This is an edition of the newsletter Box + Papers, Cam Wolf’s weekly deep dive into the world of watches. Sign up here.
On Wednesday night, as President Biden addressed the nation and elaborated on his decision to end his reelection campaign, his watch became a viral talking point online. This wasn’t the first time one of Biden’s timepieces was in the spotlight—nor is it uncommon for watches to be an important chess piece in global politicking—but this latest incident struck a darker tone. Conspiracy theorists presented photos that made it appear Biden’s watch wasn’t set to the correct time of his address, implying his speech wasn’t given live as advertised. This was a fabrication. (Apparently, some people need to refamiliarize themselves with how analog clocks work.) It was, however, a fitting note to strike as Biden’s term comes to a close, given that the current president helped reverse decades of trends and put a watch collector back in our country’s highest office.
Throughout the ’90s and ’00s, the Oval Office was a wasteland of horological taste. Long before a tan suit inspired a headline-making controversy, presidential nominee Bill Clinton was similarly lambasted for his accessory game. In 1993, The Washington Post’s Gene Weingarten wrote a 1,000-word screed against Clinton’s Timex Ironman Triathlon, describing it as “thick as a brick and handsome as a hernia.” Weingarten argued that a certain dignity is expected of the president and even suggested that stock prices might slip because of his unserious wristwear. Before Clinton, presidents like John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson wore gold Rolex Day-Dates and elegant Cartier Tanks. Weingarten must have hoped some of that old glamour would return.
But Clinton’s Timex started a tradition that lasted until Donald Trump took office in 2016. George W. Bush and Barack Obama both favored humbler watches: Bush wore a Timex Easy Reader throughout his presidency; Obama mostly stuck to a Jorg Gray he was given as a present by the Secret Service. These modest pieces were in fact instruments of political strategy, selected to make the chief executives seem like everyday people—the sort of watches worn by a guy you’d want to get a beer with. (Both Obama and Clinton ditched this charade after their presidencies were over. Clinton, in particular, has accumulated a world-class collection that includes expensive pieces from A. Lange & Söhne, Panerai, and Audemars Piguet.)
Our most recent two presidents broke from that horological pandering. Trump was known for wearing pricey pieces like the Vacheron Constantin Historiques 1968, Rolex Day-Date, and Patek Philippe Ellipse. Biden’s collection, meanwhile, is particularly special—full of watches with deep ties and significance to American history and the office of the president. “President Biden clearly has a passion for watches and has a varied collection,” said Eric Wind, the owner of Wind Vintage, who has studied the horological preferences of every head of state in US history. I’m so tired of the Kamala Harris–inspired jokes already, but it’s too fitting not to say that Biden’s collection exists in the context of all in which we live and what came before us and is unburdened by what has been.
