There are a lot of TV shows that contain watches, but few in which watches play as pivotal a role as Succession. There's the pilot episode's Patek Phillipe, a sweated-over gift to Logan from his soon-to-be-son-in-law, Tom Wambsgams, which is barely acknowledged and then used to buy silence from the family of a humiliated child; the Roy dynamic encapsulated. Or Greg's Rolex, which he thinks is a gift from Kendall but begrudgingly has to stump up for – at a wildly inflated price – to save face in front of new, rich friends. And it doesn't even work.
And then there's the everyday wrist candy, peeping out from under cuffs, that says so much about who these people are and where they sit in the pecking order. Logan, who knows what he likes and likes what he knows, always in Jaeger-LeCoultre. Kendall, thirsty for attention, revolving through rare Vacheron Constantins, wait-listed Pateks, bespoke Rolexes. And Tom, who wears a Cartier because his wife wears a Cartier, until he finally escapes her influence at home, at work and on his wrist.
All of which is great for people who love great drama, and catnip to people who love great drama and watch-spotting online. Blogs that ID Kendall's rap bling (a Vacheron Constantin Harmony Mono-Pusher, limited to 260) or Tom's emancipation accessory (an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, spotted in season four on-set snaps) see traffic surges after each episode airs. As well they should. Because these are details sweated over by prop master Monica Jacobs, who's been responsible for the sourcing, selecting and safety of Succession's watches since season one.
As the clan return for their fourth and final season, she reveals how she decides who wears what, how their watch wardrobes have grown alongside their characters, and which models will star as the Roys bow out.
Succession really nails its watches. They say so much about these characters, whether you know watches or not. How are you choosing who wears what and when?
I definitely speak with the costume department, [costume designer] Michelle Matland, just to make sure that what I'm thinking is not completely off-base. I only really speak to the writers if it's a big change, or if it's character. Like Greg, we see much more of a style arc. So that is one where I kept checking back in with the writers saying, 'Is this going to make sense? Are we leaping too far ahead with his trajectory?' We tried to keep his watches, not modest, exactly, but a little less expensive. Then his taste changes a little bit more, and what he's willing to flash around changes. Whereas most of the rest of the cast, I was given a lot of autonomy to sort this out for them. Because I understood their style from season one, and from the scripts where they were headed. And I mean, they're already wealthy, right? So it opens up a lot where I can be, anything's possible. They don't have to always be wearing an incredibly expensive watch. It could just be a rare model.
Have you always had the watch bug?
No, I didn't. This this show gave it to me. It helps, also, after season one's popularity, there were a lot of brands that wanted to participate. We were offered promotional loans from a lot of really wonderful brands. And then where we couldn't get the real product, we were able to source high-end-looking prop options. Which, honestly, sometimes I preferred using because then if they got damaged or got misplaced we were never in too much trouble. But thank god we never actually had any bad things happen to any watches. When you're dealing with the real product, it's safe-to-wrist-to-safe, basically.
I'd be absolutely petrified.
We're all on the same page about what our priorities were and really, it's watches first, and then any other prop or anyone's needs second. And it was really good to actually work with these brands, you know, and collaborate a bit with the brands, some of them even gave us proper lookbooks for each character. Say I was told by the costume department, 'We want a classic tank watch', OK, let's go for a tank. But there's a whole world within that. I could go to the brands and say, 'This is what we want, this is the style. Show me what you got.' And then I'll pick three or four.
Were you carrying lots of different options for each character then?
With some of the actors, some seasons, it was kind of cool to say, 'We're just gonna have this one watch for you for this season,' because all these seasons don't really take up a lot of story time. And then there were plenty of actors where we were like, 'This is the watch when you're going out, and this is a watch when you're at Waystar. This is if you're in a brown suit, if you're in a black suit.' Each season, we got more sophisticated about how we were styling these things.
It feels like the appetite for spotting what's on the Roys wrists has grown too.
It's really exciting. Normally, the paparazzi shots that come up are less interesting to me, because this is my work anyway. But then I started seeing so many that were only excited by the watch. Like, 'Oh my god, we saw Tom walking out filming and he's wearing the Audemars!' That's what they're looking at? It's pretty exciting, to be like, I did that.
When Tom's under Shiv's thumb, he wears a Cartier, which is her brand. But then as he starts to get more independent you see different things on his wrist. Is that a deliberate progression?
Yeah, yeah. That's what we're doing. And I will say that Matthew [Macfadyen] is a watch fiend. So he is a really fun person to collaborate with. He's got such a keen eye. Sometimes I'm not sure what's gonna be right. And he's like, 'Well, I have my eye on this, can we try this?'
