Each year, the Academy Award ceremony is one of the most glamorous events which rounds up the biggest movie stars and captures the attention of media, as well as the public. It is the evening of upmost importance for the film industry, but also a very fashionable venue where Hollywood stars flaunt clothes and jewelry designed by the leading high-end brands. Naturally, the high-end watches as timeless luxurious accessories have their deserved place on the red carpet. At this year’s ceremony which took place last week, we saw exclusive timekeepers by IWC, TAG Heuer, Piaget, Montblanc, Jeager-LeCoultre and Van Cleef & Arpels.
Bradley Cooper Wears IWC Schaffhausen while Sacha Baron Cohen Sports TAG Heuer
Bradley Cooper, the actor famous as one of the stars of Hangover, was in the competition for the best male leading role for his performance in Silver Linings Playbook. Cooper, who ultimately came up short and lost to Daniel Day-Lewis, was seen wearing IWC Portuguese Chronograph on his wrist. The actor chose a steel version with a black dial of the IWC timekeeper which runs on Caliber 79350 based on the ubiquitous Valjoux 7750 movement.

IWC Portuguese Chronograph Watch
Another timekeeper that we have previously reviewed was spotted at the Oscars ceremony. It is TAG Heuer Automatic Link Day-Date Calibre 5, the stylish silver-faced timekeeper with the distinctive bracelet and calendar indications. The elegant timekeeper with pure and smart design was worn by the famous comedian, Sacha Baron Cohen, who acted in the hit musical.

Sacha Baron Cohen wearing Tag Heuer

TAG Heuer Automatic Link Day Date Calibre 5 Watch
Piaget Watches on Wrists of Hugh Jackman, Jamie Foxx and Others
The lead male role in Les Miserable was played by Hugh Jackman who opted for the thinnest automatic watch – Altiplano automatic model in white gold with the diameter of 43mm. It is classical and minimalistic styled ultra-thin timekeeper (5.25mm thick), supplied with 1208P automatic movement with small seconds which is just 2.35 mm thick. When it came out, it set the record as the thinnest timekeeper, while its movement was also the thinnest self-winding caliber ever. It is a movement with 27 jewels, operating at the frequency of 3 Hz and supplied with the power storage which lasts for about 44 hours. As it is expected for a high horology watch, the movement boasts a plethora of decorations.

Hugh Jackman wearing Piaget

Piaget Altiplano Automatic Watch
Piaget distinctive flat-cased timepieces were worn by several other stars, such as Jamie Foxx, Jackman’s wife Deborra-Lee Furness, as well as presenters, Paul Rudd and Mark Ruffalo. Jamie Foxx who played the lead in Django Unchaned’s and was likewise one of the presenters at the ceremony opted for Protocol XXL timepiece. The watch has a large and thin housing (42mm wide and 46mm long) which houses manufacture 830P manually-wound movement. The caliber with a power reserve of 61 hours runs on the frequency of 3 Hz. Despite the fact, it includes 131 components; the 19 jeweled movement is just 2.5mm thick. Additionally, the movement sports an abundance of hand-performed decorations.

Jamie Foxx wearing Piaget

Piaget Protocole XXL Watch
As far as Mark Ruffalo is concerned, he sported a smaller 38mm wide Altiplano automatic model in rose gold (worth $16,000). It is another sober styled high class timekeeper with a silvered face, supplied with mechanical manually wound 430P caliber with 18 jewels. The movement with 18 jewels and 131 overall components has the amazing thickness of just 2.1mm. Once fully wound by hand, the caliber has a power reserve which lasts for about 43 hours. A bit flashier version of the same Piaget model was worn by yet another actor who played in Silver Lining Playbook, Chris Tucker, who chose diamond-paved version of the timekeeper. This variation includes about 850 precious stones with the total weight of over 2.8 carats and therefore has the significantly increased price tag of $54,000.

Chris Tucker wearing Piaget

Piaget Altiplano Diamonds Watch

Piaget Altiplano Diamonds Watch Side View
Argo’s Crew Shows off Montblanc Models
Montblanc is another high-end watchmaker who was present as this year Academy Award ceremony. The timepieces by Montblanc were worn by supporting actors from the best movie of the year – Argo: while Alan Arkin sported Star Classique Automatic, Cas Anvar carried Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph Open Home Time. The model worn by Rieussec which is fairly similar to another model from the same collection we have previously reviewed is the more interesting of two watches. It features a vintage chrono layout where chrono counters revolve while their counters remain fixed at the base of its design. The timekeeper features a date, as well as the second time zone indication (hence the “home time” part of the name) with day and night display. Fitted into a 43mm wide housing made of red gold, the product runs on automatic MB R210 caliber with 40 jewels and the frequency of 4 Hz. As the other pieces from the Nicolas Rieussec series, it includes an interesting black “grain d’orge” guilloche dial.

Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph Open Home Time Watch
Vintage JLC by Emmanuelle Riva and Van Cleef & Arpels Watch by Jeremy Renner
Jeager-LeCoultre honor was defended by the Best Actress nominee Emmanuelle Riva who starred in Amour. Riva wore JLC Duoplan Jaoillerie vintage timekeeper characterized by an interesting architecture with parts organized on split levels.

Jeremy Renner Wearing Van Cleef & Arpels
Another presenter at the show, Jeremy Renner, who was also nominated for the Oscars award in the past, appeared wearing Van Cleef & Arpels Poetic Complication Midnight in Paris watch. It is truly an original timepiece which features the representation of the night sky as it is visible from the City of Light on its deep blue dial. The stars that are represented on the face of the watch move over the course of the year to match the actual movements at the sky. The watch has a white gold casing with the diameter of 41mm on whose back the manufacturer included a calendar feature made from a genuine meteorite. Inside the case is a hand-wound mechanical movement based on Jaeger-LeCoultre ultr-thin caliber 849, one of the thinnest calibers available at the moment.

Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight in Paris Watch