Image: Jaeger-LeCoultre

FOR LENNY KRAVITZ, watches are something of an act of rebellion. Of familial disobedience, as it were. When he was a kid, Kravitz would sneak time with his father’s chronographs when the old man wasn’t looking, fascinated by the dials and the hands and the small mechanical theatre of it all.

“He was never around when I was messing with the watches,” he tells me. 

This is our second attempt at catching time with each other. The first time, technology failed us leaving our respective screens blank and silent. For all his rock ‘n’ roll edge, turns out, Kravitz is a stickler for punctuality and we decided it best to try again the following day so as to stick to the agreed timeslot. 

“I don’t think he would’ve dug it, actually. They were on the shelf, and I would play with them when he wasn’t around.”

Thus began a lifelong love affair with the world of horology and its ticking finery, One that would eventually see the singer locked in as ambassador at one of the most prestigious watchmakers, Jaeger-LeCoultre, in 2023.

The Reverso had been on his radar for years before a partnership with Jaeger-LeCoultre made it official. “I never owned one until I partnered with them, but I always wanted a Reverso,” he says. The fit makes sense. Both the Maison and Kravitz operate by the same underlying logic – a commitment to craft that prioritises what lasts over what’s current. “I’ve always been drawn to things that feel timeless but still have a strong identity. That understated elegance aligns naturally with my own sense of style.”

The connection between watchmaking and musicianship runs deeper than aesthetics. Both demand the same ferocious commitment – the hours nobody sees, the precision that only reveals itself in the finished thing.
“A lot of what defines excellence happens behind the scenes, in moments that are not visible to the audience. The inspiration, the recording, all the time and care that goes into creating music. There’s a lot of precision and technique that goes into that,” he explains.

Kravitz spent years operating by those exact terms before anyone was paying attention – broke, searching, turning down record deals that came with conditions attached, holding out until the music felt genuinely his own. That period of unseen work laid the foundation for everything that followed. The creative process, he says, has never really changed. “I came to realize that I’m just an antenna to pick up what’s being transmitted to me. I’ve trusted this my entire career. When I don’t hear something, I don’t try, I wait. It’s like surfing a wave.”

His 1989 hit ‘Let Love Rule’, the song that became his anthem, came exactly that way. He’d written the phrase on the wall next to his apartment elevator and looked at it for years before it became a song – recorded the following morning, done in a day. He had no idea what it would become. The Blue Electric Light tour, now in full swing, is, by his own assessment, the most joyous of his career.

“The biggest gift is when you have new music and the audience responds to it like they do with the classics. And to see people groove to it, enjoying it, being energetic is a real gift.”

Now at 62, Kravitz also stands as one of the more persuasive arguments that a great sense of style doesn’t have an expiration date. He turned up to the MTV VMAs in a suit stacked with bangles, a Reverso on his wrist, a ring on his finger, and made it look like the only logical outfit in the room. Getting dressed, even for the stage, is entirely instinctual. “You can put a bunch of wardrobe pieces on a rack that I’ve already chosen and say, ‘Okay, here’s your outfit for the night.’ Sometimes I’m not feeling it. I have to feel it. It’s very spur of the moment.” Four decades in, the result is a body of work in style as much as music. No rules, no age limit. Just mojo, applied with total conviction.

Before the show, there is a ritual. He trains, gets centred, goes still. “When I’m walking to the stage and preparing, there’s a deep excitement – but I feel a strong calmness. This is essential for me before a big show or decision.”

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