124 WatchTime October 2009

CollectionCamera,

Lights,

From Rush Hour to X-Men: The Last Stand,Brett Ratner has directed some of Hollywood’s

most successful films. He’s also rewarded himself with some very coveted watches.

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I126 WatchTime October 2009

CONNOISSEURSBrett Ratner

n the sumptuous living room, which dou-bles as a screening room, of his historichome in the upscale Hollywood Hills en-clave of Benedict Canyon, Brett Ratner isputting the finishing touches on his latestproject, one near and dear to his heart.With the meticulous, critical eye of a sea-soned Hollywood director and producer,he scrutinizes the latest draft submittedfor his approval, nods his head in appre-ciation, and then stops to ask for a finalchange.

“Do you see here where it’s black onthe outside of the case and also black in-side, on the dial?” he says, pointing to avintage watch and holding it up next tothe new prototype on his wrist. “That’swhat I was going for… more black in-stead of the gray.”

“It’s gray because you’re lookingthrough the ‘lens,’” responds one of Rat-ner’s guests, referring to the shaded, cir-cular area in the center of the prototype’ssapphire crystal. “The ‘lens’ is gray; thecalendar is white. It has to be white to belegible. See, when you move the hand, it’swhite. You’re just seeing the visibleparts.” This observation comes fromLeonid Khankin, managing director ofErnst Benz, producer of aviator-inspiredmechanical Swiss watches. He is the manprimarily responsible for translating Rat-ner’s vision into concrete reality.

Ratner strokes his famously stubbledchin and stares intently at the watch, withits black PVD-coated case and vintage-style nylon strap. “I’m happy with it; Ijust thought you could do black onblack.”

“The gray gives it contrast, though. Itlooks nice,” another guest chimes in. Thisis Matthew Bain, watch expert, founderof the Senzatempo vintage-watch store inMiami Beach, and Ratner’s timepiece gu-ru — the man most responsible for the40-year-old director’s accumulation of awatch collection that would be the envyof many older connoisseurs.

The project at the center of this dis-cussion, as should be evident by now, isnot one of Ratner’s films, not the latestaddition to an impressive résumé that in-cludes the Rush Hour trilogy, Red Drag-on, Family Man, X-Men: The Last Standand the upcoming biopic of Playboyfounder Hugh Hefner. It is Ernst Benz’sBrett Ratner Limited Edition Chrono-scope — the project that has enabled Rat-ner, for the first time, to project his nowwell-honed watch-collector sensibilitiesonto a limited-edition timepiece that willbear his own name. And if the detaileddiscussion between him, Khankin andBain is any indication, getting it just rightis as important to Ratner as the final cutof his next box-office blockbuster.

Ratner’s manyRolexes include a

rare Paul Newmanmodel (third from

bottom).

“I’VE BOUGHT CARS AND GIVENTHEM BACK. WITH WATCHES, INEVER WANT TO DO THAT. THERE’SJUST TOO MUCH HISTORY THERE.”

The watch itself came about throughRatner’s involvement in Chrysalis, acharitable organization that helps placepoor and homeless people into jobs.Chrysalis had contacted Khankin aboutcreating four celebrity-branded time-pieces, a portion of whose proceedswould go toward the organization’scause. Actor Eric Dane, singer Mary J.Blige and music mogul Russell Simmonsalso contributed their names to watchesin the “Time for Change” collection, butwhile each of those stars offered input,Ratner was the only one who took a per-sonal hand in the concept and design ofhis watch. As an introduction to the un-veiling of his collection, he is showingme — and the impromptu entouragethat has gathered here for his interviewand photo shoot — the vintage watchesthat inspired different aspects of thatwatch’s design: its 47-mm size is takenfrom a Panerai, its military-style canvasstrap from a Breitling, its tri-compaxsubdial design from a Heuer. “In filmschool I used this old, German camerawith a three-lens turret in front, and thelenses were in this formation,” Ratnerrecalls, pointing at the subdials of the1960s-vintage Heuer. “I’m also a fan ofthis military-style strap, like the onesmade for NATO in the 1940s and1950s.” Bain points out that this partic-ular Heuer was, indeed, made for theGerman military.

