From Mickey Mouse To Black Panther, 5 Luxury Watches That Pay Homage To Pop Culture

If you’ve studied the luxury watch market over the past few years, you might have noticed an unexpected, rather playful trend taking root: Some of the industry’s most prestigious brands are paying homage to cartoon and comic book characters on the dials of their timepieces, reflecting not only a collective nostalgia for the icons of their youth, but also a newfound willingness to take risks that in the past might have been viewed as shameful (cue the scandalized reaction to Gérald Genta’s first Mickey Mouse watch in 1984). There is, of course, another factor at play in the rise of these whimsical, if somewhat polarizing, timepieces: rarity. Almost all of the wristwatches highlighted below were produced in extremely limited editions and are officially sold out, not counting Genta’s latest ode to Mickey (but only because it doesn’t come out til January!). Read more at Robb Report.