John Mayer, Unlikely Advocate for the Tool Watch

You might say that John Mayer’s second greatest talent is being a style tastemaker. The 7-time Grammy award winning musicians’ relationship with watches in particular highlights his character as someone with an obsession with quality, craftsmanship and authenticity. And like with his portfolio of signature guitars, there’s a utilitarian aesthetic to his taste in watches beyond superfluous details; an idea of watches as things to be worn and used which weaves its way through all his collections and creations. In this post we’ll revisit some of his signature watches to explore his philosophy on not just style, but music and art also.

The most obvious starting point in the crossover between Mayer and watches is his seesawing relationship with IWC. I say seesawing in reference to an infamous open letter to the brand he published on Hodinkee in 2015 where he delicately criticised his favourite watchmakers for losing their way. Namely, for producing reams of flashy designs and therefore losing their simple tool watch brand feel. But in this letter, Mayer gives away that “‘Big Pilot’ became my code name on the road, and the 12 o’clock indicator even made it on the twelfth fret of my Martin signature acoustic guitar. A few years later I bought the Big Pilot in platinum, but not before a Portuguese Automatic to celebrate my first Grammy win.”

I imagine Mayer borrowed the iconic 12 o’clock emblem from the platonic ideal of an aviator’s watch to carry over a feeling of form-follows-function to the fret of one of his most famous signature guitars - the Martin OM-28-JM.

But it’s not all about form-follows-function. Small unnoticeable but unique details play a huge part in his appreciation for watches. Back in 2004 while on an MTV preview for Bittersweet (his single with Kanye West) Mayer jokingly mocks the stunting culture of rap and hip-hop by boasting “This is a platinum IWC Big Pilot. You know how much that thing is? Forty thousand dollars. How much was that one Jesus piece? Go back and listen to Daughters, bitches”. Flagrant boasting for comedic effect aside, there’s literally no other point in having the Big Pilot in platinum (the same colour as the stainless steel version) other than simply knowing its special in some hidden way. You might call it ‘stealth wealth’. He’s also done the same stealth wealth trick a white gold Rolex GMT Master II which he wore on tour with The Grateful Dead, with their logo engraved on the caseback.

Mayer has revealed during his second Talking Watches episode with Hodinkee that he was invited by Patek Philippe in 2012 to design his own unique split-second perpetual calendar watch (reference 5004). The 5004 features the most complicated iteration of both the calendar watch, being able to display not just the day and month, but also the year (and leap-year) without manual adjustment, and the most complicated chronograph complication the split-second (or rattrapante) function, able to time two events simultaneously. All of this, and a moon phase complication, is housed in a relatively tiny 36mm case. Suffice it to say the 5004 is an unbelievably complicated watch, a far cry from the large, brutalist, time-only IWC Big Pilot.

However, Mayer’s version of the delicate and complicated dress watch reimagines it as something more like a tool watch. For his unique version of the 5004, Mayer chose a white gold case, which without feeling the weight of the watch could just as easily appear to be stainless steel. Mayer’s 5004 has a salmon dial and arabic numerals (more legible than roman numerals) and instead of a see-though caseback to display the impressively finished movement, Mayer opted for a plain solid caseback with the simple engraving ‘Mr. J. C. Mayor’.

But the most interesting aspect of his 5004, and the feature which makes its design an oxymoronic mix of dress watch and tool watch, is the luminous hands. Glowing or ‘lumed’ hands are a staple of the tool watch, so that the user can see the time in the dark. This is of course completely out of place on a highly complicated dress watch, but Mayer says he asked for this so that he can see what time it is while playing on stage (although he admits he never wears it while playing live).

In recent years, Mayer has put his watch designs out in limited runs, as opposed to the occasional unique piece made just for him. The first was in collaboration with Casio G-Shock and Hodinkee back in 2020 where Mayer took the design language of the Casiotone PT-1 to create three limited edition G-shocks. Last year, Mayer did it again, but with a brand on the opposite end of the watchmaking spectrum - Audemars Piguet.

The watch is a Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar (AKA ‘QP’) in white and what is being called a ‘crystal sky’ dial, which appears as either a starry sky or shiny rock depending on the light. Other notable musicians with signature and unique Royal Oak Perpetual Calendars are Travis Scott, who collaborated with AP to release a dark brown ceramic QP with a denim-inspired strap, and Ed Sheeran, who had AP create a white ceramic version with multi-coloured hands. I like to believe the fundamental design elements - white gold with a midnight blue dial - was pulled from one of the Rolex Daytonas in Mayer’s collection which he has previously described as “slept on” in conversation with Hodnikee founder Ben Clymer. This is a modern Daytona in white gold, with a solid white gold bezel and dark blue dial which also came in yellow gold with a green dial (which he also owns, obviously).

Soon after the press release for Mayer’s QP, it was revealed on an Instagram post that he wore a piece unique version of the watch which features dark blue baguette sapphires around the bezel and in a platinum case and bracelet, rather than white gold. This move makes apparent that even though he’s made a limited run of only 200 of his own design, Mayer simply has to have his own version with his unique twist; or as Mayer puts it, “diamonds on the inside” to quote Ben Harper.

To sum up, John Mayer’s signature and unique watches are about self-expression, individuality and being unique. And despite the occasional bit of stunting and showing off, and above any kind of rich-bitch lifestyle aesthetic, functionality is at the heart of his love of watches.