“What’s interesting about high quality replica watches is you have wealthy people versus actual collectors, who aren’t necessarily wealthy but through time have collected what are now huge investment pieces,” says Loulou Bontemps, Guy Ritchie’s go-to costume designer. “These top quality fake watches uk essentially get passed down through the family, so we played with that idea in The Gentlemen.”
The Gentlemen is an eight-part Netflix drama riffing off Ritchie’s 2019 pithy film of the same name that delves into the chaos that ensues when aristocrats, gangsters, travellers and crazy Scouse drug dealers try to do business together. While the characters’ lives are worlds apart, one similarity unites them: best super clone watches define status.
The majority of the characters are noticeably rocking wristwear throughout – most are real but there are a few fakes, too. And in the case of any empty wrists – like loyal groundsman Geoff played by Vinnie Jones – the lack of a watch speaks to a classism that the show feeds off; if you’re not from money, you’re unlikely to inherit a watch.
Inheritance provides the framework of the show. It opens with ‘His Lordship’ (owner of Halstead Manor) on his deathbed wearing a vintage early ’60s cheap replica Omega Constellation. When his will is read out, older brother and absolute dingbat Freddie (Daniel Ings) assumes he’s in line to inherit everything. But in a twist of fate, the much more competent younger brother, Eddie (Theo James) gets the call up to run the estate – and with it the majority of their father’s possessions.
“Constellations like that don’t retail at anything more than £2,000 but it was his [Lordship’s] favourite everyday watch,” says Bontemps. “And actually, Freddy inherits that one. It’s a bit of a dig at Freddie because now he’s been snubbed because he’s an epic failure. If he’s gonna get anything, he’ll get this £2000 pound watch. Whereas Eddie gets the watches that are worth an absolute fortune.”
When we first meet Eddie, he’s on military duty so it’s fitting a simple Bremont military watch is on his wrist. But as soon as his fortunes change so does his watch. The next time we see him he is wearing a rose gold 1:1 replica Patek Philippe Nautilus ref 5990. “Now he’s becoming a gentleman gangster, we gave him three different watches [including a Panerai Luminor] that he could play around with throughout the rest of the show,” says Bontemps. “The aaa quality fake Patek Philippe is the kind of watch that is purchased once and gets passed down through the family, or is locked in a safe because they do tend to increase in value.”
Throughout The Gentlemen, Bontemps says she used high end copy watches to provide important clues about each character, from how trustworthy they are to their class and background. Henry Collins, one of London’s most successful (read: dodgy) boxing promoters, wears a slightly trashy, very showy but ultimately beautiful gold Swiss movement copy Rolex Daytona. Gangster bonafide Bobby Glass (Ray Winstone) wears a Bremont ALT1 – a nod to his great British pride – while his daughter Susie (Kaya Scodelario) is spotted with a top quality fake Cartier Tank, creating an air of class and elegance that conceals her true identity.
