Owen Wilson’s watch during his trip to France (2021)

Owen Wilson wears a gold Eclair Chronograph Landeron 51 in The French Dispatch. Image credit: 20th Century Studios

There is a certain irony in writing about Wes Anderson’s latest film, The French Dispatch, in a magazine. The film is highly stylized and revolves around a vignette about three journalists who set out to write a story for a newspaper. Looking around Oracle Times HQ as I write, I can almost imagine certain characters in the office starring in such a vignette – our editor, Sam Kessler, is straight out of an Anderson film. However, while my colleagues may be colorful, they are nothing compared to the level of individuality of each watch in The French Dispatch.

First up is the watch on the wrist of Owen Wilson’s character, Herbsaint Sazerac. Sazerac is a local reporter of color who works to expose the seedy underbelly of Ennui, the quaint, fictional French town where the film takes place. He’s a down-to-earth guy who rides his bike everywhere and is against the increasing mechanization of the town, though he seems to have accepted that fate. His watch perfectly displays all of these emotions.

It’s a gold Eclair Chronograph Landeron 51, and it’s quite worn. The chronograph is ideal for a cycling journalist, as it evokes the speed difference between bikes and cars. Plus, it fits the style of the film, as the first scene shows the town waking up quickly from empty streets to the hustle and bustle of life, as if they were timed. The fact that the watch is gold, but damaged and dirty shows the effects of time, just as the town itself has gone from its vintage splendor to modern squalor.

Jeffrey Wright and Liev Schreiber in “French Express.”

Image credit: 20th Century Studios

Next, we jump to a pair of watches that appear in the third and final vignette, which tells the story of food journalist Roebuck Wright, played by Jeffrey Wright. Roebuck’s quirk – which all Anderson characters have – is that he can perfectly recall every word he’s ever written, which can be very useful when learning about watch movements.

1959 Omega Seamaster 300

On Roebuck’s wrist at all times is a 1960s Omega on loan from the Omega Museum in Geneva. We know the museum gave them a pre-Moon Speedmaster and a Seamaster 300, but we don’t know which one Roebuck is wearing because the movie never shows it in detail to avoid claims of product placement (technically, it’s Omega that paid for the honor of being included). But we can still talk about both watches because the one Roebuck isn’t wearing is on the wrist of the interviewer, played by Liev Schreiber.

1967 Omega Speedmaster

The pre-Moonwatch Omega Speedmaster is a very interesting choice. Today, you can’t think of the Speedmaster without thinking of the Moonwatch (or MoonSwatch ahem), but there was a time when it wasn’t associated with astrology. For those born after the 1960s, the moon landing was just a fact of life, the Speedmaster has always been the moon watch, these things are irrevocably linked. The pre-moon Speedmaster had not yet fully realized the heights it would reach, it did not yet know what it was. The Roebuck story was half cooking show, half police thriller. The same was true of the Seamaster 300, at least in the 1960s, a watch with unrealized potential.