How Brad Pitt Designed His Dream Watch for 'F1: The Movie'
WatchesThe actor worked closely with IWC and Cloister Watch Co. to get his character’s timepiece exactly how he wanted it.By Cam WolfJune 27, 2025Mark Thompson/Getty ImagesSave this storySaveSave this storySaveThis is an edition of the newsletter Box + Papers, Cam Wolf’s weekly deep dive into the world of watches. Sign up here.To create the new movie F1—which director Joseph Kosinski describes as “the most authentic, realistic, and grounded racing movie ever made”—no shortcuts were taken. Stars Brad Pitt and Damon Idris both drove their own cars, and the film’s crew integrated themselves into the actual Formula 1 season. That painstaking attention to detail also extended to the watch Pitt wears as the racer Sonny Hayes. The actor was extremely exacting about the timepiece he wanted to wear, its backstory, and many of the technical details, including the movement and thickness.Our story begins, oddly enough, with David Fincher. The Oscar-nominated director and Pitt are longtime collaborators and pals who share a love of making awesome movies—Fight Club and Se7en, anyone?—and, apparently, equally awesome watches.A few years ago, Fincher, a big watch guy in his own right, learned of Cloister Watches—a small, New York-based outfit that customizes vintage watches using tools and processes from their respective eras—through an episode of Hodinkee’s “Talking Watches” video series. Soon after his episode was posted, Cloister founder Cooper Zelnick received a message from a Yahoo email account. “It said, ‘Hi, David Fincher wants to talk to you,’” Zelnick told me over Zoom this week. Zelnick began making watches for Fincher that caught Pitt’s attention. So when the actor needed a timepiece customized for F1, he told IWC—the film’s watch sponsor—that he wanted Zelnick involved.Sonny Hayes really likes that shade of green, huh? I knew Pitt liked watches—his collection boasts some tasty vintage pieces, like a Vacheron Constantin 222 and a Patek 3800/1J—but I wasn’t fully aware of just how deeply he’s into the game. “He knows a lot about watches,” Zelnick says. “You could say to him, ‘Hey, man, how many tenths of a millimeter difference in thickness is a Patek 3700 versus an Audemars Piguet 5402? And he’ll tell you it’s six tenths.”Pitt was very precise about what he wanted his character to wear in F1. He knew he had to wear an IWC, but rather than go with one of the brand’s standards, like the Big Pilot or Portugieser, he dug into the archives. Zelnick says that Pitt and Fincher together came up with the idea to go with the Ingenieur ref. 1832, a watch from the ’70s designed by Gérald Genta, the man behind the AP Royal Oak and Patek Nautilus. “Brad's a Genta guy,” Zelnick says, because of course he is. Pitt even concocted a backstory for the watch, imagining it as a piece his father passed down to him. The watch is so precious to Hayes that after he wins the Daytona 500, he turns down the Rolex Daytona offered as a prize because, as he says in the movie, he already has a watch. The watch hardly leaves Hayes’s wrist, even joining him in the shower.Pitt must have known he’d be spending a lot of quality time with this watch, because he was very particular about its specs. Pitt wanted the authenticity of the ’70s Ingenieur, only with certain elements modified to his taste. The original ref. 1832 is incredibly thick, and Pitt, Zelnick says, “is very focused on thin watches.” IWC made several modifications to the watch to make it thinner, such as pulling out the anti-magnetic Farraday cage. Zelnick offered up several potential colors for the dial, including a slate gray that gave the watch a tropical feel and a pastel pistachio hue. Eventually, the team landed on the soft green shade that appears on the final piece in the movie.Fitting for an F1 prop, the watch came together at record-breaking speed. Zelnick typically likes to work on a watch for six months. He had seven weeks to finish the two identical watches that appear in the movie, with Pitt and Zelnick exchanging texts and emails nearly every other day to fine-tune the details. “We dropped everything to make it work,” Zelnick says. The final watches were finished so close to the production’s start date—on July 4, 2023—that Zelnick had to fly from New York to London to hand-deliver them to set. (When shooting paused during the writer’s strike, Zelnick took the watches back and worked on them for another four months.)IWC knew it had a hit on its hands right away. The brand has already released a modern version of the green-dial Ingenieur for fans who want a piece of Pitt’s magic. Given the amount of effort that IWC, Zelnick, and Pitt put into the development of this watch, it’s not entirely farfetched to say it feels like an unofficial collaboration with the actor. As for the two screen-worn versions of the Ingenieur that Zelnick made for F1? One went to IWC, while the other, naturally, went home with Pitt.See all of our newsletters, including Box + Papers, here.
