“What’s interesting about 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 replica watches for sale 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: AAA UK fake watches define status.
The majority of the characters are noticeably rocking wristwear throughout. And in the case of any empty wrists – like loyal groundsman Geoff played by Vinnie Jones – the lack of perfect copy watches 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 vintage early ’60s best replica Omega Constellation watches. 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 Swiss made super clone watches that are worth an absolute fortune.”
Throughout The Gentlemen, Bontemps says she used 1:1 wholesale replica 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 movements fake Rolex Daytona watches. 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 Cartier Tank, creating an air of class and elegance that conceals her true identity.