Your Friends and Neighbors
The mistake, if you can call it that, that triggered this article, by triggering me, was in Apple TV’s new series, Your Friends and Neighbors starring Jon Hamm, Olivia Munn, and Amanda Peet. A story about a wealthy and successful businessman who has come on hard times and turned to theft for both pleasure and financial gain, the show has, thus far, featured watches quite prominently. But, in doing so, it has also highlighted a big, and frankly shocking issue.
Now, I’m only two episodes in, but in both I’ve seen thus far, there are scenes where John Hamm’s character breaks into the house of one of his wealthy neighbors, rifles through their stuff, and finds, inevitably, a high-end and highly coveted watch. First was a Patek Philippe Nautilus 5811, which features a white gold case and a blue dial. Iconic, if you will. They show the watch in his hand, they mention the specific details, they quote Patek’s famous “You never actually own a Patek…” ad campaign, and all checks out. But then…
In what could have been a watch nerd’s dream come true, they decided to cut away from reality and put a segment video graphic on the screen, showing different angles of this very famous, well-known watch, along with written specifications, such as the water resistance and frequency of the movement. They even label the balance and balance spring materials correctly Gyromax®, and Spiromax®, respectively. Someone did their homework (or, at least, went to the product page). Except, on the top left corner of the screen is a vignette of the caseback, showing off the incredibly obviously fake movement. Undecorated, to say the least, shoddy rotor, and just clearly something cheap.
Ouch. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Did this big production show really use a fake watch and show it to us? Perhaps, I thought, the joke would be that his rich friend had a fake, but that was proven false by an appraisal scene in which Hamm was offered $175k for it. Shocked, I assumed that experience was a fluke and that the show would go on.
Well, episode two, another house, another watch, this time another particular timepiece, the Richard Mille RM 011 Felipe Massa Chronograph in rose gold. And, like in episode one, they went through their little breakdown with Hamm rattling off specs like a regular ol’ watch nerd. But, once again, the caseback was shown in the top left corner of the screen, and, like, not even a resemblance to an RM movement. Faker than Henry Cavill’s upper lip in Justice League. Clearly, this is a theme in the show.
None of this would have been an issue if they had just left well enough alone. They display the watches in Hamm’s hand, in darkened rooms (these are robberies, after all) that match the names and descriptions of what they say. Believable enough, but they go for the stylish detail shots. And mind you, in the first two episodes, they don’t use these elaborate graphics for anything else, just the watches, as if they wanted to highlight the mistake. Apparently, they use the infographics again when Hamm steals a Hermès Birkin. If there are any Birkin experts out there, let us know if it’s real in the comments. At least the show is enjoyable.
The plot thickens. In a NYTimes article specifically about the use of watches in these first two episodes, it never mentions that they are fakes. In fact, the opposite is suggested: “The prop masters borrowed the watches used on the show from authorized vendors who charged ‘between 5 and 10 percent of the value’ for a one-day shoot, Mr. Gargiulo said. ‘It saves us $180,000 and we don’t have to try to resell it at the end of the job,’ he said.” So, either they got duped, the close-ups were shot separately with fakes, or they are only referring to the watches being worn. Regardless, someone’s got some explaining to do.
