The most influential women in the world and their watches

Sure, there are important names which don’t appear on this list,
and it is great sport to argue about who should or should not have made
the cut, but as far as we know Greta Thunberg does not wear a wristwatch.

And while a top eleven list may seem uncommon compared to the standard top ten, make no mistake – these women are nothing if not uncommon.
And so we ask: what else do they have in common?

11. Rihanna

Top selling recording artist, style icon, sex symbol, internet phenomenon, company founder … what can the lady not do? Whoever wins the MTV Lifetime Achievement Award in their mid-20s, which honor praises an artist’s significant influence on pop culture, cannot have done much wrong.
And if an official holiday is named after you, you are either holy or BadgalRiRi. Whatever she takes on leaps right over the gold or even platinum and straight for the diamond level.

A level that her watch collection happily reflects, with watches such as
the Rolex Day-Date II Everose, the Datejust Midsize Bicolor or the Chopard Happy Sport – to name but a few of the fine timepieces Rihanna can call her own.

10. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

After being denied a career in the men’s world of beer brewing, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw set up a biotech company at the end of the 1970s. But even there, banks did not trust a woman to lead a company. She continued to fight, though, and to prove critics and detractors wrong, and since the IPO of her Biocon Corporation, she is the richest woman in India.

Her wrist is adorned with a Santos de Cartier in a two-tone look.

9. Elvira Nabiullina

Since 2013, Russia’s central bank chief has been working toward the mastery of the volatile ruble, and in so doing has developed an excellent reputation. Trying to keep the Russian economy as independent of oil and natural gas as possible, she has been necessarily ruthless in her handling of the Russian banking sector, ridding it of countless bad banks and money laundering operations. Even übermacho Putin seems to hold Elvira Nabiulina in the highest regard.

Her watch selection seems as well considered as her economic policies. With Dubey & Schaldenbrand, she hasn’t exactly gone for the usual super-rich status symbol, but demonstrates instead a deeper understanding of the watch market.

8. Elisabeth II

From hat to sole, a queen’s complete outfit is always a statement. Simply wearing a brooch can trigger a state crisis.

And even her majesty’s watch collection couldn’t possibly be more significant. During her coronation ceremony, she wore a Jaeger Lecoultre Cocktail Watch Caliber 101. The smallest movement in the world hides within the brilliantly bejeweled bracelet. Her portfolio also holds a Reverso of the same brand, as well as an Audemar Piguet.

Her Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse with the reference 4975 was the headliner of an exhibition. Really, how many people can honestly say that a museum has organized an exhibition around their own accessories?

7. Oprah Winfrey

She is the most successful talk show host in America, with an audience that sometimes reaches 21 million viewers a week, but her position as the owner of the media company HARPO Productions is also responsible for making Oprah Winfrey the first African-American billionaire.

On more chic occasions, she tends towards the brilliant Chopard La Strada Ladies. Otherwise, it’ll probably be an “easy to wear and easy to read” Rado True Thinline 39 mm. Oprah has also helped the previously unknown watch brand Philip Stein to occupy their rightful place in the sun by promoting the watches on her show. Apparently Madonna first turned her on to a Philip Stein model with double time display.

6. Sheryl Sandberg

Alongside Mark Zuckerberg, both the head and face of Facebook. Since joining the platform as COO in 2008, Sandberg has grown the company’s revenue by a staggering 2400%. This didn’t hurt her own Facebook shares, of course, and as a result she was able to join the elite billionaire’s club. Sheryl Sandberg is also known as an author and, by association, as an advocate of the movement toward economically empowered women.

As the watch she probably wears most frequently in public, we give the nod to a vintage Cartier tank, with two brilliant bridges and a striking split bracelet, but we would be happy to incline our heads elsewhere.

5. Kristalina Georgieva

As head of the International Monetary Fund, it is not only countries that are experiencing payment difficulties that are at her mercy. In order to be able to bring them to the top of the fund, Georgieva has rewritten the articles of association. After holding positions as a lecturer at Yale, Harvard and the London School of Economics, not to mention as Vice President of the World Bank and the EU Commission, she doesn’t have the worst qualifications to do so.

A faithful companion through these times has been a simple and elegant Rado Integral Diamonds, in Rado’s wwell-known ceramic style, framed in gold and with four diamonds as indices.

4. Susan Wojcicki

Under her aegis, YouTube’s revenue has grown from a slim $4 billion to a more respectable $15 billion. As CEO of YouTube and powerwoman, Susan Wojcicki has a lot on her screen – at least until 6 p.m. Because that is when the mother of five retires to her inner sanctum for quality time with her family, notwithstanding some unavoidable official event. For that the Google / Alphabet employee doesn’t wear Android Wear, but prefers a more classic model that looks like a Panthère de Cartier to us. But could instead be a family heirloom. Or both.

3. Nancy Pelosi

The U.S. Democratic Grande Dame has been the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since the beginning of 2019, a role which regularly places her squarelv on Donald Trump’s nerves. As a master of the memes, she invented the Nancy clap and publicly ripped up the POTUS’s speech, both to tremendous effect.

Pelosi developed a true obsession for Apple watches after she was given one for Christmas. Always perfectly coordinated with the rest of her dress, she wears hers in all colors and shapes..

2. Christine Lagarde

Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde seems to have a lease on elegance. The President of the European Central Bank is definitely one of those people who gets noticed the moment they enter the room, and her tasteful tailor-made clothes could have come straight from Chanel.

As to her wristwatches, she accents her everyday life with a Bulgari Assioma, made of stainless steel but with two rows of diamonds. For festive occasions she pulls a formidable Patek Philippe Twenty-4 with the reference 4910 / 10A out of the box. Like the Bulgari, also with a quartz movement and also simply brilliant with diamonds.

1. Angela Merkel

For years unchallenged at the top of Forbes Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential women in the world, chancellor Angela Merkel outshines them all. With a can-do optimism and politics that sometimes compromise but are always bilaterally oriented, she steps into the history books.

Nor is there even a hint of pomposity to her possessions, as underlined by an almost humble Boccia Titanium Model 405-02 which has been with her for years.