Key facts
- Silicon Valley employees are displaying limited-edition, customized Swiss watches from Tudor.
- These watches are often commissioned by employee-run collector groups, not directly by management.
- Tudor's customization program requires a minimum order of 40 watches and takes about six months.
- Buyers typically pay full retail price, with models like the Pelagos retailing around $4,500.
- Customized watches are becoming valuable collector's items, with some reselling for over $10,000.
Silicon Valley employees are increasingly showcasing rare, customized luxury watches from Swiss manufacturer Tudor, turning their wrists into a new form of résumé or status symbol. This trend gained traction after a post featuring custom watches made for Google employees circulated, prompting others in the tech industry to share their own unique timepieces.
Notable examples include a custom OpenAI watch with the engraving 'Good Research Takes Time,' a limited run of 468 customized Tudors for Palantir staff featuring a small company logo, and an Uber model marked as the first in a series of 100. Former and current employees from companies like Instagram and Facebook have also shared their customized watches.
These are not typical corporate giveaways but are generally commissioned by employee-run collector groups. These groups organize enough interested buyers to meet Tudor's minimum order requirement of 40 watches, with production taking approximately six months. Buyers typically pay the full retail price, which for models like the Pelagos used by Google is around $4,500.
The rarity of these customized designs, often exclusive to the commissioning group, makes them valuable collector's items. A Google-themed Tudor watch featuring the Chrome dinosaur sold for over $10,000 at auction, and an Apple 'pirate' edition garnered a $13,500 bid, significantly exceeding the resale value of standard models.