What makes the Ratner Chrono-scope distinctive is its partly skele-tonized dial, designed to evoke both theviewfinder of a director’s camera and theshutter and lens of an old-fashionedphotographer’s camera. The Valjouxmovement is partially visible throughthe translucent crystal (the “gray” areathat sparked the previous discussion).The black matte finish on the case isevocative of old-school military watch-es. When the watch finally becomes afinished project, meeting the approval ofboth Ratner and Khankin, it will bemanufactured in a series of only 24pieces, making it an instant collectible,and thus a worthy addition to the cacheof horological treasures that Ratner has,quite carefully and specifically, assem-bled over the course of his career.

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Ratner wears a prototype of the

limited-edition ErnstBenz Chronoscope

that bears his name

days. Currently in development are Play-boy, his Hefner movie, and the latest in-stallment of another mega-successful ac-tion franchise, Beverly Hills Cop IV.

Ratner has expanded his brand intoother areas, as well, namely television,for which he produced the successfulFox-TV program “Prison Break,” andthe upcoming comedy pilot, “CopHouse.” He has established his ownbook-publishing imprint, Rat Press,which releases projects that speak to hislove of film history and vintage photogra-phy, with subjects ranging from MarlonBrando to Robert Evans to Jim Brown.He has even dabbled in photographyhimself, shooting covers for Vanity Fairand Interview, and ad campaigns for ba-by Phat, Jimmy Choo and Jordache. Hisbook Hilhaven Lodge: The Photo BoothPictures is a compilation of photos takenof celebrity visitors to his home.

AN INFORMAL TOUR of that home of-fers glimpses into Ratner’s psyche. Hil-haven Lodge, built in 1923, has beenhome to film royalty: both Kim Novakand Ingrid Bergman lived here, and theEnglish-style architecture, wood accents,rustic stone fireplace and cathedral-likeceilings have played host to parties forseveral generations of Hollywood glit-terati. The 1970s-style disco in the base-ment was the work of the home’s most re-cent owner, Allan Carr, the late, flamboy-ant producer of Grease and Can’t Stopthe Music. It was the disco — with its DJbooth, Egyptian statues and mirroredceilings — that sold Ratner on the house,and he has, according to the celebritypress, done his part to continue Hil-haven’s festive tradition. While he obvi-ously approaches his work with tirelesszeal, Ratner has also found time to pro-vide the gossip rags with plenty of mate-rial: past dating companions have includ-ed model Rebecca Gayheart, actressZhang Ziyi and tennis star SerenaWilliams, and he has also been linked tonotorious party girls Lindsay Lohan andParis Hilton.

He also has devoted a significantamount of time indulging a serious maniafor collecting — and not only watches.Down the hall from the disco is a pool

WHILE BRETT RATNER’S love ofwatches developed over time, his love offilmmaking emerged almost from dayone. Born and raised in Miami Beach, hemade regular pilgrimages to the matinees— mostly action movies — with hisCuban grandfather. “As a Cuban, hisEnglish wasn’t perfect,” Ratner recalls,“so it was easier for him to understandwhat was going on in those types offilms.” He knew around age eight that hewanted to make movies, and in 1983, hegot his first taste of a Hollywood career— snagging an uncredited cameo in theAl Pacino classic Scarface while hangingaround the set. He enrolled at NYU’sTisch School of the Arts at 16, becomingthe youngest film major in the depart-ment, and attended NYU Film School.His first big break came when hescreened his award-winning short-filmproject, Whatever Happened to MasonReese, for his now fellow Chrysalis sup-porter and big-time watch freak, RussellSimmons.

Simmons hired Ratner to direct musicvideos, launching the young filmmaker’shighly successful career in that field,wherein he collaborated with a range ofartists that included Madonna (Ratnerwon an MTV Video Music Award for“Beautiful Stranger”), Mariah Carey, Jay-Z and Wu-Tang Clan. In 1997, he gradu-ated to his first feature-length film, MoneyTalks, a sleeper hit starring Charlie Sheenand a then-little-known comedian namedChris Tucker. A year later, Ratner struckbox-office gold with Rush Hour, whichteamed Tucker with Hong Kong martial-arts-film icon Jackie Chan. The culture-clash buddy comedy grossed $250 millionworldwide and spawned two blockbustersequels. Having put his stamp on the ac-tion genre, Ratner branched out into ro-mantic comedy (with 2000’s The FamilyMan), suspense thriller (2002’s Red Drag-on, a Silence of the Lambs prequel) andcrime caper (2004’s After the Sunset) be-fore tackling his biggest budget and mostambitious project, X-Men: The LastStand, the third film in the mega-popularMarvel Comics mutant superhero fran-chise, which in 2006 shattered the recordfor the biggest Memorial Day weekend re-lease ever, taking in $123 million in four

