FeatureWhy The Phenomenon Of ‘Double Wristing’ Is Here To Stay
While it is arguably a show of ostentation, the trend of 'double wristing' can also have other connotations, such as being a lucky charm or practicing the original solution to dual timing
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“How many Jacobs?” American rapper Drake can be seen quizzing the fangirl taking his video in one of his Instagram stories on his 38th birthday celebrations in October 2024 at a Houston nightclub. While doing this he flashes her with two of his Jacob & Co Five Time Zone timepieces that he’d worn one on each wrist. “Two, two!” she responded as we squinted to catch the demarcated time zones on the 47mm big dials. Their diamond bezels matched Drake’s blingy stud earrings and pendant, and their yellow and blue alligator leather straps appearing fluorescent under the blue club lights. However, this was not the first time Drake had indulged in the trend of double wristing (wearing one watch on either hand).
Drake raised eyebrows back in 2012 in the video for his single ‘The motto’, while driving a convertible, twin-wristing (two watches on the same wrist) with two gold Rolexes. True, rappers are known to love bling, wearing multiple neckpieces, rings and earrings at the same time. But two luxury watches to read time? This aggressive level of ostentation began decades ago; one of the earliest glimpses of it was in 1963, on Cuban revolutionary Fidel Crasto. Instead of dying with Castro, it has evolved into the permanent phenomenon called ‘double wristing’, and has kept bringing onboard more happy participants to this extravagant display of affluence: From the Crasto to American astronaut Buzz Aldrin to the father-son Bachchan duo, to even the late Princess Diana and the ‘Glock tucked, big t-shirt Billie Eilish’! Here’s revisiting this trend to understand the psyche and why it’s not going anywhere.
Double Wristing Or Just Double Display Of Wealth?
The trend of double wristing or watch layering is mostly found among a section of dedicated watch collectors. After all, you must possess enough watches to flaunt more than one, right? It may appear that the biggest reason why this trend persists is because the wearer wants to ditch being in the proposition of making a Sophie’s Choice. The choice between two equally enticing lovers. But that’s not true, as most people are able to get out of this conundrum by finally choosing just one watch to wear for the day.
The few who decide to double wrist, according to the general consensus, are doing so out of their own free will as they possess personality traits of a braggart or an exhibitionist. Their sole purpose is to make a sheer show of their horological acquisitions, two (or even more) at a time. They have, rightly then, earned the horological slang, ‘double douchbaggerying’. While it refers to those being unapologetically brazen by wearing two luxe watches at the same time, it does often seem to irk others.
Like the case of Uruguayan footballer Darwin Nunez, who faced ridicule from American YouTuber Jack Doherty in 2024 for wearing two Richard Mille watches. “I am humble enough to not wear two f*****g Richard Millies at once, even though I have two Richard Millies. Like, bro is really trying to flex on all of his fans that hard,” Doherty was quoted saying of their meeting.
These collectors then, are certainly flamboyant, far from discreet. Their behaviour is perceived to be the direct result of ‘conspicuous consumption’—a term coined by economist Thorstein Veblen in his noted book, The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) to address the fact why some people parade their material possessions as indicators of social position and status, possessions including ultra-luxury mechanical watches. Drake, for instance, in his hit single ‘It’s up’ (2024), disclosed that he owns 143 Rolexes, not to mention his fleet of luxury cars and Birkin bags that he’s been collecting for his future wife.
Double Wristing Has Also Earned Female Fans
Why should men have all the fun? As seen on Jenner, double wristing even became a hit with the female gender, who are more attuned to the art of stacking bracelets or rings. Take the case of the late Princess Diana—the public’s beloved non-conformist and perhaps the oldest woman double wrister. She stacked two Patek Philippes on one wrist at a Windsor polo match in July 1981, a few days before the royal wedding to Prince Charles. The smaller gold watch Calatrava reference 3618 was a gift from Charles to Diana, but the darker variant Disco Volante, nicknamed ‘The Flying Saucer’, was Charles’ own. Diana wore both to bring royal her beau good luck in the match.
