Inc.
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Google, OpenAI and other tech giants are giving their employees luxury watches that outsiders cannot buy. These limited-edition pieces are becoming social media sensations and symbols of belonging, status and shared identity.
The Hottest Luxury Watches Right Now Aren’t for Sale.
They’re Made for Employees of the Tech Giants
Author: Lucia Auerbach
Employee-only Rolex and Tudor watches are turning company loyalty into a rare status symbol, creating insider communities that can outlast the job itself.
For many workers, the custom timepieces, which companies commission for their employees, are now seen as a sought-after perk of the job. Recently, these accessories have turned into viral hits as past and present workers show them off on social media platforms.
These rare timepieces are commissioned, customized, and/or gifted exclusively to company staff members. Luxury brands Tudor and Rolex are the most common manufacturers of the collaborations. The watches typically have subtle corporate logos on the dial or back of the face.
In recent days, employees have taken to X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) to show off their own pieces. According to one post, Google commissioned Tudor in 2024 to make a custom Pelagos.
OpenAI has its custom branded piece, of which there are only 400 available, according to one user. However, another claimed that Uber’s is even more exclusive—with just 100 produced.
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Ariel Adams, founder and owner of the blog A Blog to Watch, a site covering watches, told Inc. that there is a long history of brands making specially labeled watches for small groups. The watches are so beloved, he said, because they signal group inclusion and identity.
“This has always been a popular thing and many brands offer various co-branded or white-label solutions,” Adams said. “Historically, most of the buyers didn’t want the brands to promote the special, private watches. So while they existed, brands have not been able to use them for marketing very often.”
Adams has worked with the watch collector group at both Google and Tudor. He said that Google and similar tech companies gravitate toward these products because it helps to establish group identity and personal security.
“It makes people feel like part of something special but also successful,” he said. “Thus, unlike the normally self-centered nature of wearing a luxury watch, the pride is somewhat distributed between all the folks who have that particular model.”
Grant McCracken, PhD, cultural anthropologist and founder and CEO of Culturematic, agreed with Adams. He told Inc. that while these items maintain their status as luxury goods, the bespoke, employee-commissioned element elevates them into a realm of distinct, personalized prestige.
“These are luxury watches, but this is luxury with a difference,” he said.
Such a piece also speaks to the outside world—without saying anything. “It creates a watch that also tells a story, that may send a secret message, that gives us a deeply personalized watch, and a new order of scarcity,” he added.
He used the word “self-bespoke” luxury to describe this specific, employee-commissioned watch phenomenon. “That would leave us with something like: Tudor manufactures the watch, but the employees tailor its meanings to themselves: their history, their humor, their membership, their shared experience.”
Some see it as a way to gain entry into a specific group.
Gianpiero Petriglieri is associate professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD and an expert on leadership and learning in the workplace. He told Inc. that these watches are a symbol of employees seeking identity through communities inside of their companies. “Since many of us define ourselves by and through work, professional communities matter.”
Given the known reputation of these tech giants, owning an employee-commissioned watch by such a company is ultimately an invitation into a niche enthusiast community—something durable that has the power to transcend a single workplace.
“A professional identity that could be valued in different places,” Petriglieri added. “In a day and age of career insecurity and anxiety, these selves and the communities that sustain them are a precious source of psychological stability and social support.”
Credits: TCA, LLC.