This is an edition of the newsletter Box + Papers, Cam Wolf’s weekly deep dive into the world of watches. Sign up here.
To create the new movie F1—which director Joseph Kosinski describes as “the most authentic, realistic, and grounded racing movie ever made”—no shortcuts were taken. Stars Brad Pitt and Damon Idris both drove their own cars, and the film’s crew integrated themselves into the actual Formula 1 season. That painstaking attention to detail also extended to the watch Pitt wears as the racer Sonny Hayes. The actor was extremely exacting about the timepiece he wanted to wear, its backstory, and many of the technical details, including the movement and thickness.
Our story begins, oddly enough, with David Fincher. The Oscar-nominated director and Pitt are longtime collaborators and pals who share a love of making awesome movies—Fight Club and Se7en, anyone?—and, apparently, equally awesome watches.
A few years ago, Fincher, a big watch guy in his own right, learned of Cloister Watches—a small, New York-based outfit that customizes vintage watches using tools and processes from their respective eras—through an episode of Hodinkee’s “Talking Watches” video series. Soon after his episode was posted, Cloister founder Cooper Zelnick received a message from a Yahoo email account. “It said, ‘Hi, David Fincher wants to talk to you,’” Zelnick told me over Zoom this week. Zelnick began making watches for Fincher that caught Pitt’s attention. So when the actor needed a timepiece customized for F1, he told IWC—the film’s watch sponsor—that he wanted Zelnick involved.
I knew Pitt liked watches—his collection boasts some tasty vintage pieces, like a Vacheron Constantin 222 and a Patek 3800/1J—but I wasn’t fully aware of just how deeply he’s into the game. “He knows a lot about watches,” Zelnick says. “You could say to him, ‘Hey, man, how many tenths of a millimeter difference in thickness is a Patek 3700 versus an Audemars Piguet 5402? And he’ll tell you it’s six tenths.”
Pitt was very precise about what he wanted his character to wear in F1. He knew he had to wear an IWC, but rather than go with one of the brand’s standards, like the Big Pilot or Portugieser, he dug into the archives. Zelnick says that Pitt and Fincher together came up with the idea to go with the Ingenieur ref. 1832, a watch from the ’70s designed by Gérald Genta, the man behind the AP Royal Oak and Patek Nautilus. “Brad's a Genta guy,” Zelnick says, because of course he is. Pitt even concocted a backstory for the watch, imagining it as a piece his father passed down to him. The watch is so precious to Hayes that after he wins the Daytona 500, he turns down the Rolex Daytona offered as a prize because, as he says in the movie, he already has a watch. The watch hardly leaves Hayes’s wrist, even joining him in the shower.
Pitt must have known he’d be spending a lot of quality time with this watch, because he was very particular about its specs. Pitt wanted the authenticity of the ’70s Ingenieur, only with certain elements modified to his taste. The original ref. 1832 is incredibly thick, and Pitt, Zelnick says, “is very focused on thin watches.” IWC made several modifications to the watch to make it thinner, such as pulling out the anti-magnetic Farraday cage. Zelnick offered up several potential colors for the dial, including a slate gray that gave the watch a tropical feel and a pastel pistachio hue. Eventually, the team landed on the soft green shade that appears on the final piece in the movie.
Fitting for an F1 prop, the watch came together at record-breaking speed. Zelnick typically likes to work on a watch for six months. He had seven weeks to finish the two identical watches that appear in the movie, with Pitt and Zelnick exchanging texts and emails nearly every other day to fine-tune the details. “We dropped everything to make it work,” Zelnick says. The final watches were finished so close to the production’s start date—on July 4, 2023—that Zelnick had to fly from New York to London to hand-deliver them to set. (When shooting paused during the writer’s strike, Zelnick took the watches back and worked on them for another four months.)
IWC knew it had a hit on its hands right away. The brand has already released a modern version of the green-dial Ingenieur for fans who want a piece of Pitt’s magic. Given the amount of effort that IWC, Zelnick, and Pitt put into the development of this watch, it’s not entirely farfetched to say it feels like an unofficial collaboration with the actor. As for the two screen-worn versions of the Ingenieur that Zelnick made for F1? One went to IWC, while the other, naturally, went home with Pitt.
See all of our newsletters, including Box + Papers, here.
