Watches at the Venice Film Festival 2024: the models that graced the red carpet on the lagoon

The 81^st Venice International Film Festival came to an end on 7 September in Venice Lido, after an edition that brought extraordinary films to the competition and inspired dreams thanks to the presence of the numerous celebrities invited. Once again this year, the Venice red carpet and the whole lagoon shone with glamour and elegance. The real co-star in Venice, next to the films in competition, was fashion, along with the watches paraded on the wrists of actors and producers, making their outfits even more personal and exclusive.

Cartier, main sponsor of the 2024 Venice Film Festival

For the fourth year running, Cartier is main partner of the Venice Film Festival, confirming the indissoluble partnership between the Parisian maison and the seventh art. Masterclasses with leading artists and a tangible contribution to the history of cinema, thanks to the restoration of great classics and support in the promotion of the films in competition, characterise the Maison's commitment to the dissemination of a free and constantly innovating form of art and expression. 

Cartier enchanted the lagoon not only with the fantastic jewellery worn by its brand ambassadors and the actresses invited, but also with its watches, on the wrists of popular actors, capable of representing the brand's elegance and refinement. 

Rami Malek, Academy Award for Best Actor for Bohemian Rhapsody, and French actor Raphaël Quenard, at the 2024 Venice Film Festival to present L'attachement, both chose the Tank Louis de Cartier to complete their casual yet elegant outfits. The latter opted, however, for a mini version, interpreting the current trend which favours smaller models over XL watches.

With its two parallel brancards and streamlined, light silhouette, the design of the Tank in 1919 was pure avant-garde, while today it is almost synonymous with the rectangular watch. A piece which has rightfully earned its place in the history of haut horlogerie. 

Aaron Taylor-Johnson made a surprise appearance on the Venice red carpet in a custom-made Giorgio Armani dinner jacket. Wearing his signature gentleman's bow tie around his neck, the only possible choice for his wrist was the iconic yellow gold Santos de Cartier a model created in 1904 which made watchmaking history as the first wristwatch. 

Jaeger-LeCoultre: Swiss excellence on the red carpet in Venice

Nicholas Hoult, in the lagoon to present The Order alongside Jude Law, walked the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival in an elegant dinner jacket complete with waistcoat. It was impossible not to notice the Reverso Tribute Small Seconds by Jaeger-LeCoultre on his wrist.

With its rose gold case and black dial in perfect 1930s style, the timepiece was instrumental in giving the actor an elegance and style of days gone by that left everyone breathless. Created in 1931 to protect the glass of the watch during polo matches, the Reverso has Art Deco-inspired lines and a pioneering and highly distinctive reversible case, synonymous with the highest levels of engineering and craftsmanship. 

The Reverso is a virtuoso union of form and function, elegance and practicality that still makes the historical Swiss maison, founded almost 200 years ago, famous today. 

Brad Pitt and Patek Philippe: a unique combination

We know all about Brad Pitt's red carpet appearance with his colleague and friend George Clooney: at the presentation of Wolfs, they gave the public and the photographers an unforgettable show. But Brad Pitt's arrival at the Lido in the afternoon was no less exciting and deserves a chapter of its own. 

In a blue-green suit, white T-shirt and sneakers, Pitt enchanted everyone, not only with his charisma and habitual generosity towards photographers. The “detail” that certainly caught the fascinated eyes of those who love haute horlogerie, was on his wrist: the Patek Philippe Calatrava, ref. 2526, a very rare vintage piece, produced in the late 1950s and practically impossible to find.  

A refined collector of wristwatches, Brad Pitt wore a much sought-after piece made of yellow gold, with a cream-coloured dial and featuring a Petite Seconde counter at 6 o'clock. 

The watches worn by celebrities always arouse a certain curiosity, but the one worn by Brad Pitt attracted huge interest because of the exclusivity and beauty of the piece. The Calatrava is the epitome of understated elegance, thanks to its pure lines which have become legendary.