Once you start looking at the wrists in season two of The Gentlemen, it becomes difficult to stop. A Royal Oak appears beneath one cuff, a Reverso beneath another, and before long the watches begin to feel like a secondary cast.
Which is entirely in keeping with a series where clothes do a lot of the talking. Nobody in Guy Ritchie's world is dressed accidentally. Jackets establish rank. Shoes suggest intent. And the watches provide the finishing evidence.
Theo James's Eddie Horniman has the most extensive collection. By the beginning of the second season, Eddie has stopped behaving like a man temporarily inconvenienced by the criminal empire beneath his family estate. He is expanding the business, growing comfortable with influence and becoming rather less reluctant about the advantages of his position. His watches have moved on with him.
Among the most striking is the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar. The stainless-steel case and blue dial retain the familiar language of the Royal Oak, but the calendar complication places it firmly in serious watchmaking territory. This latest generation can be adjusted entirely through the crown, which dispenses with the small corrective pushers traditionally associated with a perpetual calendar. It is an informed choice, though hardly an invisible one. The Royal Oak has spent decades evolving into one of the most recognisable signs of contemporary collecting.
The OMEGA Speedmaster Moonwatch is more conspicuous. Made from Moonshine Gold and paired with a deep green dial, it takes the familiar shape of the professional chronograph and gives it a very different character. There is no attempt to make gold look understated here, and the watch is all the better for it.
Eddie also wears a 40mm Panerai Radiomir in Goldtech. Its white dial and brown alligator strap make it more refined than Panerai's most overtly military pieces, though the broad cushion-shaped case remains unmistakable. It feels particularly at home once the story moves into Italy.
The two Jaeger-LeCoultre watches are where the collection becomes properly interesting. First is the Reverso Tribute Chronograph in pink gold. Its black front dial is restrained and formal; turning the case reveals the chronograph mechanism arranged across a far more intricate second display. It would be easy to labour the symbolism of a two-faced watch on a man moving between aristocracy and organised crime. The connection is hard to miss, all the same.
Then there is the Duometre Chronograph Moon, also in pink gold. Its dial combines a chronograph, moon phase, day-and-night display and twin power reserves, with sections of the mechanism visible beneath. The movement uses two barrels and separate gear trains: one for ordinary timekeeping, another for the additional functions. It is the sort of watch that rewards somebody for knowing what they are looking at. On screen, it can pass as a handsome gold chronograph. Up close, it is considerably more involved.
Eddie's Rolex Cosmograph Daytona, reference 116520, brings things back to a more familiar form of desirability. Produced before the Daytona moved to a ceramic bezel, it pairs a stainless-steel case and bracelet with Rolex's in-house automatic chronograph movement. There are more technically elaborate watches in Eddie's collection. There are probably none whose status is understood so quickly.
The other characters are more consistent. Kaya Scodelario's Susie Glass wears a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Classic Duetto in pink gold. Diamonds frame the rectangular case, while its reversible construction provides two distinct dials. On screen, it reads first as jewellery and then as design. It does not need to be large to register, nor does Susie need an oversized watch to establish her authority.
Her father Bobby, played by Ray Winstone, wears a Panerai Luminor Due in Goldtech. At 42mm, with a black dial and the brand's familiar crown-protecting bridge, it looks entirely at home on him. The Luminor Due is slimmer than the Panerai watches built most closely around the brand's military history. Nobody would describe it as timid.
The season's new arrivals bring some less restrained choices. Michele Morrone's Cico Maldini wears a Rolex Submariner in yellow gold with a black dial and bezel. It is probably the least subtle watch in the collection. That is not a criticism. A professional diving watch made entirely from gold contains exactly the sort of contradiction on which The Gentlemen thrives: an object designed for utility, recast as a clear display of wealth.
Bella Soranza de Parme, played by Benedetta Porcaroli, wears a Bulgari Serpenti Tubogas. The rose-gold watch coils around the wrist twice, with its diamond-set serpent head containing a small black dial. It refuses to sit neatly within the usual categories of dress watch or jewellery watch. It is both, and has enough visual character to compete with almost anything worn alongside it.
As Aisha, Maya Jama wears a two-tone Cartier Santos. This particular small model combines steel and yellow gold with a silvered dial, Roman numerals and the exposed screws that have defined the Santos for generations. Its proportions are compact. The geometry ensures it never disappears.
Amra Mallassi's Amir wears a Ulysse Nardin Maxi Marine Chronograph with a blue dial and matching strap. It is a slightly less predictable name among the Royal Oaks, Daytonas and Reversos, drawing instead on the company's history of marine timekeeping. That relative unfamiliarity gives it some appeal. Not every expensive watch needs to identify itself from across the room.
It is worth resisting the temptation to read every piece as a hidden character note. Sometimes a beautiful watch has been chosen because it looks good with a particular sleeve. Costume design does not need to operate as a puzzle. Collectively, though, these watches make the world of The Gentlemen more convincing. Its characters have money from different places, acquired in different ways and worn with varying degrees of confidence. Their watches reflect that range. Some selections are immediately recognisable. Others reveal themselves more slowly. All of them are worth watching for once the cuffs begin to move.