It’s reason enough to watch a Christopher Nolan film for the little details. The film director is a true stickler for methodical moviemaking and his latest project, Oppenheimer, is a testament to his meticulous stylistic vision.
Oppenheimer, which raked in over USD500 million globally at the box office, is a biographical thriller based on the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist and theoretical physicist tasked with researching and developing the atomic bomb during World War II.
Cillian Murphy and Christopher Nolan on the set of Oppenheimer.
For a film centred around the creation of a nuclear weapon, time and precision serve a crucial role in the storyline and it’s no surprise why Nolan supervised every minute detail of getting period-appropriate watches for the characters in the film. Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy, is seen sporting three Art Deco-style watches from Hamilton: the Cushion B, the Lexington and the Endicott.
Cushion B (1930s) Image credit: Hamilton
What’s impressive about these timepieces is they’re not the usual film props created solely for the film. In fact, they’re actual vintage pieces sourced from Hamilton’s vast archives.
The Swiss manufacturer with American roots (the company was founded in 1892 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania) tapped into its network of dedicated collectors to source six vintage references from the 1930s and 1940s.
Lexington (1940s). Image credit: Hamilton
Murphy was not the only actor to sport the rare vintage pieces. Matt Damon, who plays Lieutenant General Leslie Groves, wore two models in the film: the Piping Rock and the Military Ordinance, two robust utilitarian timepieces befitting the military figure. Meanwhile, Emily Blunt, who plays Kitty Oppenheimer, is seen with an elegant 14K gold Lady Hamilton A-2.
Endicott (1940s). Image credit: Hamilton
Those who are familiar with Nolan’s body of work will know this is not the first partnership between the director and watchmaker. For 2014’s Interstellar, the two came together to develop “The Murph” watch, a 42mm Khaki Field Automatic and a much sought-after piece when Hamilton brought the timepiece into production in 2019. After high demands from enthusiasts, a smaller 38mm version was released in 2022.
It’s worth noting that Hamilton has always had close ties with Hollywood. Since the 1930s, the watchmaker has produced some of the most memorable timepieces to be seen on screen. There was the digital Pulsar LED watch worn by Roger Moore in his James Bond debut in Live and Let Die and the X-01 Odyssey from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, a prop piece that Hamilton produced commercially 37 years after the film was released.
Although Hamilton has yet to reveal if it will be reissuing the timepieces featured in Oppenheimer, there’s no doubt that if that happens, the watches will be highly coveted collectables. Considering the monumental success of the marketing campaign behind the “Barbenheimer” double feature, an Oppenheimer/Hamilton movie tie-in could just well be an untapped goldmine of a marketing opportunity.
