The New Captain America Wears an Excellent Swiss Watch
WatchesIt looks like the red-white-and-blue shield isn’t the only thing Chris Evans passed along.By Oren HartovFebruary 15, 2025Photographs: Getty Images, IWC; Collage: Gabe ConteSave this storySaveSave this storySaveAnthony Mackie has officially been upgraded from Avengers sidekick to its top dog. As the new Captain America, he has big shoes to fill, a shield to carry, and a sick watch doesn’t hurt either. Mackie at least has the last part down. He was in New York City this week promoting Captain America: Brave New World with a relatively new gem from IWC.Mackie wore an IWC Portugieser Chronograph in the “Dune” configuration, a modern take on a watch the brand has been producing since the 1930s. Funnily enough, the watch is almost an almost exact match for a piece that former Captain America Chris Evans wore while he was in the red-white-and-blue suit. The actor has his own black-dial and yellow-gold Portugieser Chronograph that he’s worn on the red carpet over the years. In fact, Evans has been spotted in a couple of different IWC watches, including another Portugieser with a pretty burgundy dial and a Pilot’s Watch Chronograph. The fact that both Captain Americas are IWC guys is purely coincidental but it does feel like the brand could make this their Omega-Bond moment if so inclined.Noam Galai/Getty ImagesBefore IWC was dressing Captain America, it was courting Portuguese merchants. Back in the late ‘30s, the International Watch Company designed an oversized wristwatch for two customers from the country and fitted it with pocket watch calibers 74 and 98. The Portugieser was born. Handsome and restrained in the manner of classic pocket watches, this dressy model was relaunched in 1993 on the company’s 125th anniversary with a special anniversary model, evolving into a rattrapante (flyback) chronograph in 1995. Today, the Portugieser is a full-fledged collection occupying pride of place as one of the brand’s dressier lines.Mackie’s particular Portugieser is a distinct value proposition among high-end (yet perhaps not quite haute horlogerie) chronographs. Housed in a 41-mm brushed stainless steel case with polished lug tops and a thin polished bezel, it’s basically all dial. Rendered in a beautiful, sandy “Dune” color, it’s got a 1/5th-seconds track in black along the rehaut, applied indices with a matching leaf handset, and a dual-register chronograph in the less-common “up-down” configuration: A 30-minute counter is situated at 12 o’clock, while a running seconds register is located directly below it at 6 o’clock.Chronographs in this configuration are less common than those with side-by-side registers, and the look is unique enough to capture one’s attention right away. The small, flat-topped mushroom pushers and the thin bezel help to flatten the watch’s profile, which takes on an even dressier aspect with a black alligator leather strap. The Portugieser is amongst the more compelling dress chronographs and a fitting choice for a man taking on the biggest role of his career. Hopefully, IWC makes a strap long enough to fit over those giant red Captain America gloves…Axelle/Bauer-GriffinTaylor HillMichelle Yeoh’s Richard Mille RM UP-01 FerrariOkay, maybe it’s no longer the thinnest watch in the world—Bulgari struck back at RM by shaving .05mm off its Octo Finissimo Ultra—but that doesn’t make the Richard Mille RM UP-01 Ferrari any less cool. Shaped more like a credit card than a conventional wristwatch, this manually-wound, ultra-flat timekeeper measures just 1.75mm tall and 51mm wide by 39mm top to bottom. The result of 6,000 hours of development, its skeletonized baseplate and bridges are shaped from Grade 5 titanium, and its special escapement was developed in partnership with Audemars Piguet Le Locle to ensure thinness. It’s the perfect high-tech watch for someone like Michelle Yeoh, a woman who can go head-to-head with James Bond without so much as breaking a sweat.Noah Graham/Getty ImagesJimmy Butler’s Casio G-SHOCK DWE-5600R-9New Golden State Warrior Jimmy Butler gave us some relief from the typical onslaught of haute horlogerie this week when he wore a Casio G-SHOCK DWE-5600R-9 to a press conference ahead of playing the Lakers. A banana-yellow timepiece with a matching rubber strap, the DWE-5600R-9 is a simple, awesome 5600-series reference—the type of watch that everyone of a certain age remembers wearing or coveting during their childhood. It’s got all the bells and whistles: 200 meters of water resistance and more timers, alarms, calendars, and stopwatches than you can shake a stick at. But the coolest feature of any G-SHOCK, of course, is the fact that you can light up the LCD screen like a Christmas tree with the push of a button. After the trade from the Miami Heat to the Warriors, Butler said he got his joy back. That's evident on his wrist.Tommaso Boddi/Getty ImagesSebastian Stan’s Cartier Santos-DumontSebastian Stan knows how to pull off a classic dress watch. Appearing at the 40th Annual
Anthony Mackie has officially been upgraded from Avengers sidekick to its top dog. As the new Captain America, he has big shoes to fill, a shield to carry, and a sick watch doesn’t hurt either. Mackie at least has the last part down. He was in New York City this week promoting Captain America: Brave New World with a relatively new gem from IWC.
