Stacking watches is officially celeb-approved: from Kylie Jenner’s duelling Cartier Panthère and Baignoire, to Serena Williams doubling up on the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak
- Before Hollywood got in on the stacked-watch trend, Cuban leader Fidel Castro famously wore a Rolex Submariner paired with a second timepiece
- We hear from fans including Brynn Wallner of Dimepiece and Kate Lacey, a London-based vintage watch expert and owner of The Shrew Shop
It’s also conclusive evidence that timepieces have become an ultimate red carpet accessory – and definitely not to tell the actual time (who knows if Williams’ watches were even set? Who cares?)
As Brynn Wallner, founder of the influential Instagram account dedicated to women’s watches, Dimepiece, noted of the way the loyal brand ambassador wore different pieces throughout the night: “We appreciate her integrating the watches into each of the costume changes … No one is as committed to the watch glam as she is!!!! Well, maybe @michelle.yeoh … but Serena’s multiple watches in one night tips it over the edge.”
Williams isn’t the only high-profile double watch wearer. The original watch stacker was, in fact, Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro, who wore his Rolex Submariner with another watch worn facing inward at several key historical moments.
Meanwhile, in a recent Instagram story, Kylie Jenner piled on two “It” girl watches: the gold Cartier Panthère and the now-cult Cartier Baignoire. The latter, which practically broke the internet when it was released at Watches and Wonders 2023, is a true jewellery-timepiece hybrid with its slim gold bangle – which fits with the way people are thinking about watches as an accessory to stack.
Kate Lacey, a London-based vintage watch expert and dealer, and owner of The Shrew Shop – which specialises in vintage Cartier timepieces – notes that double watch wearing works as an extension of the irreverent trend towards stacking watches with jewellery.
“I’d say there are a few reasons [that] brought about this trend. There is definitely more enthusiasm for smaller-sized watches – but I think in part people are still transitioning from wearing larger watches over to small, and so they stack them a bit to bulk them up,” she says.
“There certainly is a trend for mixing timepieces with jewellery, a certain irreverence towards watches that has become in vogue – the ‘dress watch’ has almost become a thing of the past,” she adds. “You’re more likely these days to see people walking around wearing a rare Patek or special dial Cartier dressed down with a faded pair of jeans and T-shirt and a stack of bracelets, than you are to see someone wearing a stand-alone rare watch.”