We reveal the models that made these three legendary women with timeless charm unforgettable.
Marilyn, Jackie and Grace. Their names are enough to evoke the glamor and irresistible attraction that they transmitted to everything they touched. Including your watches. These three delicate specimens have gone down in history for being the ones chosen by three posh women, whose charm and influence do not wane over the years:
Jackie Kennedy y su Tank
The wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy , wore a Cartier for decades. Specifically, a Tank , one of Cartier’s longest-running models. It was created by Louis Cartier , grandson of the founder of the French firm, in 1917, inspired by the view from above of an armored tank model that participated in World War I and the articulated chains (the wheels, let’s say) of the vehicle.
It has hardly changed in appearance since then. The DNA of the Tank is easily identifiable: rectangular shape, Roman numerals, railway minute track (that line that marks the minute scale as if they were rails), crown topped with a sapphire cabochon and stretchers (the two parallel bars of the case that integrate the hooks of the strap).
The Tank is today the absolute best seller of Cartier, one of the most elegant watchmaking designs of all time, and also one of the most recognized. An icon worn by another icon, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (Southampton, 1929–New York, 1994). An elegant woman like few others, no one has carried a pillbox like her.
Well, it was the Polish prince Stanislaw Albrecht ‘Stas’ Radziwill , married to the former first lady’s younger sister, Lee Radziwill , who gave the Tank to Jackie in 1962. The watch, with a silver dial, was made of sterling gold. 18 karat. It was small (its case was 20 mm wide by 28 long), hand-wound, and had a lizard-skin strap. On its back was engraved the inscription “Stas to Jackie 23 Feb. 63 2:05 am to 9:35 pm” in the brother-in-law’s handwriting.
He was referring to the beginning and end times of a 50-mile walk in the Palm Beach, Florida area that was partially undertaken by the Kennedys, Radziwill and other members of the White House, at a time when that the president encouraged physical activity among Americans. The gift from Cartier commemorated that day.
Five years after Jackie’s death, in 2017, it was auctioned in New York by Christie’s . And, according to the TMZ portal , it was bought by another woman of planetary fame: Kim Kardashian , who paid $379,500 for it. We would never have associated Jacqueline’s Tank with the bombastic tastes of Kardashian, really.
Grace Kelly y su Lady Datejust
From American high society to Monegasque royalty, where Grace Kelly shone like no other (Philadelphia, 1929–La Colle, Monaco, 1982). Another icon of classical beauty with a talent for acting, she wore on her wrist a Rolex Lady-Datejust in yellow gold and discreet size: 26 mm in diameter.
Presumably it was not the only watch that was part of his collection, of course. The actress grew up in a wealthy family and, as the wife of Prince Rainier III of Monaco , whom she married in 1956, she lacked for nothing. Both she and her husband and her children were regulars at Rolex.
As for the Lady-Datejust that we saw him carry in several photographs, it is to watchmaking what an Hermès kelly is to handbags: an icon. It was born in 1957 as the feminine evolution (smaller) of the sporty Datejust that was released in 1945, a watertight and automatic bracelet model that showed the date in a window at 3 o’clock.
Today, the Lady-Datejust is one of the most varied models in Rolex’s Oyster Perpetual collection . It comes in versions with diamonds, without them, with a fluted, smooth, two-tone, steel bezel… And all of them are 28 mm in diameter. Since Rolexes don’t change much over the years, the Lady-Datejust remains true to its origins, with no substantial differences in design from one from Grace Kelly’s time.
Marilyn Monroe y su Rayville Watch Co. 17 Jewels
This cocktail watch from the Swiss firm Blancpain dating from the 1930s is attributed to Norma Jeane (Los Angeles, 1926–1962), Marilyn to the entire world. They say in the brand that she was given it by her third husband, the American playwright Arthur Miller . It is a mechanical example that incorporates the FHF 59 rectangular movement, one of the smallest ever made.
Inspired by art deco , it was made in platinum and featured a setting of 71 round – cut and two marquise – cut diamonds . “Marilyn Monroe had very little jewelry, despite her famous song Diamonds are a girl’s best friend ,” said Marc A. Hayek , Blancpain’s chairman and CEO. This one, named Rayville Watch Co. 17 Jewels , was in the hands of Lee Strasberg , the actress’s acting mentor, to whom he left the watch as her inheritance.
In 2016, those responsible for Blancpain bought it at an auction from the Californian house Julien’s Auctions for $225,000 (229,500 euros at current exchange rates). And they presented it in society at an exhibition in New York three years later.