Pepsi, Dark Lord, and Disco Volante: Do You Know These Famous Watches?

Originally published by Hodinkee.

Every watch comes off the factory floor with an official name – or at least a reference number. But a nickname? Watches have to earn a nickname. First, the community of watch lovers has to care enough to bestow one, and then, that name has to be good enough to catch on. The best ones supersede whatever the company had in mind, much in the way that the sports world decided the young man born as Earvin Johnson would instead be known as "Magic."

Nicknames are fun. Nicknames are cool. They're also pragmatic. They make a watch easier to remember. They capture the shape of the case, or the color of the bezel, or an important person who wore it. The "why" becomes less important over time. The nickname is what lasts.