Patek Philippe
Is een replica.
Of beter 5 of 6.
Not since Casino Royale has a watch had such a starring role. For the well-dressed, punctual wheelman protagonist of Ryan Gosling's new film Drive, the filmmakers took time finding just the right timepiece for him to measure that all-important five-minute window.
"In the original book by James Sallis, Driver didn't own an awful lot," prop master Will Blount tells GQ.com. "One of the things he did own was this beautiful watch that he had been given by his father. So it was an important for the character that it be something memorable, something iconic." The decision, made by Blount with Gosling's input, was to go with a Patek Philippe with a brown leather strap. "It's a cool choice: classic, understated. Modern-day stuntmen typically wear big diving watches - so it was a departure, a conscious choice."
You won't, however, be able to go out and buy it: it's not a real model. (The distinctive ticking sound, meanwhile, was added by Foley artists.) "With the nature of the movie - Ryan is very active and there's a lot of stunts, a lot of blood. You can't use the real watch or you're going to break it," explains Blount. "Which would just be a shame. So we used five or six replicas." In fact, the only person who conceivably could get a watch like Driver is the man himself. "He didn't ask me for very much, but Ryan did ask: 'Will, can I keep one of the watches as a souvenir?' I replied: 'You definitely deserve it, brother.'"
