The Gift of Watches and the 10th Anniversary of Interstellar: The Hamilton Murph and Hamilton Cooper
Photo by Frank Antzoulis
Recently, my favorite Christopher Nolan movie, Interstellar, returned to IMAX theaters for its 10th anniversary celebration! Well, if I take away the Dark Knight Trilogy, it’s my favorite. While this movie holds a special place in my heart as a sci-fi nerd, it also resonates with me as a watch enthusiast for some special moments it has helped to create.
Photo property of Paramount Pictures & Syncopy Inc. Left - Hamilton Khaki Pilot Day Date (Cooper). Right - Hamilton Murph
Sometimes, I get so wrapped up in this hobby that I forget how new I am to it. This is not to say I haven’t always been into watches; I have been since I was five or six, but mainly as an accessory or a way to show off other obsessions—let’s just say I’ve had a lot of Star Wars and Batman watches. However, on May 15, 2021, my brother gifted me my first mechanical watch, a Timex M79 Masked Marvel Snoopy, for my birthday. From that moment, I haven’t looked back. I dove right into the deep end. Yet, this is not a story about how my neurodivergent superpower of hyper-focus compels me to know everything about a new hobby; rather, it’s about how this hobby, like any other, can bring us closer together. It’s also a recounting of one of my most cherished Christmas memories.
Photo by Frank Antzoulis
My brother Frank and I are opposites in many ways. He’s left-brained, while I’m right-brained. He’s organized, and I’m all over the place. He has both feet on the ground, whereas I’m always doing zero-gravity spin kicks on Mars. He can not only live within the rules, but also master them. I like to break the rules, sometimes for no other reason than that I can. However, we’ve almost always gotten along well as best friends. Even so, I often struggle to connect with people, including my brother, because I find it hard to listen to others when they talk about things I don’t care about (I don’t do this on purpose; I have ADHD). So, when I do care about people, I make it a point to find something we both enjoy discussing.
Photo by Frank Antzoulis
He’s into cars, whiskey, watches, and some of the finer things in life, but I just couldn’t give a shit about most of them. I used to give him so much flak when he spent a few thousand on a watch. “Why on earth would you spend so much money on something you can easily live without?” He’d respond with stories of racing, Steve McQueen, and the moon landing—tales that never resonated with me. Then he gifted me the Timex.
He likely chose that watch because of my background in writing comics. This particular M79 features the “Batman” bezel and Snoopy dressed as the Masked Marvel running across the dial. I think he was surprised by how much and how quickly I took to it. He showed me how to wind it and when to set the day-date complication. The undecorated automatic movement on full display mesmerized me. By the end of the day, I found myself holding the watch and staring at it. Then it hit me—the “oh, I really like this” moment every watch enthusiast experiences. It was both the thoughtfulness of the gift and that I could finally feel the poetry of it all. This little thing on my wrist contains an entire universe inside. Also, I didn’t have to listen to my brother discuss working on his cars as much since we had a new overlapping fascination—one I had to know everything about.
Photo by Chris Antzoulis
In my research, I discovered the prevalence of watches in movies and pop culture. A passion for films is another shared hobby. Whenever we’re together, we always go to the theater to see whatever is new. When we’re apart, many of our texts exchange thoughts about the new movies we’ve watched or express excitement over what’s to come. One filmmaker we both admire is Christopher Nolan. We’ve seen most, if not all, of his films together. I remember how thrilled we were living in New York on our way to see Dunkirk at the AMC Lincoln Center IMAX theater, and how we sat through the credits afterward to rave about what we had just experienced.
However, I’m sure Frank will correct me if I’m wrong, but his favorite Nolan flick is also Interstellar. Now that I’m a self-proclaimed watch enthusiast, I discovered the Hamilton “Cooper” and the Hamilton “Murph.” In September 2021, just four months after receiving my Timex, I purchased both Hamiltons from our local authorized dealer. I intended to give both watches to my brother for Christmas, letting him choose which one would be his and which one would be mine.
When Christmas morning arrived, Frank was genuinely surprised and seemingly excited by the proposition. He is usually very even-tempered and not someone who easily appears childlike on Christmas morning. In fact, the only other time I can remember seeing my brother summon his inner child was when we took our first steps down Diagon Alley at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I was thrilled to see him that happy. However, as giddy as he may have been, he was still Frank and remained logical. Therefore, this decision could not be made on a whim.
Photo by Chris Antzoulis - Frank watching Interstellar with the watches beside him
After our family exchanged gifts, my brother took both watch boxes, opened them, and set them on the end table next to where he sat on the couch. He then turned on the TV and began streaming Interstellar. I took a seat in a chair opposite him. We both had coffee in hand, and despite having seen this movie many times, we spent our Christmas morning watching it in its entirety. The funny thing is that I realize this experience for Frank was shaped by the logical steps he took to choose the right watch. For me, it was entirely emotional. I noticed how often he glanced at the watches while watching the movie. I genuinely didn’t care which watch he would give me; I was simply reveling in my feelings and the connection I had with my brother.
At the end of the movie, after careful consideration, Frank handed me the Murph and went upstairs to grab his watch screwdriver to resize the bracelet on the Cooper.
In this hobby, I feel there is a strong focus on “the next watch” in our collections. However, obtaining that watch is not nearly as satisfying as gifting one to someone who shares in the hobby. Now, I’m not suggesting that you go out and force watches on people who don’t want one. Instead, I encourage you to make an effort to discover shared interests with the people you love. My brother, perhaps unintentionally, gifted me all the love I have for this community, and that love stems from the stories we can derive from the hobby. Not the stories the brands tell us, but rather the stories we create through our own journeys.
Photo of Chris and Frank lubricated and ready for Christmas
