Quick, what was the sports watch of the '80s? Breitling Chronomat? Rolex GMT-Master II? Hublot Classic Fusion? Wrong, wrong and wrong. The only correct answer is the Rochefoucauld. In 1983, it was the thinnest water-resistant watch in the world, singularly unique, sculptured in design, handcrafted in Switzerland and water-resistant to three atmospheres. It told time simultaneously in Monte Carlo, Beverly Hills, London, Paris, Rome and Gstaad. And, most notable of all, it was entirely fictional.
By now, you're either completely lost or entirely in on the joke. If you fall into the former camp, here's the scoop: The Rochefoucauld is the watch that Dan Aykroyd's down-on-his-luck snobby stockbroker tries to pawn in the 1983 comedy Trading Places, and the description in the previous paragraph is how he pitches the watch to Bo Diddley's skeptical pawn broker. The watch, which never existed, has long been a bit of a grail for watch enthusiasts and movie buffs who've always wondered, "What if?" Well, now the Rochefoucauld is finally a reality (sort of) thanks to a new collab between Rowing Blazers and Zodiac.
The Zodiac x Rowing Blazers Super Sea Wolf GMT World Time
Rowing Blazers has become sort of a watch collab kingmaker over the past two years. It started with the preppy brand's acclaimed makeover of the Seiko 5, which has since been followed up by tasteful takes on watches from increasingly more upscale models from Zodiac, Tudor and TAG Heuer. Now, the brand has once again partnered with Zodiac — a company that has shown its own willingness not to take itself too seriously — on a tongue-in-cheek version of the Super Sea Wolf GMT World Time.
This version of Zodiac's travel watch adds the Rowing Blazers logo above six o'clock on the black dial and incorporates the style brand's trademark shade of blue for the bezel. The watch also includes a #tide ocean plastic fabric strap executed in Rowing Blazers' famous zig zag pattern in addition to the standard stainless steel jubilee bracelet from Zodiac. But the best change, and the only one that ties this watch to the Rochefoucauld, is the inclusion of all the cities named from the movie scene on the world time bezel.
That means Beverly Hills stands in for Los Angeles, London makes an appearance (which it normally would anyway) and Paris is joined by Rome, Monte Carlo and Gstaad. All four of those European cities are in the same time zone (I've always assumed that was part of the joke from the film's writers), which means the watch had to find a clever solution to squeeze them all onto the dial. Finally, the watch swaps out New York for Philadelphia, which is where Trading Places takes place, and where the $6,955 Rochefoucauld is worth only $50 (per the film).
An actual sports watch
Of course, anyone who knows watches can tell that the Rochefoucauld is as much a sports watch as a G-Shock is a dress watch. The watch from the movie is small, thin, gold and on a leather strap. It has a world time complication (albeit a strange one) and is only water resistant to three atmospheres, which is essentially splashproof. The Zodiac x Rowing Blazers effort, by contrast, is much more robust and sporty, with 200m water resistance, Super-LumiN0va on the hands and indices and is powered by the STP 7-20 automatic GMT movement.
The Zodiac x Rowing Blazers Super Sea GMT Wolf World Time is limited to just 282 pieces and is on sale now through both Zodiac and Rowing Blazers.