There are those character-driving watches, but then also some plot-driving watches, like the Patek that Tom gives Logan in the first episode, or Greg's Rolex that he's not sure if Kendall is buying for him or not. With those ones, is that coming from the script or are you choosing what gets featured there?
The Patek was in the script. With Greg's watch, it was scripted as a Submariner. So the writers knew what they wanted for him. But then beyond that, we got to play with which style. There's a watch that Logan gives to Frank. And that was a fun one. Because that was one I got to handpick, because it wasn't really scripted. What style watch it was going to be.
What is it?
That was a Carl F Bucherer. And that was a big shift for him stylistically, because in season one he's wearing a rectangular face more. A very low profile watch. And then all of a sudden, he's gifted this watch from Logan, that's much beefier, and much more similar to the style of what Logan is wearing, even though Logan wears a Jaeger-LeCoultre, always. But the weight of it and the profile are more closely aligned with Logan. And that was fun to play with.
Is Logan a watch guy?
My understanding of his character is that he is not really a watch guy. There are a few things that he likes. He knows what he likes, and that's why we've kept him in the Jaeger. Every season, he's been in a very similar Jaeger. He knows that's his style. He has a Carl F Bucherer for a couple episodes here and there. But he knows his style. Even with his costume, you don't see him deviate very much.
Is it something similar with Roman? Because he basically only wears Rolexes, right?
Primarily. But you're going to see a bit more variety this coming season. It was fun to branch off.
What's the reasoning behind that?
I'm trying to think of how I'm allowed to answer that [laughs]. You can kind of see Roman spreading his wings in a way. As he moves on, as the story moves on, there's a bit more play that his character gets to have. I think he sees his siblings trying on different hats, so you get to see Roman do the same thing.
It does feel like the watches they wear reflect their mindset at the time. And Kendall is such a good example of that, where it feels like you'll go from something really huge to something really simple, as his whole mind is sort of collapsing and rebuilding all the time. It must be quite fun to think, what's the watch that matches this part of his mental breakdown?
It's fun. It's definitely really fun. I would say that, actually, quite a few of the actors really care about their watches. Or we've started to care together.
How does that dynamic work?
I like to sit down with each cast member and talk through, you know, what they see for themselves, and then what I've sort of picked out for them. With the actors who care about watches it's a few emails back and forth first, and then we'll meet in person and actually try things on. Feeling them on their wrists. And that usually inspires something else, or, you know, shifts or we solidify, we say, this is good for this moment. But it can be from episode to episode.
There's chatter on the internet that Greg massively overpaid for that watch, that it's not worth the $40,000 he hands over. Is he being chiselled?
We played it that he was overpaying, for sure. But I think the other fun thing about the show is the way that people spend money is sort of all over the place, right? Just by saying, 'I've spent this much money on something', that makes it valuable. And especially for someone who's new into the world. Greg doesn't really know what price point things are at and what the value is. So that's another part of the joke.
There's a real sadness to the way they spend money sometimes. Like when Tom and Greg are alone in the VIP section of the nightclub, drinking their expensive vodka, but totally isolated. Are brands ever wary about being associated with that vacuous side of wealth? That empty spending?
They all understood the show. I always want to protect the brands that choose to work with us, because it's an honour. But I will say, they understand the show, they understand the comedy of it. And agreed knowing that comedy.
What's your approach to Shiv's watches?
She switches it up a bit. She's wearing the Cartier Panthère for season one and a white gold and a yellow gold one for season two. This season, we switched it up a little. Like what we were saying with Tom, they start off as a unit. And you see them with similar style, their watches, their movements, they check in, and then as things move on, you see them building their own spheres. It was nice to separate them, not have them both in Cartier, to open up a little bit what they're capable of. And the case shapes and profiles of the watches that we gave them, especially with Shiv, it was fun to get bolder.
Like how?
So at one point in season three she was wearing the Pasha de Cartier. She's switching to a much larger face, round, a heavier wrist-piece. And also leather. At one point we have her in a leather band. And that fits much more into the suit looks that she starts wearing. Because she's going back into the Waystar world. In season one, she's in politics, she's doing her own thing. And now getting sucked back into that realm. She's trying to fit in, in a certain way, and still stand out.
How about Kendall? He's got the deepest watch wardrobe, he wears a lot of Vacheron Constantin, which is a proper watch-lover's watch brand.
Jeremy is another one of the actors who has a very clear vision for his look. And so it is really cool when he said he wants something, and I can't get it, But I get something different. And then talking about it, talking it through is a really fun process for me. 'I got this instead, it's, you know, it has these qualities that we were looking for.' And it's easy to talk to him about that.
He wears a Richard Mille in the new season, right? That feels like a big shift in style.
