Cardi B’s ever-evolving watch collection in every iteration — from the bustdown to the hautest of horology — encapsulates the incredible journey of a “regular, degular, shmegular girl from the Bronx” to super stardom
There’s a video I have memorized by heart in which Cardi B is showing off her latest watch acquisition. “A hundred thou on my wrist, bitch,” she says, waving her iced out Patek Philippe Nautilus at the camera. “Our land might depreciate, our shmoney might depreciate, but this right here? I could sell it anywhere, anytime, and open like 10 salons, bitch. I’m so proud of myself.” Cardi’s pride is not just about buying an expensive watch; it comes from a bountiful source of hard work and success. After all, in about just three years, she went from a “regula, degula, schmegula girl from The Bronx'' to a Billboard chart-topping artist with 2017’s “Bodak Yellow”, earning two Grammy nominations for the song that resounded all summer through the New York City streets.
So back to the watch: the “hundred thou” on her wrist. What she’s saying in the video implies that her Nautilus – customized with aftermarket diamonds – would appreciate over time, which, as most of you reading this know, is untrue. But this is not an article about iced out watches (a very complicated subject, which I’ve written about at length here). Rather, this is a celebration of Cardi B’s ever-evolving personal watch collection in every iteration (from the bustdown to the hautest of horology).
ICE, ICE BABY
The first pieces (publicly recorded) in Cardi’s collection were indeed bustdown, a term which refers to an original luxury watch being taken apart (a.k.a. bust down), and then drilled and filled with diamonds or other gemstones. “This kind of customization is informed by the music,” GIA-certified jeweler Zenobia Morrow explains. “Sampling and remixing are foundational elements of hip-hop music and culture, so it makes sense that the remix concept would extend to style, jewelry, and, of course, watches.” This approach came onto the scene in the ’90s through hip-hop, eventually taking hold of the mainstream imagination by rappers defining the early-aughts “Bling Era.” Trips to the jeweler, iced out everything, the trend’s focus shifted from customizing Rolex Presidents to chopping and screwing steel sports watches like the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and the Patek Philippe Nautilus. Cardi B happens to own both (a Royal Oak Offshore, a 5711 and a 5980/1A with a custom mother of pearl chronograph), drilled and filled to the nines. Cue the haters…
Go ahead, explain why it’s bad practice to customize a watch with aftermarket ice. It’s important to educate new watch enthusiasts on the negative impact this will have on a factory watch’s value. But I’m shook over the sheer anger people target at artists like Cardi buying into a custom that has been embedded in hip-hop history for decades now. She made it big as a rapper – in fact, her 2018 debut album Invasion of Privacy resulted in Cardi B being the only woman to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album as a solo artist, marking the first female rap album in fifteen years to be nominated for Album of the Year. Just let that accomplishment sink in. So, yeah, in 2016 she may have been misguided thinking her Nautilus would skyrocket in value 5, 10, 20 years from now… but wait. It’s Cardi B’s Nautilus. That’s provenance.
FACTORY GIRL
Get you a girl who can do both… which, in this case, is rock both a blinged out Nautilus and a factory version. That’s Cardi B! She’s giving range. The day after Valentine’s Day – February 15, 2021 – Cardi posted a photo of a gold Patek Philippe Nautilus ref. 5980/1R gifted to her by her husband, Offset (one of the three members in Migos, for those of you living under a rock). In the eyes of the purists, this is the far superior 5980 in her collection; but I like to think of her owning both versions as an accomplishment in itself, representing the multiple phases in her life and career. The Cardi leaning toward the bustdown watch still lives within the Cardi wearing the factory counterpart.
Later that year, in May 2021, she posted a photo of herself wearing Patek Philippe World Time, eliciting cries of “WAP” (Wow, Amazing Patek!), from esteemed watch journalists like GQ’s Cam Wolf. Cardi’s World Time (Ref. 5230G), released in 2017 with a limited edition of 75, fittingly portrays the New York City skyline on the dial. Imagine… a girl born and raised in the Bronx now wears her city on her wrist. I’m getting chills just thinking about it. Clocking in at $53,299 retail, this watch has already started to appreciate in value despite the rapid depreciation of our land and our shmoney.
THE COUPLE THAT APs TOGETHER…
Like most of us lately, Cardi B and Offset have been obsessed with the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. After all, the iconic Gérald Genta design did turn 50 this year, celebrated with new novelties, fanfare and press gifts (I was sent the most gigantic box of goodies, complete with an AP “Oak”-scented candle and Bang & Olufsen bluetooth headphones). The main difference between the watch world’s collective obsession and Cardi’s is that she could actually afford – and obtain! You try getting off that waitlist.
Clearly the annual winner of every Valentine’s Day, Offset gifted Cardi an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked in frosted white gold, reported to be $375,000 USD by Entertainment Weekly. Weighing in at a nice 37mm, the frosted gold has a nice femme touch – a technique known as the “Florentine Finish”, perfected in collaboration with Italian jewelry designer Carolina Bucci. In an article for Time+Tide, writer Zach Blass dutifully transcribed an exchange between Cardi and Offset as the watch was presented:
“Saved the last for the best,” Offset told his wife in the clip, met with a gleeful “That’s too much!”
“No, it ain’t. Never,” he says, with Cardi expressing deep gratitude and a note that “He wants me to get more into watches.” As Blass pointed out, it’s funny that Cardi talks about her getting “more into watches” with an already insane collection sitting in the safe.
Then, in April, Cardi posted photos from a shoot of her wearing a pink gold Royal Oak "Jumbo" Extra-Thin "50th Anniversary" watch (accessorized with pink gold Van Cleef bracelets to boot). Its minimal black “tapisserie” dial is more true to the original design, standing in contrast to the openworked piece picked out for her by Offset.
But this past Mother’s Day, Offset came through again with “anotha one!” *DJ Khaled voice*: this time more minimal, a 34mm Black Ceramic Royal Oak (a watch which, in an earlier iteration, I luckily spent a week with last fall). Leaving NYC’s hotspot restaurant Carbone with Offset, she was spotted with the 2022 50th Anniversary release of the watch, just adding to her already stellar collection of factory pieces.
And Offset isn’t the only one giving the gift of time! For Father’s Day just this month, Cardi treated her man with a big, luscious pot of oxtail and a pink gold Royal Oak Selfwinding Chronograph, complete with a khaki-colored dial. Again, this piece is part of the “50th Anniversary” collection, which… again… has me shook to the core. How does one get a hold of these pieces? Lifestyles of the rich and the famous! I do yearn for a couples photo in which Cardi and Offset pose with their matching pink gold ROs.
#KULTURECHECK
Honorable mention goes to Cardi B and Offset’s daughter, who, at just 3 years old, has amassed 2M Instagram followers (on her private account) and a couple of bustdown watches. In July 2020, mere days before her second birthday, Kulture was pictured hand-in-hand with mama Cardi wearing a Patek Philippe Nautilus customized by Pristine Jewelers.
Yes, in the summer of 2020, a two year old was wearing a watch that cost more than most people’s cars – but think of all the lavish things people were doing behind closed doors (I mean, just look at the skyhigh auction numbers from that year). This birthday gift was absurd, but we are living in absurd times, only echoed the following year when Kulture was gifted a $250K customized Richard Mille. I have no choice but to respect Cardi’s commitment to the over-the-top lifestyle she created for herself.
When you’ve won a Grammy Award, eight Billboard Music Awards, six American Music Awards and fourteen BET Hip Hop Awards… let me know what you’re wearing.
Editor's Note: The Patek Philippe World Time Ref.5230G is available at Wristcheck.
