Robert Pattinson on style, career twists and his relationship to time since becoming a father
The British actor has gone from playing bats to batting for Jaeger-LeCoultre
By WHEN The Batman and Dune star Robert Pattinson was spotted wearing an as-yet unreleased Jaeger-LeCoultre to this year’s Oscars, we at Esquire (and anyone with even an inkling of how the world of watches work) knew something was going down behind the scenes with the Swiss watchmaker and the British thespian.
No one just gets to casually break embargo on a new timepiece without good cause.
Said cause, it turns out, was Pattinson’s imminent confirmation as Jaeger-LeCoultre’s newest ambassador.
The pairing makes complete sense. Jaeger-LeCoultre is the watch that collectors land on after they’ve cycled through the bigger names and the bolder dials built to be clocked from across a restaurant.
Pattinson’s career has followed a similar arc. While the Twilight series made him a household name, Pattinson’s spent his subsequent years making sure nobody could predict his next move. He drowned in salt spray and delusion for Robert Eggers in The Lighthouse. He played cannon fodder for corporate cloning in Mickey 17. In The Drama, he held a mirror up to the culture of violence, forgiveness and cancel culture.
It also tracks with how Pattinson talks about watches himself, pointing to the one his father gave him as proof that objects carry meaning long before a brand name gets attached to them.
Below, Pattinson talks through what that means to him, and what a watch has to do to earn its place on his wrist.
What does it mean to represent a Maison like Jaeger-LeCoultre on a global scale?
The watch represents passion and drive across centuries. It is an honour as beautiful and rare as such an object. I’ve always been drawn to seeing what others choose to collect, as if I could backward engineer their identity and stories while also seeing what new world is created between the objects in that collection. How do things change when they are assembled through love and attention and put in consort with one another? Jaeger-LeCoultre gives me a similar sense of history, identity, and unique storytelling in all of their intricately considered and crafted timepieces.
Do you see any parallels between the Maison’s meticulous approach to craftsmanship and the way you prepare for a role?
I think the only comparison is probably assuming it must be nearly the polar opposite of how I prepare, though attaining a watchmaking level of precision, expertise, and method would be a dream.
Maybe it could be similar in reverse: when looking at the watch face and finally reading the time, everything that went into making the watch function arrives only then as a coherent recollection, enabling you to retroactively see the rhyme and reason why one piece fit there and another here. I don’t think that process could work to make any watch and certainly not a Jaeger-LeCoultre timepiece.
If you had to describe Jaeger-LeCoultre without using the word “watch”, only through ideas of craft and discipline, what would you say?
Timeless.
Do you remember the last time you felt genuinely surprised by your own decision-making as an actor?
All the time! Certainty is elusive and only slightly makes sense as a byproduct of action. Sometimes it feels like an echo from the future, a rippling back of something as if I’ve already done the thing I’m reading in the screenplay ahead of me. Or sometimes I’ll be tricked by a certain line or phrase, the description of an action, or the possibility of a voice. When I can’t stop thinking about it I know I probably have to do it.
Have you ever said yes to a project knowing, even slightly, that it might not work and have done it anyway?
Of course! It’s always a risk. But that risk is assuaged by working with people and filmmakers you believe in, so you can hope together you might pull off a miracle. The important part is holding onto the things that urged you to do it in the first place as if they can become polestar and anchor when navigating the inevitably inscrutable or daunting moments. The things you can cling to when charting the course through a project, drawing the map in real time and hoping by the end of it you’ve charted some territory.
What is the most meaningful watch you’ve ever worn and did that change how you think about objects having emotional weight?
The watch my dad gave to me. It’s a good reminder that all objects hold a story and a life. I’m fascinated by heirlooms in general and love the way Jaeger-LeCoultre captures that significance even before a specific watch has made it’s way through generations.
At this stage of your life and career, do you feel time is something you still try to master or something you’ve learned to stop negotiating with?
I think it’s more about succumbing to it. You can really wear yourself out trying to master it! This only becomes more apparent now that I’m a dad! It all goes so quickly and it’s all so precious, so instead of mastering it, I revel in how precious each moment is. And, that with enough rigor, the fleeting moments can last a lifetime if you carry their imprint meaningfully.
Related:
Jaeger-LeCoultre CEO Jerome Lambert is doing things differently second time round
Jaeger-LeCoultre tightens the screws with a new Chronometre at Watches and Wonders
