Donald Glover’s Latest Watch Is Studded With Enough Diamonds to Fill a Jewelry Store

We probably don’t need to hammer the point home any longer, but once more for posterity: Guys, if you want to wear a watch from a ladies’ collection, it’s fine. Small watches are good watches. Diamond-studded watches are good watches.

It’s all good stuff.

And there’s no better ambassador for such a timepiece than Donald Glover, consistently one of the world’s most stylish stars. This past week, the two-time Golden Globe winner made an appearance at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party pairing an outrageous (in a wonderful way) red suit with a piece from Vacheron Constantin’s Patrimony Collection. Measuring 37mm in white gold, it’s positively encrusted in diamonds. The precious stones populate every surface, from the lugs to the bezel to the dial—the latter of which is covered in a whopping 420 gems.

Overlaid with applied white gold indices and a matching white gold feuille handset, this is otherwise a fairly simple automatic dress watch. Powered by Vacheron’s in-house Calibre 2460 SC/3 movement and paired to a dark blue alligator strap with a white gold buckle, it measures 9.25mm thick—meaning it’ll disappear under a cuff with grace when one doesn’t require its ultra-shiny surface to attract a rescue helicopter or signal that the next Beacon of Gondor should be lit.

Glover has sported some truly excellent watches over the years—both on and off screen. As an undercover assassin on Mr. & Mrs. Smith, he rocked all manner of Rolex sports models, an AP Royal Oak, and more; and at the Emmys in January, he wore a beautiful, red-dialed Cartier Tank Must. You can always count on the Atlanta creator to come correct with his wrist game.

The Vacheron Constantin Patrimony, however, is notable for its decidedly feminine bent. (To be fair, VC doesn’t differentiate in its catalog between men’s and ladies’ models. But the maison does generally make its male-oriented watches larger—often around 41mm or 42mm—whereas Glover’s piece clocks in at 37mm, to say nothing of its profusion of diamonds.)

As we’ve said more and more often recently, the lines between mens’ and ladies’ watches are becoming increasingly blurred. (Jeremy Allen White in Tiffany & Co. a couple weeks back, anyone?) At this point, the only rules that matter is that your watch A) tells the time and B) brings you joy. This Vacheron certainly checked both boxes for Glover.

Chris Evans’s IWC Portugieser Automatic (ref. IW500714)

Ahh, the famed Vanity Fair Oscar Party—a true watch spotter’s paradise. One of our faves this year was Captain America himself in a most excellent pick from the International Watch Company: the Portugieser Automatic (ref. IW500714). Initially released in 2020 and housed in a hefty 42.3mm stainless steel case, it features a striking, burgundy-red sunray dial with a running seconds indicator, a 7-day power reserve indicator, and a color-matched date indicator. With its applied Arabic numerals, thin feuille handset, smooth bezel, and automatic movement, it adopts the Portugieser dress watch aesthetics from the 1930s and marries them to contemporary technology in a piece that’s both beautiful and utilitarian.