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Until yesterday, it had been a big fat 25 years since Coventry City last won a home game in the Premier League. Thanks to manager Frank Lampard, that counter has reset to zero with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Newcastle, which followed an away win at Nottingham Forest. Lampard took over the team in November 2024, when they were way down at 17th in the Championship; he got them promoted at the end of last season and, after a string of losses at the beginning of this season, now they seem to have found their feet in the top flight.
So, good days for the Sky Blues, good days for Frank Lampard – and great days for Frank Lampard’s wrist. As you’d expect from a former Premier League player, the guy is absolutely no slouch when it comes to watches. Back in April, when Coventry got promoted, we took a look at the two world-class Patek Philippes he had in his locker: a Grand Complications Perpetual Calendar Split-Seconds Chronograph, in platinum; and a Nautilus with a moonphase and an annual calendar. Big-boy pieces with big-boy complications.
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Getty, Patek Philippe
Now he’s made that duo a hat-trick with another Patek, a Grand Complications 5316/50P-001. What all those numbers signify is that this extremely fancy watch has the following: a retrograde perpetual calendar, which can keep track of the date for years and years without adjustment, and with a date hand that flips back to one at the end of the month; a tourbillon; and a minute repeater, which will chime the time at the push of a button. But all this wizardry still looks sleek and classy, thanks to the watch’s translucent, smoked-glass dial, platinum case and – maybe the only everyday-looking thing about it – a fabric-pattern strap.
If you’re thinking that this setup probably doesn’t come cheap, you’d be extremely correct: a princely £879,490 is what this watch costs. Which might be roughly equal to a year's salary of some Coventry players. But it certainly seems to be proving its worth, given the team has won two of two games played since Lampard has started wearing it. The guy has a type – complicated Pateks – when it comes to watches, and it’s fun to see him properly double down on it. And even if this winning streak for Coventry proves short lived, well, he’s got a perpetual calendar on his wrist; he can keep track of the long view. Let’s hope he doesn’t seriously test its capabilities with another 25-year wait.