Rolex, Cartier, and the Competitive Edge: the Watches of Challengers
Before I hop into the watches in “Challengers” and how they play into the movie, I want to establish an important fact about me - I am not a sports fan, much less a tennis fan. However, this movie wasn’t really about tennis, was it? This is more a movie about the loss of innocence to the nature of competition. Now that is something I can understand, and I’d wager you can too. Many of us are pushed to be competitive from a young age. Whether it be through sports, academics, the competition over jobs, success in the arts, or even in love, the spirit of competition is implanted early, and if you’re not careful it can take over. And yes, when it comes to the consumption of competition, watches can play a role. We all start out wide-eyed and accepting of others, the concept of “prejudice” or an “enemy” is not innate but instilled through slow infiltration. At the start, the characters in Challengers are exactly this - hopeful and innocent. Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) are former boarding school friends and roommates turned tennis teammates. They are close friends whose relationship extends both on and off court. Patrick is established as the naturally better tennis player at the beginning of their careers, but his love and respect for his friend Art is evident. In an early scene the two win a doubles match, but are then discussing a singles match they have the next day against one another where Art asks if Patrick woul...
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