Inside Noel & Liam Gallagher’s surprisingly comprehensive watch collections

THE GALLAGHER BROTHERS have a lot of trademarks. Parkas. Stone Island. Mod hair and polo shirts. One of their big style moves which often goes under the radar, though, is their watch collection. So, now we’re in the midst of the long awaited Oasis reunion, we’re here to give their wrist game the attention it deserves.

Ever since the nineties, it’s been rare to see them without one of the top brands strapped to their arm – sometimes two in Liam’s case, but we’ll get to that later. We’re talking Rolex. We’re talking Tag Heuer. It seems they’re only interested in the horological titans.

What’s so interesting about their watches, though, is how they wear them. The Gallagher boys are famous for their laddy take on Britpop: baggy silhouettes and sporty separates by brands like Umbro and Berghaus mixed in with casual vintage pieces for looks which are, on the whole, borderline sloppy.

But when you introduce big watches by big labels, as well as the odd piece of jewellery, it feels like a different story. Everything starts to look curated. A Seiko with an Adidas track jacket. An Explorer with a tank top. A Monaco with a short sleeved shirt. Though the clothes themselves don’t feel particularly special, the introduction of a timepiece with kudos is the detail which makes you look twice.

So, we’ve put together our top pick of their best arm candy of all time – and let’s hope this tour lives up to the rep.

In one of the band’s earlier photoshoots (in 1994, to be exact) at Manchester City’s then football stadium, Maine Road, Noel wore a Tag Heuer. But not just any Tag Heuer – a Tag Heuer 2000 which, at the time, was one of the Swiss watchmakers most iconic silhouettes because it offered a fresh take on a traditional dive watch.

It was characterised by a flatter, elegant case and softer design details – if you compare it to the brand’s 1000 series, for example, you’ll notice a slimmer bezel and refined markers. Gallagher’s watch, in particular is the WK1112 2000 Professional 200M – a design you can get for about £500 (about $1,000 AUD) on eBay.

’94 was a good watch year for the eldest Gallagher, Noel. He was also spotted wearing a Rolex Explorer (ref 1016) while on tour in Japan – and this timepiece is up there with our favourites across both brothers’ collections.

It’s simple yet elevated. The black dial and 36mm size deliver an understated finish which is balanced with the Explorer’s iconic credentials for a watch that feels self assured without being showy. And, as proven by Noel, it works with pretty much any outfit going – even a basic tank top.

It seems Noel was a big Tag Heuer 2000 fan – he wore another version of the same series while writing the lyrics for Acquiesce, the belter that’s largely understood as the song about the brothers’ tricky sibling relationship (but, according to them, it’s just about general friendship).

Anyway, this is a slightly flashier take on the same model (this time, it’s the Exclusive White WN1350) which has a solid 18k gold bezel and polished silver hands, as well as all of the dive-related credentials like 200m water resistance and glow in the dark hands and markers.

The brothers made it to the cover of now discontinued music mag Q Magazine many, many times. For one of the shoots, Liam shared the spotlight with what was seemingly his favourite watch at the time – a Rolex Submariner 16613.

Like Noel’s Tag Heuer, it’s a dive watch, but two-tone stainless-steel-yellow-gold bracelet, bold markers and chunky bezel push it to the statement end of the spectrum. And it wasn’t the only time he was seen wearing it. He also wore it to perform in San Francisco while supporting U2 in 1997 and it was one of his two timepieces in the music video for D’You Know What I Mean? (1997).

Back in 2004, Noel Gallagher revealed a watch-related anecdote on the Jonathan Ross show – to celebrate the success of the album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, Alan McGee, then head of Oasis’s record label Creation Records, gifted him with a Rolls Royce while Liam received a Rolex. It seems the watch in question is a Rolex Datejust on a two-tone jubilee bracelet which you can just see in a photo of the brothers at the record label’s Christmas party the same year the album was released. It’s hard to identify the exact style since the face isn’t fully visible but we’ve made an educated guess.

After the birth of his son, Gene, in 2001, Liam Gallagher was photographed outside London’s Portland hospital having an altercation with the paparazzi. Though this is one of his more scandalous moments, that doesn’t mean to say his choice of watch was anything but respectable.

In fact, he was wearing one of the most iconic watches going – a Tag Heuer Monaco, which was first popularised by Steve McQueen who wore it in racing film Le Mans (1971). It’s known for its square, water-resistant face, a first when it was released, and its Calibre 11 Movement.

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This story originally appeared on Esquire UK.

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