A guitar virtuoso and long-time watch enthusiast (with a collection rumoured to total US$10 million), the singer-songwriter John Mayer can now add “watch designer” to his resume: he has teamed up with Audemars Piguet on the last iteration of the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar powered by the manufacture’s self-winding Calibre 5134.
In a limited run of 200, the 41mm white gold Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar “John Mayer” Limited Edition bears a speckled blue dial that Audemars Piguet refers to as “crystal sky”—an obvious design choice for the collector who says: “My favourite watches have dials that you can stare at endlessly. A great watch dial feels like a picture window: you look into it, not at it. … And when you couple that sense of depth and vastness with the complication of a perpetual calendar, it is a very powerful combination of technical prowess and aesthetic design.”
In more practical terms, the embossed motif on the “crystal sky” brass dial plate is created with a stamping die featuring a jagged surface filled with minute details, sharp angles, and countless facets. The dial’s blue is replicated in the three subdials, one each to indicate the day, the month and leap year, and the date. At 6 o’clock sits the moonphase indicator, with an aventurine background.
John Mayer is one of many celebrities who have co-designed timepieces with watchmakers lately. Read on for more recent launches.
Victoria Beckham for Breitling
This February, pop legend and fashion designer Victoria Beckham collaborated with Breitling to launch the Chronomat Automatic 36 Victoria Beckham collection, limited to 1,500 pieces across the six references, in steel and in yellow gold. Posh Spice lent her style—and initials—to the brand’s Chronomat Automatic 36, particularly the dials, which sport colourways inspired by Beckham’s own Spring/Summer 2024 palette, as well as the second hand and the bracelet. But the accompanying ad campaign didn’t star Beckham, letting the watches speak for themselves.
Lewis Hamilton for IWC Schaffhausen
IWC Schaffhausen brand ambassador, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team race driver, and seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton was behind the Portugieser Tourbillon Rétrograde Chronograph Lewis Hamilton launched late last year. The watch features a striking teal dial—decorated with Hamilton’s personal logo, a stylised outline of a panther’s face, and set with diamonds as hour markers—and matching textile strap. Within the 43.5mm platinum case, the in-house Calibre 89900 drives a flying minute tourbillon, a chronograph, and a retrograde date display. Hamilton’s third design collaboration timepiece with the watchmaker since 2014, it comes in a limited edition of 44 pieces, a reference to the “44” emblazoned on his childhood go-kart.
Depeche Mode for Hublot
The 42mm Spirit of Big Bang Depeche Mode in black ceramic is designed in partnership with the English electronic band’s latest album and world tour, Memento Mori (Latin for “remember you must die”.) The dial features a skull motif and hourglass, sombre reminders of impermanence and the inevitable, and with every flick of the wrist, tiny black ceramic spheres trickle through the hourglass, marking the passage of time. Powered by the self-winding HUB1710 movement, the watch comes in a limited edition of 100 pieces.
Damian Lillard for Tissot
Calling Tissot’s PRX collection “a watch that speaks to my style and values: high-quality, down-to-earth, and inclusive,” eight-time NBA All-Star Damian Lillard is the namesake of the 40mm Tissot PRX Damian Lillard Special Edition. Built on the PRX Powermatic 80 movement, the watch features a black dial embossed with zeroes, a reference to Lillard’s jersey number on the Milwaukee Bucks. His monogram can be found on the second hand, and on the reverse, the transparent caseback is decorated with a visual of “Dame Time”, Lillard’s signature celebratory move of tapping an invisible watch on his wrist after sinking his shots.