Tim Walz’s Watch Has a Surprising Connection to Interstellar

Somebody’s gunning for the watch-guy vote. Tim Walz appeared alongside current VP (and P hopeful) Kamala Harris wearing a Hamilton Khaki Field Murph, the automatic steel watch named for a character in Interstellar, aka yet another Christopher Nolan film in which I have absolutely no idea what’s going on and instead simply concentrate on the visuals.

Though it’s tough to tell whether this particular iteration is the original Murph or the Murph 38—a scaled-down version—both are largely identical. Walz’s timepiece features a brushed stainless steel case with a smooth bezel and a signed crown (without crown guards) surrounds a black dial with a 1/5th-seconds track, large Arabic numerals, and an interesting set of cathedral hands. The whole shebang is lumed in a kind of soft-glowing “fauxtina,” coming off like a mashup of vintage 1930s and 1960s Hamilton mil-spec pieces. (Fans of the original Murph will remember that the seconds hand features luminescent material in a Morse code pattern, which is a reference to a key plotline in Interstellar. The Murph 38 does not.)

Powered by an automatic Hamilton H-10 movement and fitted to a black leather strap with white contrast stitching, the $995 Murph (and $895 Murph 38) did not come out in concert with the film. Rather, the original watch was designed as a dedicated film prop, and it was only after five years that Hamilton decided to release a 42mm production model. At 52mm lug-to-lug, this was a large watch. The 38mm that dropped in 2022 is much more manageable.

Politics aside, what can we infer from the sighting of a relatively obscure, science fiction-inspired Hamilton on the wrists of a vice presidential candidate? While I would personally rather fall into an active volcano than delve into a political debate, Walz’s choice is nothing if not interesting. Was he trying to “show up” for an American-founded brand—even if it’s one currently owned by Swatch Group? Was he making an affordability statement by rocking a sub-$1,000 Hamilton rather than, say, a $10,000 Rolex? Does the dude simply really love Matthew McConaughey? Wearing a rugged field watch certainly works well with Walz’s pitch-perfect workwear style.

No matter the reason for Walz’s selection, this is a fun spotting for watch lovers everywhere: Central to the plot of Interstellar, a film prop has suddenly found itself at the center of American politics. Could Christopher Nolan have foreseen such a turn back in 2014? Unless he had an actual black hole to jump through, chances are small.

Noah Lyles’s Omega Speedmaster Apollo 8 Dark Side of the Moon

Oh, the things we do for watches. Case in point: Rather than tell Omega that he’ll strap on his Speedmaster once the 100m dash is over, Noah Lyles, the world’s fastest man, actually ran the darn race with it on his wrist—and won. Granted, the Apollo 8 DSOTM is fashioned from ceramic, and is thus relatively light for a Speedy…but still! Positively wild. The athletic feats competitors have been able to accomplish this summer while wearing watches are truly mind-boggling. The blackened Speedy was easy to spot on Lyles’s wrist as he awaited a decision from officials using Omega timing equipment. (Separating his gold win from Kishane Thompson’s silver turned out to be just 0.005 of a second—which, unfortunately, is too small a unit of time to be measured by his Speedmaster. Luckily Omega has many other tools to get that job done.)

Novak Djokovic’s Hublot Big Bang

Djokovic is just the fifth person in history to achieve a “Golden Slam,” winning all four Grand Slams plus an Olympic gold medal in singles. Defeating Carlos Alcaraz and clinching the gold for Serbia, Djokovic was equipped with the Hublot Big Bang Meca-10 Ceramic Blue 45mm, a microblasted and polished blue ceramic sports watch powered by an automatic movement that ships paired to a black and blue rubber strap. I must say, this has gotta be one of Hublot’s best-looking watches—I just can’t imagine rocking a 45mm timepiece while trying to concentrate on being the world’s best tennis player. But that’s why he’s wearing the watch and I’m writing about it. If you’re not a Hublot brand ambassador, one can be yours for $25,200.