Cue the bass slaps, double dip your chips, and soak your self in a fountain on the Warner Bros. backlot holding an outsized cappuccino as a result of we’re hopping right into a time machine again to Thursday nights within the Nineties. We’re speaking primetime “Should See TV,” courtesy of Seinfeld and Buddies – with a horological bent.
Jerry Seinfeld and Courtney Cox within the season-five episode of Seinfeld known as “The Spouse.” Discover the Breitling Chronomat sneaking out from beneath Seinfeld’s sleeve. Picture, Columbia Footage Tv/ Netflix
These two exhibits held up the NBC comedy machine for over a decade, from 1989 into the early aughts, however had their heyday within the ’90s. There was little crossover between the 2 exhibits save for an unrelated visitor look by Courteney Cox in a late fifth-season Seinfeld episode (simply earlier than her run on Buddies) the place she performs Jerry’s faux spouse only for a dry-cleaning low cost. However that’s not the one connection the 2 stars, and the 2 exhibits share. You higher imagine the opposite one is a watch.
Astute fans and comedy lovers most likely know that Jerry Seinfeld is not only into horology however has a specific proclivity towards Breitling watches. You may ceaselessly catch him rocking a white-dial Aerospace on episodes of Comedians in Vehicles Getting Espresso (an idea I as soon as riffed on, with out the comedy, or a comic, for an episode of A Week on the Wrist). However his Breitling behavior – nay ardour – dates again to the late Nineteen Eighties and early ’90s on-screen in Seinfeld.
Jerry Seinfeld sporting his Breitling Chronomat on Seinfeld. Picture, Columbia Footage Tv/ Netflix
Other than the occasional Navitimer – and Cartier Santos – look, his watch of alternative was the Breitling Chronomat, seemingly the ref. 81950A in two-tone with a “Rouleaux” bracelet. That bracelet, with its distinctive look, makes the watch straightforward to identify – that, and the shape issue of the case, and rider tab bezel. The watch was a business success within the Nineteen Eighties, and its reputation poured proper into the ’90s with Seinfeld (the person) including to its reputation then and its mystique now on Seinfeld (the present).
The 39mm Chronomat was launched in 1984, the end result of years of labor by then Breitling head Ernest Schneider, who had initially developed the watch below a distinct identify – The Chronograph “Frecce Tricolori” – for the eponymous Italian Frecce Tricolori Jet staff (that watch was launched in 1983). The recessed crystal and the bezel with protecting rider tabs grew to become design staples of the Valjoux 7750-powered Chronomat. In some ways, Schneider made it one of many key watches of the ’80s – however Seinfeld made it the watch of the ’90s.
Instance of an analogous Breitling Chronomat to the one worn by Jerry Seinfeld on Seinfeld.
Early commercial for the Breitling Chronomat
Visible breakdown of the Chronomat case and bezel design
Seinfeld debuted in 1989 with a truncated pilot/first season order of simply 5 episodes. The fits at NBC didn’t imagine within the present about nothing – and clearly didn’t see the longer term watch recognizing worth. Buddies kicked off 5 years later, in 1994, and whereas the format and comedic stylings have been vastly totally different from these of Seinfeld, there was a well-recognized and pleasant (hehe) wristwatch to be discovered on Cox’s wrist in her position as Monica Geller: The Breitling Chronomat … effectively, kind of.
Her watch appears to be like like a Chromonat in principally each means except for the case dimension (36mm) and the motion (quartz). It seems to be a mannequin known as the Breitling Sextant ref. B55045, additionally in two-tone, with a blue dial. It appears to be like prefer it’s primarily based on the Chronomat (and is as a rule known as a Chronomat), however then once more, within the ’90s, nearly each different Breitling appears to be like prefer it’s primarily based on the Chronomat. Nonetheless, there’s a purpose we don’t technically name it one. And that’s as a result of the Chronomat identify is a mixture of the phrases Chronograph and Automated. However for all intents and functions, the B55045 design attracts virtually completely from that watch.
Courtney Cox as Monica on Buddies. Picture, Warner Bros.
One factor’s for certain, her Sextant/”Chronomat” has the identical Rouleaux-style bracelet as Seinfeld’s in Seinfeld. It’s like an unofficial, universe-crossing, horological memento of their time collectively on that one episode in season 5 – a stretch perhaps, however not a unsuitable one.
Whereas there’s no precise connection between Seinfeld and Buddies aside from the community on which they aired, let’s get conspiratorial and make a timeline. The Seinfeld episode entitled “The Spouse” guest-starring Cox aired March 17, 1994. In that episode, Seinfeld is seen sporting his Chronomat in scenes with Cox (sadly, we don’t see her wrist). Virtually six months to the day later, on September 22, 1994, the Buddies “pilot” aired on NBC. Nevertheless it will get higher. You see, the pilot episode was shot on Might 4, 1994 – lower than two months after Cox’s Seinfeld look.
Instance of an analogous blue dial Breitling chronograph to the one worn by Courtney Cox on Buddies.
So what does that imply? Effectively, to take a web page out of Larry David and George Costanza’s guide: Nothing. Nevertheless it certain is neat, and begs the query – did Seinfeld affect Cox’s watch choice? If nothing else, it cements the Breitling Chronomat, and its design language, as a key horological touchpoint of the last decade that was the Nineties.
