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The Cartier Crash has been the world’s hottest watch for the last few years now. It kicked off 2022 with a million-dollar-plus auction and kept showing up on Tyler, the Creator (and many other celebrities).
Now, the Cartier Pebble seems to be following in the shape-shifting Crash’s footsteps. The Pebble (or “Baseball”) has, like the Crash, vastly exceeded expectations at auction over the past couple of years. As far back as the summer of 2021, different versions of the Pebble have brought in $250,000, $290,000, and $405,000, blowing way past their presale estimates. Cartier claims only six pieces of the watch were originally produced (which makes it odd to see so many trading hands in a relatively short period of time). Luckily, the brand quietly reissued 150 more Pebbles last year.
Tyler, the Creator was, meanwhile, one of the lucky collectors to get a Pebble. Over the past couple of years, Tyler has become a prolific Cartier collector, popping up at an auction house’s dedicated Cartier sale in Monaco and on John Goldberger’s Instagram account. “I based a lot of my watch taste just off of how light it feels and how it could be colorful, too,” he told Robb Report last year. “I’ve seen some Rolexes, vintage ones, I really like, but aside from that, I’m just OK with the Cartiers. They bring me joy.”
The Pebble is a worthy successor to the aesthetically-exceptional Crash, with its own unprecedented design. The round shape of the case isn’t novel, but the ability to rotate a dial to give it a diamond shape makes the watch unlike anything else on the market. That made the piece a perfect addition to Tyler’s collection.
The history of the Day-Date is much more experimental than you’d think, given the watch’s prestige. Just this year, the brand released versions of this watch with a jigsaw puzzle dial and others made out of precious stones. Bad Bunny’s is a piece from the late ‘70s that features a dial made out of WOOD! Wood is always a marker of luxury—think of beautiful mahogany cabinets or the sultry wood dashboard in a vintage Mercedes Benz. Why wouldn’t it also work for watches?
For one of the most iconic watches in the industry, you really don’t see the Omega Speedmaster on enough celebrities. This NASA-approved watch went to the moon—what more do these people want?
Another question: Did Theroux suddenly become a watch nerd for a week? After years of wearing his gold Rolex Submariner almost exclusively, he diversified his wrist wear in some exciting ways the last few days. He also wore the brand-new IWC Ingenieur, fresh off its debut at Watches & Wonders.
The two-time MVP wears a two-tone watch. The Rolex GMT has come in many fun variations over the years—2022’s green-and-black Sprite and this year’s black-on-gray, for example—and Jokic’s is an all-timer. While arguably not as iconic as the OG red-and-blue Pepsi dial, the black-and-blue Batman is next in line for the GMT throne.
Jacob Elordi’s Tag Heuer Carrera
A lot of people find style inspiration from movies: remember how everyone got a leather jacket after Uncut Gems? And now that summer’s coming up I’m sure the looks from The Talented Mr. Ripley will resume its chokehold on men across the world. What I didn’t envision was Super Mario Bros. having this immediate an impact on the newly mustachioed Jacob Elordi, who looks like he just emerged from a giant pipe. But what Mario doesn’t have is this newly released Carrera Glassbox. The watch uses a neat doming technique around its edge to magnify the numerals. It eliminates the need for a bezel and makes the watch look very svelte. Now, if only it could shoot fireballs…