The practice of “double–wristing” refers to a watch owner wearing multiple timepieces at one time. This could be two watches on one wrist, or a watch on each wrist.
The look has been creeping into hip-hop circles for years, with Drake double-wristing Rolexes in his video for “The Motto,” from 2012, and the likes of Tyga and Gucci Mane experimenting with the look (Kanye West may or may not have endorsed the practice by rapping, “That’s why you always see me with at least one of my watches/Rollies and Pashas done drove me crazy,” in “All Falls Down” from 2004).
In a sense, double-wristing speaks to the rising status of watches. Celebrity collectors like John Mayer, Ellen DeGeneres and LeBron James have made the five- or six-figure watch de rigueur on the red carpet, to the point where other celebrities feel the need to wear two statement watches to get noticed.
But there may be a practical reason, too. Diego Maradona, the Argentine soccer luminary, reportedly wears two watches (often a big-ticket Rolex and Hublot) when traveling: he sets one to his native time zone, the other to local time.
It’s the same reason cited by Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. During the Gulf War, he set a Rolex on his left wrist to Saudi Arabian time and the Seiko on his right to Washington time. Likewise Fidel Castro, during his 1963 visit to the Soviet Union to meet Nikita S. Khrushchev, accessorized his fatigues with two Rolexes, which some observers believe were set to Havana and Moscow time.
Double wristing in a trendy bar in Switzerland..