Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal Had a Positively Watchtastic Practice Session

Welcome to Watches of the Week, the place we’ll monitor the rarest, wildest, and most covetable watches noticed on celebrities.

Roger Federer performed what’s being described as his final “aggressive” match Friday. However trying on the images from the smiley follow periods earlier within the week, it didn’t take lengthy for Federer to select up some new strikes from his longtime rival Rafael Nadal.

It wasn’t a shock to see the watch on Nadal’s wrist. The Spaniard all the time wears one in all his tickers made in collaboration with Richard Mille, the maker of super-powered sport watches. Currently, Nadal has been religiously sporting the RM 27-04, the latest piece to return out of his partnership with the model. The watch contains a single metal cable threaded and criss-crossed by means of the case to imitate a tennis racket.

Switzerland’s Roger Federer (R) and Spain’s Rafael Nadal take a break throughout a follow session forward of the 2022 Laver Cup on the O2 Area in London on September 22, 2022. – RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photograph by Glyn KIRK / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photograph by GLYN KIRK/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)GLYN KIRK/Getty Photographs

What made Federer and Nadal’s rivalry particular was that they appeared to be polar opposites in every part: play type, character, handedness. Watches have been one other level the place they differed. The place Nadal rocks his RMs on the court docket, Federer by no means wore a watch throughout play; he was extra snug with the post-match and pre-championship ceremony routine of gathering his belongings and pulling his chosen Rolex from his bag.

Federer modified his strategy throughout his follow periods with Nadal, although. Rog got here out sporting not simply any Rolex, however one of many Crown’s most enjoyable new releases of the 12 months: the “destro” (lefty) GMT-Grasp II. That is the primary watch Rolex has made expressly for lefties, and the green-and-blackcolor mixture (christened the “Sprite” by collectors) can also be new to the model. Coincidentally, the “destro” format is ideal for a tennis participant: the watch’s winding crown factors up Fed’s and doesn’t threat digging into his wrist throughout a swing. (Audemars Piguet personalized a look ahead to Serena Williams with this configuration to permit her to put on it throughout play.) Both manner, the brand new GMT was a becoming associate for Federer’s final dance.

Drake’s Rolex Day-Date

This week’s version of Watches of the Week options solely heavy hitters sporting heavy hitting watches. Kicking this social gathering off is Drake in a really icey model of the Day-Date. The Day-Date is named the “President” watch and sometimes comes dressed up in methods match for that oval-shaped workplace: refined, refined, buttoned-up. That’s what makes Drake’s model so enjoyable—it throws decorum out the window for a blizzard of diamonds and sapphires.

Ed Sheeran’s Audemars Piguet Royal Oak

You recognize it’s a superb week in watches when preeminent collector Ed Sheeran and his fresh-off-the-production-line Royal Oak solely mkae the third spot. This Papa Smurf watch was solely formally introduced earlier this week (after leaking on the very finish of August), so Sheeran is basically exhibiting off. The brand new watch furthers AP’s already enjoyable experiments with ceramic—the model makes the Royal Oak in all white and all black—by utilizing the fabric to end up this blueberry-hued timepiece. This watch checks each field: the ceramic materials is rugged and scratch-proof, the perpetual calendar exhibits off imply technical chops, and the blue shade brings all of the enjoyable.

John Mayer’s Apple Watch Extremely

As he wrote on Instagram, the Apple Watch normally isn’t John Mayer’s cup of tea as a mechanical watch collector. What received him over? The do-it-all Apple Watch Extremely is loaded with options, like an 86-decibel misery siren and a spot-on GPS that tracks the wearer’s mountaineering trails. This can be a win-win: Mayer provides one other piece to his dazzling assortment and Apple will get a very powerful co-sign within the watch world.

Melinda Gates’s Patek Philippe Nautilus

Whereas ex-husband Invoice Gates is legendary for sporting a sub-$50 Casio, Melinda has proven she isn’t afraid of spending her huge fortune. That largely means giving giant parts of it away to charity—but additionally spending a (comparatively) small chunk to purchase a powerhouse watch. At Michael Kors’s NYFW present, Gates wore a fairly gold Nautilus. The collector-favorite Nautilus has gotten a nasty rap as the selection of the Bitcoin bros and nouveau riche, however Gates proves that it’s really a watch in a position to deliver all rich folks collectively. How pretty.