(Not quite) All the Presidents’ Watches

Vulcain invented the alarm wrist watch (calling it the ‘Cricket’) in 1940 and, since Vulcain fan Dwight D. Eisenhower came to power in 1953, the firm has traditionally presented a Cricket to each President shortly after his election. It could, therefore, have been a premonition, wishful thinking, a love of the brand – or simply a need to be reminded of the time – that inspired Joe Biden to acquire his own Vulcain several years ago.

For his swearing in as the 46th President of the United States, Biden wore a Rolex Datejust, but he is also known to own a brace of Omegas (he’s been spotted with both a Speedmaster and Seamaster) as well as an inexpensive, steel and gold-plated Seiko alarm chronograph worn both during his campaign and on election night last November.

‘No comment’, therefore, on the fact that Donald Trump wore a Vacheron Constantin Historiques 1968 in pink gold the night he came to power in 2016, and has otherwise been known to sport a gold Rolex Day-Date (with the so-called ‘President’ style bracelet introduced in 1956). He also has a more restrained Patek Philippe Ellipse dress watch and a Colibri once belonging to Ronald Reagan that he bought at a charity auction in 1999.

Turning back the clock, however, reveals that the choice of wristwear among past Presidents has often been as unlikely as the campaign promises that got them to the White House .

George Dubble-yuh publicly wore a Timex Indiglo during his Presidency but, when away from the constraints of the White House, didn’t bother hiding his light under a bush-el when it came to his true watch preference – he bought his first Patek Philippe from the brand’s Geneva boutique in 1971, moving-up to a far more expensive perpetual calendar model in 1993, the year he left office. But he became disenchanted with the cost of ‘running’ the Pateks, as evinced when they fetched $143,750 at auction in December 2019. Included with the pair was a letter to a friend in which Bush enquires whether or not he would like to buy his ‘jillion-dollar Patek Philippe’ which he describes as ‘a little too dear for my blood.’ “I sent it off to have a new crystal put in,” he wrote. “Back comes word that it needed to be refurbished to the tune of $1,250…”

Prompting a classic case of ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’, Bill Clinton wore a plastic Timex Ironman during his election campaign and for much of his time in office, probably thinking it put him on the same level as his blue-collar countrymen. But a Washington Post columnist described it as ‘thick as a brick and as handsome as a hernia’, while Omega even ran adverts trying to get him to dump it in favour of a ‘real’ watch. In 1994, Clinton upgraded to a French ‘Lip’ after being presented with it during the 50th anniversary of the D-day landings in 1994 – but it was only after leaving the White House that he felt able to show his true, horological colours, subsequently appearing with wristwear from luxury brands as diverse as Panerai, Franck Muller, Roger Dubuis and Cartier.

It’s said that the senior Bush may have stymied his re-election campaign by looking at his watch during a television debate alongside hopefuls Bill Clinton and Ross Perot in 1992 before struggling to explain how he, personally, was affected by the national debt. The make of the watch wasn’t confirmed, but it’s likely to have been a Clare, made in his beloved home state of Texas.

We know Reagan owned a Colibri, because Donald Trump subsequently bought it. But his favoured wristwear was a Rolex Datejust.

Ford had the misfortune to be in power from 1974 – 1977 when ‘fine’ watch making was in the doldrums – but he did get to wear Hamilton’s ground-breaking digital Pulsar, thus demonstrating just how cutting-edge he really was.

Unlike most Presidents who were given a Vulcain cricket, naughty Nixon actually wore his – but, having taken the helm (metaphorically speaking) six months before the Apollo XI moon landing in 1969, Omega presented him with one of the first 28 engraved editions of its commemorative, solid gold Speedmaster ‘Moonwatch’. However, it exceeded the value of allowable gifts, and Nixon was required to turn it down. You can see it today in the Omega museum, alongside another that was originally destined for Vice President Spiro Agnew.

Another President who dutifully went through the motions of wearing his complimentary Vulcain, Lyndon B was really a Rolex man whose favourite watch (also gifted) was the Day-Date and whose wearing of one led to it becoming known as the ‘President’s watch’.

As mentioned, Eisenhower was the first President to wear a Vulcain, but he also featured in a 1946 advertisement for a Heuer chronograph and was also first President known to have worn a Rolex wrist watch – a gold Datejust that was gifted by the firm in 1956 to mark his re-election. It was the same year in which the Day-Date was launched, along with the new, so-called ‘President’ bracelet that came with it, thus beginning the POTUS-derived nomenclature that survives to this day.