Sharon Stone became the first women Rolex two timer with this 1980s snapshot, wearing an unbuttoned shirt, loose tie, with a two-tone Rolex Submariner and a 36mm Rolex Datejust. Another instance of a celebrity yacht holiday in 2023, saw pop star Selena Gomez being hugged by the newest addition to the Beckhams—their daughter-in-law Nicola Peltz, who flaunts two Panthère de Cartier wristwatches in one hand. Teen pop icon Billie Eilish, a renowned serial double wrister, took the trend a notch higher by wearing two identical 28mm Chanel Boy-Friend Tweed watches in 18-karat beige gold set with brilliant-cut diamonds on each hand in 2017. When the Kadarshians vacationed on the Spanish island Mallorca in June 2024, Kylie Jenner was spotted on a yacht, in a cool white crop top, skirt, and summer hat, double wristing with Cartier watches from the Baignoire and Panthère, which fans speculated would total up as the down payment on a house. Actress and popular cricket presenter Mandira Bedi hosted the opening ceremony of the 16th Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2023, in Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, indulging in the double wristing trend as well.
For Reasons Other Than Overt Materialism
Some indulging in double wristing might fume being relegated to such egregious branding. These double wristers have the collectors’ mindset and hence have a genuine interest in watches, spend their time in acquiring in-depth knowledge, and are constantly clued in about regular updates, price, new launches, etc. The reason can also be emotional; like plain ol’ dual timing to keep in touch with loved ones in another time zone.
Take the Bachchan family. It was Jaya Bachchan who started the trend of double wristing in the family, each set to India time and Swiss time (when son Abhishek Bachchan was studying abroad). Her husband Amitabh and Abhishek caught on and even now does this to connect at the right time with family members travelling abroad. Amitabh even wore it in the Bollywood film Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap (2011). It’s common knowledge that football legend Maradona wore two watches, one for Argentinian time and the local time of the city he was in. But Portuguese footballer and friend of the late legend, Cristiano Ronaldo was quoted recalling another reason: “I asked him why he wore two, and he said that his daughter had given them to him as a present and since then he had never taken them off. At the end of the meal, he took one off and gave it to me as a gift…” When the Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro visited the Soviet Union in 1963 to meet then Prime Minister Nikita S. Khrushchev, to place Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba to prevent America’s invasion attempts, he wore two Rolexes; one set to Havana time and the other, Moscow.
Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, besides his NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster number 77, wore two of his own wristwatches underneath the Apollo A7L space suit on his 1971 historic voyage to the moon. In August 2023 on the occasion of the Apollo 11 50th anniversary, the American astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who was part of the historic mission (that took off on July 16, 1969), now nonagenarian and one of the longest-standing Omega brand ambassadors, tweeted a photo in July 2023 showing him enjoying his breakfast wearing three Omegas! Namely, the Skywalker X-33, the X-33 Marstimer Chronograph and the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Speedmaster. Not to forget, the late Nicolas George Hayek, the grand ol’ man of the Swatch Group, known for his quirk of wearing upto six timepieces from Swatch Group brands at the same time!
Double Wristing Keeps Reinventing With New Tricks
One of the reasons why this trend of double wristing has continued is because of its ability to experiment with different styling positions; each position having earned an equally quirky moniker. There’s ‘smart bombing’—pairing one smart watch with a mechanical watch—to stay connected with fitness goals and heart rate updates with the smart wrist gadget, while also presenting a collector’s flourish with the mechanical luxury watch. There’s ‘double inside-wristing’—wearing both the dials on the insides of your wrists. ‘Double speeding’ implies watch stacking two chronographs. With ‘double upside-downing/yin-yanning’, the dial of one watch faces outside and the other faces inside the wrist. Alternatively, try ‘twist-wristing’, wearing two watches on the same hand, with one dial facing outside and the other facing inside the wrist.