“I DON’T HAVE GAUDY WATCHES.I PREFER TO WEAR ONES THATONLY A FEW PEOPLE IN THE WORLD NOTICE ARE SPECIAL.”

Vintage models from Rolex, Patek Philippe and other classic brands make up much of Ratner’s collection.

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October 2009 WatchTime 129

October 2009 WatchTime 131

CONNOISSEURSBrett Ratner

room with walls full of glass cases hold-ing a cavalcade of eclectic memorabiliafrom his career: Ratner’s NYU studentID, a ticket to the Oscars, numerousmovie posters and signed photos, a mint-condition copy of Giant-Size X-Men #1,undoubtedly used for research on thefilm, invitations from Hollywood playersand Washington power brokers. The liv-ing room is bedecked with art, mostlyvintage photography as well as modernistsculpture. It also holds numerous books,mostly photography volumes and biogra-phies; old magazines; and antique anddecorative ashtrays.

As with many celebrity watch enthu-siasts, Ratner caught the collecting bugright around the time when he could af-ford to indulge it. “I was, like, 26 when Igot my first big check, and that was whenI could afford a good watch,” he reveals.After being blown away by the vintageRolex on the wrist of one of his watch-fan friends, and finding out that it camefrom Bain, Ratner tracked the latterdown, and his watch education began inearnest. “I would hang out in Matt’s storefor hours just looking at every watch,” hesays. In a process that Bain calls a “slowgraduation,” Ratner worked his way upfrom moderately expensive, simple mod-els to some of the rare holy grails ofwatch collecting.

One of Ratner’s favorites, the so-called “Paul Newman” Rolex, is one ofthose grails. At first glance simply a RolexCosmograph Daytona of 1960s vintage,what makes this timepiece special is its di-al, which features a number of subtle dif-ferences from the typical Daytona dial.The subdials have block indices; each sub-dial has crosshairs meeting in the center;and, most tellingly, the minutes subdial at9 o’clock is marked at 15, 30, 45 and 60rather than at 20, 40 and 60. Only watch-es in References 6239, 6241, 6262, 6263,6264 and 6265 are considered authenticPaul Newmans; as the dials have been outof production since the early 1970s, these

The director’s vintage Panerai Radiomir is a rare treasure, madeeven more valuable by its originalleather strap.

Rolexes are quite rare and astonishinglyvaluable. The model received its unofficialmoniker when Newman’s wife, actressJoanne Woodward, presented one to theblue-eyed Hollywood icon as a gift whenhe took up auto racing in 1972. Ratnerowns two — a steel one that he likes towear and a gold one that mainly stays instorage.

In keeping with his love of both filmand old books, Ratner has sought out ex-amples of another classic, collectibleRolex, this one associated with a classiccharacter that has thrived in both: IanFleming’s James Bond. He owns severalvintage models of the Rolex Submariner,Ref. 6200, one of the first divers’ watchesissued by Rolex in 1954, and similar tothe one Sean Connery wore in the veryfirst Bond movie, 1962’s Dr. No. (Con-nery actually wears a Ref. 6538 in thefilm.) The watch features an oversizedwinding crown (differentiating it fromsimilar, subsequent models such as the6204 and 6205) and was the first Sub-mariner to incorporate the so-called“Mercedes” hands. The other telling fea-ture is the “Explorer” dial layout, withthe large numerals 3, 6 and 9.

