It is Halloween today, and a perfect time to talk about the most important horror novelty of the season, the Netflix series The Fall of the House of Usher.
But as you have probably guessed, since this article appears on watchpro.com, it must be about watches as well as cinema.
Yes, that’s right. I started watching the series without suspecting anything in that direction, and in the second episode I saw a watch on the hand of one of the main characters, which was very familiar to me.
Then I watched the series without losing sight of that aspect.
First of all, it should be noted that the watch plays virtually no significant role in The Fall of the House of Usher.
It is not the Omega Seamaster that saves Bond and his next girlfriend.
Still, the appearance of the watch was a clear sign to me that the team – screenwriters, props people – absolutely understood what kind of people they were talking about and what kind of things those people should be surrounded with.
When it comes to the Usher family, I think the alternative is quite simple: either they, the Ushers, don’t wear watches at all – for example, if one of them showed up on screen wearing an Apple Watch, or they wear a watch that fits their financial means and implied tastes.
It felt perfectly natural for young Prospero “Perry” Usher to wear something gold and solid with a gold bracelet, completely diamond studded – the brand is not recognizable, but one can name a dozen that would fit, starting with Rolex.
A guy obsessed with the business idea of an exclusive ‘no limits’ club – what other watch could he wear? A steel Royal Oak ‘Jumbo’? No, his choice falls on a big golden ‘icy’ watch!
A 100% hit in this sense, in my opinion, is the character of Napoleon “Leo” Usher.
He knows exactly what he wants from luxury. His apartment has something very similar to Basquiat hanging on the wall (I noticed that, I didn’t do any special hunting or picture-by-picture analysis), his walk-in closet (I wish I had one of those) is a real treasure trove.
There are watch boxes here and there, and Chaykin’s Joker watch appears on his hand in several episodes – this is the only watch in The Fall of the House of Usher that I was able to identify without any additional effort.
Most likely, this is the Joker from the very first limited edition in stainless steel from 2017, which was a hit: the Joker seems to me to be the ideal choice for a character in a horror series.
It expands the character, takes away the simplicity, the flatness and gives it volume. Honestly, I’m starting to like him, even though he’s a nasty guy in many ways.
The reason for that is perhaps my professional involvement.
When someone puts on a Joker watch, it says a lot about them.
So do other watches, if it is one’s choice.
As I write this for Halloween the question for me is: which watches are most relevant these days?
And here I have to say that The Fall of the House of Usher gives the answer – of course there are Chaykin’s Wristmons.
He’s done it better than any other watchmaker in the genre.
Starting with the Clown, followed by the unique Pumpkin Head, the magnificent Dracula (also a 100% candidate for the list of mandatory props of any good horror), the cheerful Green Halloween, and finally last year’s funny and skully Calavera.
They could all well be in Leo’s collection if he would give us a glimpse into his treasure chest.
I don’t know if this is product placement, or if all the watches ended up on the screen by accident.
In any case, I’m blown away by the work of the prop team. But if this was intentional, I’m sure you’ll agree that this product placement can be considered successful.
One last thing I’d like to say about The Fall of the House of Usher. This is a horror TV series which follows all the genre conventions, but to be honest, I never flinched in fear while watching it.
And that’s not a drawback, I was just focused on something else: I have a suspicion that it’s just very well done, this horror.
