An ode to American Pharoah

Now that summer is basically over—anyone else feel like it was the shortest summer, ever?—I’m looking back at the whirlwind that was this season. And I realize, though my summer was jam-packed, there’s still so much I didn’t get to do. And one of those things was to travel home to New York, to visit the track with my family. Horses are big in my family—I used to do dressage, my uncle works with them, my cousins are basically around them 24/7—being from Saratoga will do that to you, I guess. That’s why, when I saw this watch from Longines, I felt drawn to it in a big way. No surprise, I’m still no watch expert, but hey, a gal can like ’em, anyway.

The Longines name is synonymous with horse racing—it’s prominently displayed at the finish line of Saratoga Race Course—so it makes perfect sense that this limited-edition watch should be presented in that same name. Created to commemorate the 2015 Triple Crown series, the piece’s brown alligator leather strap and dial is intended to reflect the coat of American Pharoah, the 12th horse to win the Triple Crown, and the first to win the Grand Slam, the Triple Crown plus the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The jockey on his mount sold the scene for me, but there are subtle details to honor the Triple Crown, too. The only numerical marker on the dial is the 3 (as in triple), and the number 12 featured on the watch’s date hand is subtlely yellow to highlight American Pharoah as the 12th winner of the Triple Crown series. The watch, limited to 160 pieces, is available in stainless steel (shown), as well as 18k rose gold and two-tone steel and rose gold. So it’s not a trip to the race track, but it’ll hold me over until next summer.

Triple Crown Conquest Classic 42 mm watch in stainless steel and leather alligator strap, $4,200

Brittany Siminitz

JCK Contributing Editor