AS COVETED HOROLOGICAL raritiesgo, however, even the James Bond andPaul Newman Rolexes might pale incomparison to the watch he’s currentlywearing, one of the direct inspirations forthe Ernst Benz Ratner Edition Chrono-scope: an original Panerai Radiomir,made for the Italian navy in the 1930sand ’40s — one of only around 300 be-lieved to still exist. As all the Paneristi outthere are aware, Florence-based Paneraiwas a company that started making pre-cision instruments such as compasses andcalculators for the Italian Navy aroundthe time of World War I. When Navycommandos needed timepieces theycould use in underwater missions, theyapproached the company, which used itsSwiss-watch industry connections to de-

“THERE ARE COLLECTORS WHOONLY COLLECT SPORTS WATCHES OR ROLEXES... I HAVEN’T REALLYFOUND MY NICHE YET.”

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action guy…’ Directors like Spielbergand Zemeckis are able to mix it up, butfew others do.”

That striving for versatility — the de-sire not to be pigeonholed — also ex-tends to his watch tastes. The directorprides himself on not limiting his scopeto one style of watch or one brand. Infact, he hasn’t even limited it to wrist-watches. His collection includes vintagedress pocket watches, including a plat-inum Cartier, an ultra-thin VacheronConstantin in a platinum hunter’s caseand a Patek Philippe made, according toBain, exclusively for Cartier. “What canI say? I have eclectic tastes,” says Ratner.“There are collectors who only collectsports watches, or only collect RolexPaul Newmans. I haven’t really foundmy niche yet. I do know I’ve never reallybought them for investment purposes.They’re for me to enjoy. They’re what Ibuy to reward myself. I’ve bought cars

and given them back; two years later I’mtired of them. With the watches, I neverwant to do that; there’s just too muchhistory there.”

When asked which of his manybeloved timepieces he would choose ifforced to choose only one, the inveteratefilm buff cannot help but illustrate hisanswer with a movie moment, one famil-iar to fans of classic, silver-screen come-dy. “If I had to hold on to just one, itwould definitely be my gold Paul New-man,” he says. “It’s the most beautiful,it’s incredibly rare, and it’s probablytripled in value since I bought it. Itwould be like the scene with Steve Mar-tin in The Jerk, where they told him hehas to get out of his house and he’s like,‘I don’t need anything but this! Thischair, I’m taking with me!’ That’s whatI’d be like. Take everything, but you’renot getting this watch. This watch iscoming with me.” �

velop the quintessential Italian divingwatch. The very first ones used move-ments and other parts provided by Rolex.Ratner’s bulky, 47-mm Panerai is the gen-uine article, with a Rolex bezel and aRolex “crown” logo on the oversizedwinding crown. It is also still on its origi-nal, weather-beaten leather strap, anadded value for a collector that manyotherwise-intact original Radiomirs can-not claim. “You could sell this strap,”says Khankin, “and buy two new Paneraiwatches.”

Another particular style of watch thatRatner seeks out is the triple-date moon-phase, most notably represented by an-other very coveted collectible in his line-up, Patek Philippe’s Reference 1518, pro-duced from 1941 through 1954 (only281 pieces total), which was the first seri-ally produced mechanical watch thatcombined a perpetual calendar with achronograph. Ratner describes the Patekas one of his most cherished watches, andit’s easy to believe him: Bain admits thathe sold it to him seven years ago but “Ihaven’t seen it in five years; it’s been in thesafe deposit box.” Another Rolex, one ofthe most complicated in Ratner’s collec-tion, is a triple-date chronograph from1950. It is another valuable watch thatRatner wears only occasionally, as wrist-watches often tend to get abused a bit inhis line of work. The sets of one of hisfilms — known for car chases, explosionsand martial arts throwdowns — can behazardous places for a watch. “I’m veryactive and hyper, always handling thecamera, bumping into people; I reallybang them around. That’s why I don’thave a lot of gaudy watches. I prefer towear ones that only a few people in theworld notice what makes them special.”

While he’s acknowledged as an au-teur of the genre, he mildly bristles at thenotion that he’s primarily a director ofhigh-octane action flicks, pointing out“I’ve done films in at least four differentgenres. I’d love to do a musical, crimedrama, political drama. Fifty years ago,directors would go from genre to genrebecause their job was to be storytellers.It was like an assembly line. Now wetend to put directors in a box. It’s like,‘Okay, you’re the comedy guy, you’re the

Triple-date calendar watches, some of them with moon-phases, are among Ratner’s favorite timepieces, especially models from Rolex andPatek Philippe. PH

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