Today, the idea of wearing two watches, either one on both wrists or two on one wrist, seems like an unnecessary bit of showing off. In fact, with the prominence of smartphones and smartwatches, the idea of wearing a traditional time-keeping device on your wrist sounds entirely antiquated.
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For Gen. “Stormin’ Norman” Scharzkopf, however, the 1991 Gulf War necessitated the wearing of two wristwatches, and the reason was simple, as he later explained.
“I always wore two watches during the [Gulf] war. The one on my left arm was set on Saudi Arabian time, and the Seiko on my right arm was set on Eastern Standard Time. That way I could quickly glance at my watches and instantly know the time in both Saudi Arabia and Washington, D.C. Sincerely, H. Norman Schwarzkopf, General, U.S. Army, Retired.”
Schwarzkopf penned these words in a letter to the Antiquorum auction house in the late 1990s when he donated one of his personal wristwatches to a charity auction. Pretty simple.
Listed as “Seiko ‘Desert Storm, Diver’s watch,’ No. 469576 Stainless steel, centre second, water-resistant to 150m. gentleman’s quartz wristwatch with day and date, rubber strap and stainless steel buckle,” the donated watch was most likely a Seiko Quartz reference 7549-700F.
While the watch is commonly believed to be the venerable Seiko SKX009 made famous by Robert Redford in the 2013 survival film, “All is Lost,” the detail of the quartz movement rules out the SKX and its iconic automatic movement.
Schwarzkopf’s second wristwatch is a bit more of a mystery. Though his letter to the auction house described the watch on his right wrist as a Seiko, the general is pictured wearing both watches on opposite wrists at different times. This makes it unclear if the Seiko in the letter refers to the dive watch sold at auction or to this mystery second watch.
At first glance, the two-tone gold and stainless steel construction gives the impression of a Rolex Datejust, which was extremely popular during that time. However, upon closer inspection, the bracelet appears to be a 3-piece link design like the Rolex President rather than the five-piece design of the Datejust’s Jubilee bracelet.
The links are also too small to be a Rolex Oyster bracelet. However, the Rolex President has been made only in solid gold or platinum. Since the Schwarzkopf’s watch features a two-tone bracelet and case, this rules out the Rolex President. Instead, it’s more likely that the watch in question is another Seiko, like the model 3E23-0A60. Although it’s billed as a ladies’ watch, the Seiko fits the bill of having a two-tone gold and stainless steel construction and a matching President-style bracelet.
While it’s not terribly popular across society as a whole, the practice of wearing a wristwatch on both wrists has become known as “Schwarzkopfing” within the internet watch community. That said, even amongst watch enthusiasts, the “Schwarzkopf” look is not a common sight.
It is also worth noting that Fidel Castro employed a similar practice. The Cuban dictator famously wore two Rolexes on the same wrist. Like with Schwarzkopf, the practice is attributed to Castro’s need to track multiple time zones. However, one of Castro’s watches was a Rolex GMT-Master, famous for tracking up to three time zones.
Perhaps the dictator needed to keep track of the time in Cuba, Nicaragua, Moscow, and Angola. It’s also worth noting that, at the time, Rolex was a utilitarian brand that made reliable tool watches rather than the luxury status symbol that it is today.
In a way, Gen. Schwarzkopf’s practice of wearing two watches has returned to the military. Frontline troops will often wear a G-Shock watch on one wrist to keep time and a Garmin GPS watch on the other to track their grid.
Very few service members will reach the rank of four-star general, but if you ever want to imitate one, pull a Schwarzkopf and throw on two watches. Just be sure to put them on different wrists. No one wants to imitate Castro.
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