It can be hard growing up in the shadow of giants. Hero Fiennes Tiffin has two very notable actors as uncles: Ralph and Joseph Fiennes. What’s more, his big new role in Amazon’s Young Sherlock is as (a teenage version of) the detective himself. Sherlock Holmes, obviously, has been played by a thespian hit squad of actors over the decades, from Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Downey Jr to Christopher Lee and Peter O’Toole.
No pressure then. But stepping out at the Young Sherlock premiere in London this week, Fiennes Tiffin stayed cool, calm and collected. Just look at what was on his wrist: a blue-dial, 38mm Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra. This is about as down-the-line as you can get; a watch for someone with nothing to prove. Aqua Terras go with pretty much anything, and have just about as much functionality as you actually need in a watch for day-to-day life. It’s the “nice watch” that many people – this writer included – might get as a 21st birthday present or similar. A watch to not stand out with – handy, perhaps, if you’re channelling a fictional detective.
Fiennes Tiffin has gone for the 38mm rather than the 41mm version. The former is slightly more manageable on the wrist of anyone who isn’t totally jacked – the gen Z version of a sports watch, subtly informed by the prevailing wind of smaller dial sizes. That 38mm dial size is just about the only point of similarity with the watch rocked by his co-star Dónal Finn, who plays James Moriarty. In keeping with his on-screen role as a dastardly villain-to-be, he went a bit flashier, with something from Girard-Perregaux, one of Switzerland’s oldest watch brands: the IYKYK Laureato with a textured copper dial and an octagonal, diamond-set bezel – on his right hand no less.
Trailblazers like Bad Bunny, Timothée Chalamet, Tyler, the Creator and (just last week at the BAFTAs) Michael B Jordan have proved you can rock a women’s watch with panache, and in a way that’s not necessarily making a big statement about gender but is simply a great, straightforward style move. That’s very much what Finn is going for here – combined with some square-shouldered, masculine tailoring, any daintiness in the design is transformed into swagger.
Red carpets might now be obsessed with leather straps, but these two young guns show how much range there still is in steel bracelet – integrated or not. Young Sherlock viewers can look forward to mysteries being solved on screen, but on-wrist, Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Dónal Finn have already cracked a couple of codes to unlock horological freshness.
