In Conversation With

mechanical watches that can be worn on and off the course. Take Hublot’s Big Bang Unico Golf (hublot.com), which provides a mechanical scorekeeping function for strokeplay, tracking the hole you’re playing, your shots per hole and displaying your running total for the round. At Hublot, it comes with a tech-forward, multicoloured carbon-fibre colour scheme, but it’s an idea that has been around for a while; anyone with a taste for more niche watchmaking should track down Jaermann & Stübi, the German brand that has been producing golf-related limited editions for years. Its ‘Hole in One’ range (jaermann-stuebi.com) packs the same kind of push-button shot-counting display, while other models in the range commemorate the likes of Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros as well as the Royal Open (which tracks the duration of your round). Back in more mainstream territory – on the fairway, you might say – Omega’s Seamaster Aqua Terra 150m Golf Edition (omegawatches.com) comes in either a verdant green or ‘hazard’ orange colour scheme, both sold on textile NATO-style straps for ultimate comfort on the course.

It’s often asked whether a mechanical watch stands to suffer any negative effects from the impact of club on ball. Shock resistance is a major concern for Swiss watchmakers, but the good news is that even regular watches with no specific sporting credentials should have good enough protective measures engineered in. Engineers at IWC, which created a concept watch designed to withstand extreme G-forces in 2021, calculated that a golf swing exerts roughly 20-60G on the watch – for context, it tests even its regular watches to withstand impacts of 5,000G. So your average mechanical watch should be fine – but if you want something that’s gone the extra mile in its development for the world of golf, you need the Richard Mille RM 38-02 ‘Bubba Watson’ (richardmille.com). Cased in an eye-catching candy-pink striped carbon and quartz polymer – a hue that has become the golfer’s de facto trademark – with a movement made from carbon TPT and grade 5 titanium, it’s designed to be as light as possible both for comfort and to reduce the momentum acting on the components. The brand rates it as resistant to impacts of up to 10,000G, and, naturally, it’s worn by its namesake – one of the biggest hitters on the tour – so you know it works. Ironically, however, this is one mechanical timepiece you won’t see on the wrists of those aforementioned traditionalists.

In Conversation With… Bubba Watson

PHOTO: ALLAN HENRY

THE TWO-TIME MASTERS CHAMPION ON THE STATE OF GOLF, THE STATE OF HIS GAME, AND MORE. BY FARHAD HEYDARI

FH: What a year! BW: Yeah, it’s been a fun year. LIV Golf is something new – the team element of it. It’s something fun, energetic, dynamic, and it’s going to change the landscape of golf. And that’s already starting to happen as more and more people believe in it.

FH: And more and more people are seeing you guys play in new locales, right? BW: That’s right. I was just in Bangkok, my fifth time playing there. And in Jeddah, where I played in January and finished second. There is huge excitement any time you show up to a country that you haven’t been to previously or that you don’t frequent as often: the fans love us and we love them.

FH: It’s the team format, but what else? BW: Everybody smiling, everybody having a blast hearing the music in the background. It just kind of puts you in a different frame of mind: you’re tapping your feet, enjoying the chilled-out vibe. It’s fun!

FH: Watching you play is fun – why is your game so different than everyone else’s? BW: Golf, for me, isn’t about straight lines. I see curves. How do you get the ball to a position you’re looking for either in the middle of the

BREAKING THE MOULD Bubba Watson in action, wearing his RM 38-02

fairway or on the green? How do you shape it there, ’cause the hole isn’t straight? The green has contours… I guess I just see things differently. I see movements. I see creativity.

FH: Is that what drew you to Richard Mille? BW: Absolutely. You see innovation, you see creativity, you see thinking outside the box. And my mould and thinking when I play is the same mould and thinking of the brand. Richard does things that people say can’t be done, but he’s proven year after year after year that it can be done – including this year, with the RM 38-02. And I’ve been with him since 2010. But, yeah, you just keep seeing new innovations that ‘can’t be done’ – it’s just like when I pull off shots that people say can’t be done – and then I do it. Richard is the same.

FH: Speaking of which, when can we finally see you out there playing? BW: I’m starting to hit the balls after my knee surgery. But what I’m really trying to do is get into the right frame of mind. I haven’t gotten past hitting 7-irons so, hopefully, come November, I’ll start hitting some drivers. And I’ll definitely be ready by January because I don’t have any pain right now.

FH: We look forward to seeing you out there, Bubba. BW: Thanks, Farhad.

Richard Mille does things people say can’t be done… like when I pull off shots people say can’t be done