Presidents and the watches they wore in office

Pockets before wrists

Long before anyone wore a watch on the wrist, presidents carried them in a pocket. George Washington used various pocket watches during his years in office, from 1789 to 1797. One of them, a Jean-Antoine Lépine numbered 5,378, stayed in his family until 1935. Another bears an inscription with a date and place: Trenton N.J., December 10th 1777.

Abraham Lincoln owned a gold pocket watch that happened to be in for repair at M.W. Galt and Co. when the Civil War began at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. He also wore a Waltham, the Wm. Ellery model, which many soldiers in that war carried too. It is a pleasing thought that the man at the top and the men in the ranks were checking the same kind of watch.

Warren G. Harding, for his part, carried a Masonic watch, a reminder that a presidential timepiece is often about belonging as much as about telling the hour.

The wristwatch arrives

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first American president to wear a wristwatch in the Oval Office, in 1945. He wore a Movado Triple Calendar in 14 carat gold, a gift from Tiffany & Co. Another of his watches, an 18-karat gold Tiffany, later inspired the brand’s newer CT60 collection.

Harry Truman is remembered for a different sort of watch. He had a Flying Officer’s Chronograph by Gallet, given to him in 1939 by Senate staff, and he wore a Universal Genève Tri-Compax through the 23-day Potsdam Conference in 1945. It was a working man’s tool for a long and weighty negotiation.

Truman also appears in the story of Vulcain, the maker that invented the alarm wristwatch, the Cricket, in 1940. By one account he was the first president to wear one.

Eisenhower and the Rolex

Dwight Eisenhower bought a steel Heuer chronograph after World War II while stationed in Germany. Heuer is the forerunner of today’s TAG Heuer. Later came the Rolex. Eisenhower is the first president known to have worn one, a gold Datejust gifted in 1956, and he is also described as the first to wear a Vulcain.

Rolex gave him a solid gold Datejust as its 150,000th certified chronometer, and he wore it on the cover of LIFE Magazine dated July 21, 1952. Some Rolex fans say Geneva gave him a Day-Date in 1956 for his re-election.

That was the year the Day-Date launched with the President bracelet, which is how the name came to be attached to the model.

Gifts, crickets and Camelot

Vulcain has traditionally presented a Cricket to each president shortly after his election. Richard Nixon received his after a speech to the National Association of Watch and Clock Makers, and he wore it. In 1969, Omega also gave him a solid gold Speedmaster Moonwatch.

John F. Kennedy’s best-known watch was an Omega Ultra Thin, reference OT3980, given by Florida senator Grant Stockdale. He wore it at his inauguration on January 20, 1961. In 1962 he received a Hamilton from David Lawrence, governor of Pennsylvania, and on May 29 of that year Marilyn Monroe gave him a gold Rolex for his birthday.

Lyndon B. Johnson favored a gifted Rolex Day-Date that became known as the President’s watch. He was the first president to own a solid gold Day-Date with the President bracelet. He also owned a Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox with the presidential seal on its case back.

Digital and down to earth

Gerald Ford, president from 1974 to 1977, wore Hamilton’s digital Pulsar, a model he favored with a leather band. It was a bold choice in the early days of digital watches.

Ronald Reagan wore a stainless steel Rolex Datejust. A Colibri wristwatch of his was later bought by Donald Trump for $7,000.

Jimmy Carter wore a Casio Forester, usually with the face on the inside of his wrist. Outside the White House, Martin Luther King Jr. owned a yellow gold Rolex Datejust, reference 1601, and also a Timex, so even his drawer held both the grand and the humble.

Plastic in public, Patek in private

Bill Clinton wore a plastic Timex Ironman during his campaign and for much of his time in office. During the campaign, the Ironman Triathlon was his only watch, and an early Ironman went with him to his inaugural ball. In 1994, at the 50th anniversary of the D-day landings, he received a French Lip watch.

Since then his tastes have widened considerably. He has worn a Panerai PAM89 GMT, a Franck Muller, a Roger Dubuis MuchMore, a Kobold Seal and a Cartier Ballon Bleu in gold.

George W. Bush wore a Timex Indiglo publicly, and also a Timex Easy Reader. Yet he had bought a Patek Philippe from the Geneva boutique in 1971, and in 1993 he moved up to a perpetual calendar Patek Philippe.

Recent wrists

Three Secret Service agents bought Barack Obama a $220 Jorg Gray chronograph for his 46th birthday in 1997. On the campaign trail he often wore a TAG Heuer white-dial quartz Series 1500, and in 2008 a TAG Heuer 1500 Two-Tone Diver. After leaving office he was spotted in a Rolex Cellini.

Donald Trump wore a pink gold Vacheron Constantin Historiques 1968 the night he came to power in 2016. His known watches include a Patek Philippe Ellipse and a Rolex Day-Date President, and he has been known to wear the gold Day-Date.

Joe Biden wore a two-tone Seiko 7T32-6M90 chronograph with an alarm during his campaign. On inauguration day he wore a Rolex Datejust, a gift from First Lady Jill Biden. The Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch was on his wrist during his time in office.