Victoria Beckham Talks Style, Showing Up Early, and Staying in the Moment

Victoria Beckham knows what she wants. While the elevated and effortlessly cool clothing and accessories she designs for her eponymous fashion house are born from wide-ranging sources of inspiration, they all have one thing in common: desire. "Ultimately, I like to challenge myself, design-wise. [The inspiration] varies each season. It might be a movie, a piece of art, or an exhibition. It might just be as simple as a silhouette, something that I feel feels fresh, something that I desire," Beckham explained at the launch of her fashion label's latest launch: a luxury timepiece collection in collaboration with the heritage Swiss watch-making brand Breitling.

While Breitling has designed watches for women in the past, the limited-edition Chronomat 36 Victoria Beckham collection marks the first foray in its 140-year history in collaborating with a fashion designer. Of the process, Beckham tells InStyle, "I think it was just taking what Breitling do so well, and putting my little spin on that. And making, ultimately, watches that I, as a woman, desire to wear."

So what does Beckham desire in a watch? For starters, nothing too delicate, dainty, or fussy. "I like a more masculine watch, but one that does have a sense of elegance and feminine feel, which is why this is the perfect watch for me. It does feel masculine, but then you've also got the color, which is so vibrant and quite feminine."

The color palette chosen for the Chronomat 36 Victoria Beckham collection watch faces features some vibrant firsts for Breitling, so much so in fact that CEO Georges Kern revealed the brand created never before-used shades to capture the vibrancy and delicacy of Beckham's envisioned color palette. The result is a watch with a bit of heft that sits slightly loose on the wrist, evoking the same sanguine sense of power as an oversized suit.

The collection, comprised of six pieces in both stainless steel and yellow gold, priced between $5,950 and $29,500, is deliciously covetable and luxurious, but effortlessly so. Known for her own effortlessly cool style, Beckham is the first to admit that it takes a substantial amount of work to pull off aesthetic effortlessness. As such, she put considerable thought into ensuring her watches function as finishing touches on both relaxed and formal looks. “They work perfectly with a simple pair of jeans, but they would also look great with some tailoring or with a tuxedo or with a beautiful evening dress,” Beckham says of the collection. “They’re very easy watches to wear.” Perhaps, most vitally, she adds, “you look cool, whether you are dressing them up or wearing them in a very casual way.”

Beckham’s advice on styling her effortlessly luxe, masc-with-a-splash-of-femme watches is as cool as the designer herself. When asked what she would wear on her non-watch wrist, her answer is simple, straightforward, and chic. “Ice,” she says. “Tennis bracelets. Sometimes it might be a gold cuff, but it depends on where I’m going.” 

In a world inundated with screen time, investing in a luxury timepiece when one could simply glance at one's phone matters to Beckham. For her, style and mindfulness are intertwined, wound together tightly as watch springs. "I love the feeling of wearing a watch and I don't want to be looking at my phone all the time. So many of us spend way too much time on the phone." Practicality also comes into play for Beckham as much as the ritual of wearing a timepiece. "I've always got to know what the time is. I'm always running to a meeting or getting Harper from school, so I enjoy the process of getting dressed and then putting on my watch. I love how that feels."

At the end of the day, a gorgeous watch signifies more than the hour to Beckham. When asked whether she's always on time or always running late, Beckham describes herself as "perpetually early," then, rather cheekily, she expounds, "Well, for work. Socially, not always. But I like to be early. Someone said to me once actually, 'What is the ultimate in luxury?' And my answer was, 'Time.' Time is so precious. It's the ultimate luxury."

The limited edition Chronomat 36 Victoria Beckham collection is available now online.