Ivy Style contributing writer Alec Dent is a reporter and editor for The Washington Post. Alec’s writing has also appeared in New York Magazine, Racquet, The Boston Globe, The Bulwark, The Daily Beast, Town & Country, and Vanity Fair. His interview with Jack Carlson titled “The New Pope of Prep” appeared in Town & Country. Alec has been admitted to a master’s degree program at Harvard Divinity School.
The moment for which the watch community has been waiting since Rowing Blazers founder Jack Carlson took over J. Press is finally here: Carlson’s first J. Press watch collaboration has come out.
The watch puts an Ivy League twist on the B80 model from Bamford London, with a dial divided into twelve slices resembling collegiate pennants with the written-out numerals replacing school names, except for the slice at nine o’clock, which bears J. Press’ logo; and the decision to produce the watch on a NATO strap places it in the preppy tradition of watches on grosgrain straps detailed in The Official Preppy Handbook.
To top it all off, the watch comes in a presentation box that features a limited edition J. Press blazer badge with gold bullion wire that can be detached from the box to be put on a blazer breast pocket. Trés prep.
The J. Press x Bamford London B80 has the typical specs of the B80: a 39mm titanium case with a width of 10.5mm and lug-to-lug of 48mm. With 100m water resistance, the J. Press x Bamford B80 is as sporty as it is preppy — as well-suited for yachting as it is for classes at Yale. The watch is powered by a Sellita SW300-1 automatic movement, which features a 56-hour power reserve.
Priced at $1,595 and produced in a made-to-order run ending March 26, limited to 100 units, it may be hard for everyone who wants one to get one. Fortunately for those who want to rep J. Press on their wrist, while the J. Press x Bamford collaboration represents the brand’s first luxury watch and its first watch for the American market, it is not the only J. Press watch out there. As Ivy Style enthusiasts already know, J. Press produces an entirely separate line of clothing and accessories for the Japanese market, where its parent company is based. A quick eBay search and one can find J. Press watches in a variety of styles from Japanese watchmakers. (It looks like most are made by Citizen.)
The most notable of the Japanese market J. Press watches came out just last year: a 500-piece collaboration with Seiko. The cream and black “tuxedo” dial is a nice nod to J. Press’ tailoring and the watch is versatile enough it can be paired with either the bracelet or black leather strap with which it comes.
The Seiko collaboration is also notable because of the quality of the watch — the Seiko 5 used as the base model is well respected in the watch community as a very solid entry-level watch, more durable and longer lasting than other watches about the same price point. It also represents a step up in quality from many of the other earlier J. Press watches. The new Bamford collaboration is an even bigger step up in quality and sets the bar high for what we can expect from J. Press watches in the Carlson era. More will almost assuredly be coming.
Alec, loved your article on Bamford watches, however I still wear my $35.00 dollar Timex with a navy blue and white strap from JPress. It was good to see you went to Chapel Hill. My son’s wife Uncle is Walter E. Hussman.
Alec, loved your article on Bamford watches, however I still wear my $35.00 dollar Timex with a navy blue and white strap from JPress. It was good to see you went to Chapel Hill. My son’s wife Uncle is Walter E. Hussman.
“His interview with Jack Carlson titled “The New Pope of Prep” appeared in Town & Country.”
Does Prepdom have a pope? An archbishop, sure – but a pope, surely not!
Perhaps a first among equals…
Primus inter pares. Indeed!
A GTH watch?
That is one ugly watch.