John Mayer is so famous among elite American watch-collecting community that most think horology is his day job while writing and performing Grammy Award-winning blues music is a hobby.
Mayer is a regular contributor to the USA’s influential Hodinkee web service, giving him the credibility of a true expert, and is also an insatiable collector with a vault of watches valued at around $10 million.
It wasn’t simply his musical fame that prompted Patek Philippe to create a bespoke model, a white gold 5004G with custom luminous hands that allows the musician to see the time on stage.
“John is something of a watch-nerd icon,” Benjamin Clymer, founder of Hodinkee, told the New York Times in a feature about Mayer’s watch collecting.
“I think, in a lot of ways, John made it O.K. to really go deep into watches and not be embarrassed about it.
Which is why his opinion on the launch of the Apple Watch carries special force. In the same NYT article, he predicted that everybody will eventually own one.
“We’re all going to end up with the Apple Watch, I don’t care what you say,” Mayer said.
“Even if you have to wear it on your right hand. Even if you wear it as a pocket watch, because I have a concept that you can slot the Apple Watch into a pocket, as a pocket watch. I think it’s a cool device, but there’s got to be another place to put it. I can’t give up precious wrist space for an Apple Watch,” he added.
