Mr Porter and Jaeger-LeCoultre joined forces to create a clever and very sharp looking new timepiece to herald the release of the latest film in the Kingsman franchise. The new Jaeger-LeCoultre Limited-Edition Master Ultra-Thin Kingsman Knife watch will make its debut on the big screen this year on 18 September in The King’s Men. The third film in the series, directed and written by Matthew Vaughn, along with screenwriter Karl Gajdusek, stars Daniel Brühl, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes.
The British spy thriller films have become known for smartly dressed leading men in Savile row suiting from Huntsman, accessorized with things like secret weapon signet rings used to electrocute enemies. Mr Porter created a Kingsman-themed collection featuring cloth sourced from traditional mills, as well as collaborations with Turnbull & Asser, Cutler and Gross, Cleverley, Drake’s and more, inspired by the secret agents’ sartorial dress code. A dress watch for the gentlemen was, therefore, a natural introduction.
Fittingly, the new Master Ultra-Thin features a couteau-style (French for knife) crown protector in a nod to the spy’s ultimate mission: protecting royal heads of state. It takes cues from a pocket watch created by the Swiss watchmaker in 1907, but has also been used by other brands.
The wristwatch implements the design in an elegant 40 mm pink gold case that fits perfectly beneath the cuff at just 4.25 mm thick. Inside, its hand-wound caliber 849 measures a mere 1.85 mm—a prime example of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s expertise in ultra-thin movements.
Despite the fact that this is a timepiece made to promote a blockbuster film, it bears little visible indication that one is buying a promotional product, other than a discreet imprint of the Kingsman’s golden circle symbol on the caseback. Its look is anything but Hollywood and even the most discerning collectors will likely want to get their hands on the piece, which will be limited to just 100 at US$29,800 (about RM126,725).
It’s not the first time, however, that the Kingsman crew had a watch specially “tailored” to its wardrobe. Henley on Thames-based watchmaker, Bremont, created a collection of commercially-sold watches for the cast of the 2015 Kingsman: The Secret Service, which was also directed by Vaughn and featured a brief guest appearance on-screen by the British brand’s co-founder, Nick English. While the sportier chronograph models were appropriately equipped for the secret agents’ action-packed adventures, the new Jaeger-LeCoultre is a decidedly more elegant accessory for the well-suited squad.
