Interview
By Steven J. Lundin, Watch Culture Editor
Collectionneurs
de célébrités
J
Author Jay McInerney displaying some
of the jewels of his Patek Philippe
collection, including his Ref. 5035J.
ay McInerney, author of Bright Lights, Big City (1984,
Vintage Books), is often referenced as one of the
defining icons of the 1980s, as much a shaper of
that era’s culture as Depeche Mode, Robert Longo or
Issey Miyake. And he’s still hard at work chronicling days
and nights in Manhattan, in his most recent novel, Bright,
Precious Days (2016, Knopf). McInerney’s an impassioned
connoisseur of all things machined and masculine:
cufflinks, fountain pens and, of course, watches. So what
does this latter-day F. Scotty keep wound? Here’s an inside
look at novelist Jay McInerney’s collection, and why his
watches live on his wrist, not in a safe.
Jay McInerney and the daily wear Patek
SJL: When I met you at BEA (Book Expo America), you were pretty proud of the Rolex you
were wearing.
JM: It’s a special watch, a double red Sea Dweller,
distinctive by having two lines of red print on the dial
instead of one, reference 1665. Mine dates from the
early 1970s.
SJL: Few people outside of connoisseurs would
recognize that watch as anything but a Rolex. Is there
a special personal feeling in wearing something that’s
only known to a handful of the discerning?
JM: This particular Rolex makes an understatement that’s communicated to a certain few, and that’s
just fine. It’s not an in-your-face gold bling-bling. I
love old Rolexes, and gold watches, but prefer the
simplicity of a stainless bracelet or leather strap. I
know, and that’s what matters to me.
128
Wristwatch | 2016
Sea Dweller
Double Red