Yeah. I think his character, above all the others, the playfulness with the looks is evident. Kendall is always reaching for something big and bright and beautiful. To make himself feel good. A lot of the characters, they have this money, it's old money for a lot of them. They've lived this lifestyle for so long. There's certain flashy things that they like, but they know their style, they know what they want. Kendall comes from that world also, but he does want to reach out for something crazy. He wants to stand out so far. So the Richard Mille, I'm so used to seeing those watches as very high profile. You know, they're very thick. And I was like, 'I don't know how that's gonna work.' But once the watch came, it's beautiful. When you see it, it's beautiful. It's slim. And it made sense. And I was like, 'OK, I understand what you're saying.' Because I didn't. When he requested it, I didn't get it. So that just speaks to, he did know. He knew what Kendall wanted.
And it was real?
That was real. That was the most nerve-wracking one.
Is it prominently featured or is it just something that sort of sneaks out from under a cuff in three seconds of an episode?
I think you'll see it for a lot of it this season. It's not in every episode. It comes in like mid-season, we introduce it. And we had him with a Breitling and a Rolex Predator [the murdered-out Sea-Dweller by Bamford Watch Department]. We played with that this season also, that's been fun. So it's not every episode but you'll see it. I think you'll see it quite a bit.
I wanted to ask too about a couple of non-watch things. I read an interview with Arian Moayed [who plays private equity bro Stewy] where he talked about the way you build out the sets to provide things they can improvise with. He specifically mentioned the lavender that he sniffs in the restaurant in Greece, which is such a funny little moment. Can you talk a little about how that kind of thing works?
Yeah, knowing the cast, knowing each of the actors and their impulses, or trying to predict their impulses is a big part of why I love working on the show. Because so much is improvised. Stewie always has this oral fixation that we play with all the time. Every time Stewie's there, I'm like, 'What do you want to be chewing on, or playing with?' Then Arian starts smelling the lavender. And, there, that's gonna be the thing in the scene, you know? With Roman, a lot of the time we plan so much, we put all these things out, but we don't always talk about it. I don't want to interfere with their process. So sometimes we'll just put a lot of things on the set and hope that he notices something. We all know how tactile one actor is versus another, and then some actors are like, 'Actually, I do need something to motivate me to this corner.'
Is that something distinctive to Succession?
A lot of shows don't want to talk to the prop department. You're told to just put the thing on the set and walk away. But on this show it's, 'OK, we need this thing to happen, and how is this going to happen?' And then everyone is in the room during the private rehearsal to be like, 'Well, what if this? Or you know, I have this random mirror ball that I thought we would use in this other office room instead, but let's put it here, can it work here? Does it make sense?' And the creators really allow for that kind of collaboration. And I try to be respectful of it because, like, who am I, you know? I pick things up and I put them down. But it's really fun on a show like this, I can be like, 'Oh, I've got this crazy white horse in our truck. Do you want to put it somewhere in the scene?'
Is it tricky to work around the camera techniques? It feels like each shot is less cemented than in a more traditional show.
Yeah, camera's always moving, seeing everything. There's always pop zooms and stuff like that. So unlike other shows, or movies, where things are defined, we kind of have to have everything ready to go and ready to be played with.
Was Tom's infamous chicken scene, on the yacht, part of that playing? Or was that scripted?
It was scripted. But normally, we have a food stylist, who knows how to make food for camera so it's always going to look the same. And there's a lot of things that can go unsaid in that planning. On the boat we had a professional chef, but who hadn't cooked for film. So wasn't used to making sure things look the same, was going to always feel the same. Or making 20,000 drumsticks available to bite into. Having to explain that to someone who's not used to working in film was its own experience.
Is it stressful working somewhere that luxurious?
There's a level of stress to keep everything beautiful. But it's exciting, right? Because otherwise someone like me would not be in a place like that, so there's a lot of walking into a new, beautiful set, and all of us going, 'Wow, it's amazing. It's so beautiful. Oh, but we have to push our dirty carts on this carpet?' So the boat was exciting but it was pretty nerve-wracking, just to keep everything really nice.
How hard is to know what should actually be in those spaces, which are so alien?
We have a lot of consultants for specific areas; business consultants, luxury consultants. In fact, the business consultants are incredibly helpful for all the paperwork, the office material that we have to present. Little things like presentation notebooks. The binding, that was something that I got really, really into. For this kind of meeting, how would it bound? Oh, this would be a coil across the top, it would be landscape. And it has to be a plastic coil, or this would be a metal coil, this one would be one big binder clip, and only that, and then pencil markings. You don't always catch that. But if we didn't do it, right, it would take away from the reality of what we're trying to shoot.
Succession season four airs on 26 March on HBO, and 27 March on Sky Atlantic
