Great watch wearers: Steve Jobs

Few people have changed our lives – and mainly for the better – than Apple founder Steve Jobs. From the Apple Macintosh to the iPad, his vision drove the production of some of the world’s most influential devices.

Ten years after his death, Apple is now a significant player in the watch market. The Apple Watch can be found on the wrists of millions of people who’d either given up on timepieces or never wore them in the first place. Thirty-four million were sold in 2020.

But the Apple Watch came after Jobs.

For Steve Jobs, his watch – like his trademark black turtleneck, ‘dad’ jeans and New Balance trainers – was about function first, and form afterwards. The timepiece he’s most associated with is a Seiko quartz three-hander from the Chariot range (serial number: 6431-6030). A watch he wore for an iconic Time magazine photoshoot in 1984.

For someone as wealthy as Jobs, this tasteful but ordinary watch is the opposite of what you’d expect the CEO of the world’s most valuable company to wear. It measures 33mm across and is powered by a regular quartz movement with a tolerance of +/- 15 seconds per month.

The dial ticks all the minimalist boxes with Helvetica numerals, a sleek handset and seconds markers around the edge. There’s also more than a nod to Bauhaus design and Dieter Rams’ AW10 Braun watch, but in itself, it’s nothing special.Jobs just wanted a tool watch that told the time in as clear a way as possible.

Despite this, and following Jobs’s death in 2011, the watch sold at an auction in 2016 for $42,500, with Seiko re-releasing the Chariot in 33mm and 37mm editions a year later.

While this simple timepiece may not count your steps, measure your blood sugar level, or order a take-away, it tells the time clearly and accurately. For Steve Jobs, that was all it needed to do.