The Watch World's Secret Weapon Is Going Solo

After rising through the ranks at Christie's and Audemars Piguet— and befriending the likes of Kendrick Lamar and John Mayer along the way—horology guru Michael Friedman is launching a revolutionary new watch brand

-  CAM WOLF

GROWING UP, Michael Friedman—a longtime fixture of the luxury-watch world—idolized Muhammad Ali. He met the boxer once, in 2000, at a watch auction he'd organized while working at Christie's in New York. Ali, Friedman says, touched his vintage Audemars Piguet watch and told him, “An object can be a talisman if it means something to you.” After such a meaningful exchange, you might expect that Friedman’s Ali-blessed timepiece went on to become a cherished heirloom, destined to be passed down from one generation of Friedmans to the next. Instead, in October 2022, while backstage at a concert in Lausanne, Switzerland, Friedman took the watch off his wrist and gave it away to Kendrick Lamar without a second thought.

The B-Theory’s striking design features three distinct dials meant to depict the history of time telling.

That gift was a token of appreciation for something Lamar had done a few months prior. In May 2022, John Mayer had just left a dinner in New York with Friedman, who was then serving as Audemars Piguet's head of complications (horological-speak for the extra functions of a watch), when the musician decided to listen to Lamar's just-released album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. As the track “Rich Spirit” played, Mayer couldn't believe his ears: “AP, Michael Friedman, my friends cooler,” Lamar raps. Mayer was the first to break the news to Friedman. “You got a Kendrick shout-out!” Mayer remembers relaying. “What’s cooler?” The name-check confirmed something most watch insiders already knew: Friedman is one of the best-connected and most influential people in the industry.

"You're either a historian or you're a technician, and he is a very rare combination of both."

-JOHN MAYER ON FRIEDMAN