“This watch reflects everything I love—the ocean, nature, and the easygoing style I’ve always connected with.”
Kelly Slater has been a multi-hyphenate since almost the beginning. The young surf prodigy, blessed with knee-buckling good looks, quickly added model to surf. Next came acting followed by boy toy followed by singer, songwriter, inventor, astrophysicist and designer.
Wild to imagine that a boy from Cocoa Beach could become so much. Most specifically, and as it relates to design, that he could develop such a refined eye. I was just in Daytona Beach, a few clicks north of Cocoa, and can report that it is an architectural/sartorial disaster zone where bad taste is celebrated and worse taste elevated.
Slater, now 53, somehow, in some way, bucked his birthright. First came the very cool K surf accessory series followed by Outerknown, Slater Designs, the infamous turtle moon sandals based on the most unlikely relationship between chelonian and celestial body and now a luxury watched based on his Hawaiian home.
The Breitling Superocean Heritage B31 Automatic 40 Kelly Slater edition, which just dropped, features 200 meters of water resistance, a unidirectional stainless steel bezel, hands coated with glowing SuperLuminova and a date window at 6 o’clock. It is powered by the freshly invented B31 three hand caliber system which guarantees an accuracy of -4/+6 seconds a day and 78-hour power reserve.
More importantly, though, is the dial pattern, dreamed up by Slater himself to represent the filtered light and shadow that one finds underneath the Hawaiian trees. The 53-year-old new father told Men’s Journal, “This watch reflects everything I love—the ocean, nature, and the easygoing style I’ve always connected with.”
Retailing at $6750 (with metal band. $6450 with rubber), only 500 hundred are in existence. “One of 500” is engraved on the back along with “Kelly Slater Slater Limited Edition.”
Most importantly, though, is the note that comes with purchase written by Slater himself and reading, “From as early as I can remember, I dreamt of travelling to and living in Hawaii. It was this far-off land of amazing waves, perfect weather, and the ultimate surfing lifestyle. After living here, I realized it’s much bigger than that. The people, the community, the nature, all so intertwined. The respect Hawaiians have for their land, people, and culture runs deep. It makes Hawaii even more special than what I dreamt of when I was a kid. And now I call it home.”
I always pegged Slater for a “dreamed” man not a “dreamt” one.
Something new learned everyday.