Mackie wore an IWC Portugieser Chronograph in the “Dune” configuration, a modern take on a watch the brand has been producing since the 1930s. Funnily enough, the watch is almost an almost exact match for a piece that former Captain America Chris Evans wore while he was in the red-white-and-blue suit. The actor has his own black-dial and yellow-gold Portugieser Chronograph that he’s worn on the red carpet over the years. In fact, Evans has been spotted in a couple of different IWC watches, including another Portugieser with a pretty burgundy dial and a Pilot’s Watch Chronograph. The fact that both Captain Americas are IWC guys is purely coincidental but it does feel like the brand could make this their Omega-Bond moment if so inclined.
Before IWC was dressing Captain America, it was courting Portuguese merchants. Back in the late ‘30s, the International Watch Company designed an oversized wristwatch for two customers from the country and fitted it with pocket watch calibers 74 and 98. The Portugieser was born. Handsome and restrained in the manner of classic pocket watches, this dressy model was relaunched in 1993 on the company’s 125th anniversary with a special anniversary model, evolving into a rattrapante (flyback) chronograph in 1995. Today, the Portugieser is a full-fledged collection occupying pride of place as one of the brand’s dressier lines.
Mackie’s particular Portugieser is a distinct value proposition among high-end (yet perhaps not quite haute horlogerie) chronographs. Housed in a 41-mm brushed stainless steel case with polished lug tops and a thin polished bezel, it’s basically all dial. Rendered in a beautiful, sandy “Dune” color, it’s got a 1/5th-seconds track in black along the rehaut, applied indices with a matching leaf handset, and a dual-register chronograph in the less-common “up-down” configuration: A 30-minute counter is situated at 12 o’clock, while a running seconds register is located directly below it at 6 o’clock.
Chronographs in this configuration are less common than those with side-by-side registers, and the look is unique enough to capture one’s attention right away. The small, flat-topped mushroom pushers and the thin bezel help to flatten the watch’s profile, which takes on an even dressier aspect with a black alligator leather strap. The Portugieser is amongst the more compelling dress chronographs and a fitting choice for a man taking on the biggest role of his career. Hopefully, IWC makes a strap long enough to fit over those giant red Captain America gloves…
Michelle Yeoh’s Richard Mille RM UP-01 Ferrari
Okay, maybe it’s no longer the thinnest watch in the world—Bulgari struck back at RM by shaving .05mm off its Octo Finissimo Ultra—but that doesn’t make the Richard Mille RM UP-01 Ferrari any less cool. Shaped more like a credit card than a conventional wristwatch, this manually-wound, ultra-flat timekeeper measures just 1.75mm tall and 51mm wide by 39mm top to bottom. The result of 6,000 hours of development, its skeletonized baseplate and bridges are shaped from Grade 5 titanium, and its special escapement was developed in partnership with Audemars Piguet Le Locle to ensure thinness. It’s the perfect high-tech watch for someone like Michelle Yeoh, a woman who can go head-to-head with James Bond without so much as breaking a sweat.
Jimmy Butler’s Casio G-SHOCK DWE-5600R-9
New Golden State Warrior Jimmy Butler gave us some relief from the typical onslaught of haute horlogerie this week when he wore a Casio G-SHOCK DWE-5600R-9 to a press conference ahead of playing the Lakers. A banana-yellow timepiece with a matching rubber strap, the DWE-5600R-9 is a simple, awesome 5600-series reference—the type of watch that everyone of a certain age remembers wearing or coveting during their childhood. It’s got all the bells and whistles: 200 meters of water resistance and more timers, alarms, calendars, and stopwatches than you can shake a stick at. But the coolest feature of any G-SHOCK, of course, is the fact that you can light up the LCD screen like a Christmas tree with the push of a button. After the trade from the Miami Heat to the Warriors, Butler said he got his joy back. That's evident on his wrist.
Sebastian Stan’s Cartier Santos-Dumont
Sebastian Stan knows how to pull off a classic dress watch. Appearing at the 40th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival, he paired his suit with a Cartier Santos-Dumont in 18k rose gold. A modern take on the watch made by Louis Cartier for his friend, Brazilian-born aeronautical pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont, it features a square bezel with eight screws and gently rounded edges surrounded by a case with pronounced lugs. Fitted with a blue cabochon crown and the classic Cartier dial with Roman numerals, railroad minute track, and blued steel sword hands, it’s a solid alternative to the Tank and looks particularly fetching on its grey alligator leather strap.
Jon M. Chu’s Patek Philippe ref. 3579-1
Director Jon M. Chu rocked an awesome vintage Patek Philippe ref. 3579-1 while accepting the Best Director Award for Wicked at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards this week. Sourced from Craft & Tailored—one of L.A.’s coolest purveyors of vintage watches—it’s an unusual model that shows its ‘70s roots with unabashed flair. Its housed in a C-shaped 37-mm stainless steel case and fitted with a blue sunray dial with applied indices, it’s got a screw-down caseback protecting the manually-wound cal. 23-300 PM. Rare and funky, it predates the Nautilus and other iconic 1970s designs that followed on its heels.
