ice,” which is very… cool.
Rolex doesn’t typically bling out its most iconic pieces and this is a very rare edition of the GMT. The watch reportedly cost $485,350 at retail when it debuted in 2007, which made it the most expensive watch Rolex ever released. Naturally, Disick has worn this piece nonstop over the past couple of weeks.
James Harden’s Audemars Piguet openworked Royal Oak and Patek Philippe Nautilus