British actor Henry Cavill graced the green at Royal Ascot wearing a watch that had perhaps last seen an actual racecourse back when the sport was still timed by hand.
The piece on his wrist was a rare 1926 Longines Monopusher Chronograph, which had been pulled from the brand’s museum in Saint-Imier solely for the occasion. Flex doesn’t come close to describing this move pulled by Cavill, but the real impact came from the masterclass in styling.
Cavill’s whole outfit shone throughout the event. After years of being overshadowed by complicated movements, sporty cases and conceptual flourishes, collectors have been returning to clean dials, slim profiles and the particular satisfaction of a watch that does very little, exceptionally well.
The wave began to build in 2025, worn on the wrists of Hollywood’s new crop of young stars. We may be at the trend’s crest, however, but given the view (to milk the pun), I suspect we’ll be here for quite some time.
The irony is that for all the renewed enthusiasm, occasions that genuinely demand one’s presence remain rare. Royal Ascot is among the handful left where the watch and the moment are properly matched.
The Royal Enclosure dress code hasn’t wavered in two centuries. Morning coat in black, grey, or navy. Waistcoat. Silk tie. Top hat. Black oxfords. Dress Code Assistants stand at the gate, and they do turn people away. It is, by design, the most formally dressed crowd in the British calendar, a silhouette that Beau Brummell more or less invented in the early 1800s and that has survived every loosening of social convention since. When everything else you’re wearing submits to that level of formality, the watch on your wrist carries weight.
Once considered a forerunner for the role of Bond courtesy of a quintessential British bearing, Cavill’s watch sensibility remains ostensibly Swiss. And tasteful! To be fair, as an official Longines Ambassador, he is luckier than most in that he can access the kind of watches that set the bar for dress watch standards. The 1926, powered by calibre 13.33Z, was the first wrist chronograph movement Longines produced, introduced back in 1913.
The dress featured a spiral tachymeter scale and a single pushbutton integrated into the crown. Intact examples from this period rarely surface outside of archives. This one lives in a museum because it belongs there. For one afternoon, it was back doing what it was built to do.
Pairing with a morning coat, the dress code formality cranked as high as British sartorial tradition allows. A vintage chronograph with a white dial and a subdued case sits better than anything from the current era could.
The morning coat and the museum piece, together: that’s how you wear a dress watch.