Swiss Exclusive for OpenAI: Why Sam Altman’s Watch Is Being Called the New Status Symbol

Silicon Valley has no shortage of ways to flaunt wealth and status. A home overlooking San Francisco Bay, a Cybertruck — and, of course, an expensive watch, which has long been an essential accessory for influential figures across industries, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg recently appeared in public wearing a $1.3 million F.P. Journe watch. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is also known for his passion for timepieces, having been spotted with, among others, a Greubel Forsey model worth around $650,000.

But Altman’s collection now includes something far more personal — and likely much rarer. Earlier this year, Swiss watchmaker Vanguart, founded just eight years ago, created a special OpenAI-themed timepiece for him. Altman ordered seven of them.

Seven Watches for the Chosen Few

The new watch is based on Vanguart’s titanium Orb model, which starts at around $180,000. The exclusive OpenAI edition was produced for seven select employees of the company.

The watches are another example of a growing trend in the technology industry. OpenAI and other Silicon Valley companies are increasingly producing clothing and accessories bearing their logos, gradually evolving from conventional tech companies into full-fledged lifestyle brands.

“Compute Is Destiny”

The watch features a sporty rubber strap and a movement that can be switched between automatic and manual winding.

But the real intrigue lies in the details. The designers incorporated several unusual “Easter eggs” that will be especially familiar to people from the technology world.

The phrase “COMPUTE IS DESTINY,” attributed to Altman, is engraved around the rotor of each watch.

Another popular Silicon Valley term — “SCALING” — appears in capital letters on the crown.

The OpenAI logo is placed directly on the dial. On the back of each watch is the inscription “if AGI.aligned: deploy(),” written in the Python programming language.

The detail was suggested by Vanguart CEO and co-founder Axel Loienberger. “It means that AI should be used for peaceful purposes,” Kortürk explained.

According to him, these hidden references are a signature feature of Vanguart’s bespoke projects. “We try to create subtle dedications that only people who know where to look will notice,” he said.

Watches Almost Nobody Owns

Exclusivity is one of Vanguart’s core principles. The brand’s existing models are sold in the US exclusively through Material Good, a luxury watch and jewelry store in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. The company has produced fewer than 200 watches in total.

By comparison, Swiss giant Audemars Piguet produces around 50,000 watches a year and employs more than 3,000 people.

However, the OpenAI logo has appeared on watches beyond Vanguart’s ultra-exclusive edition.

Recently, Boris Power, head of applied research at OpenAI, said on X that Tudor — a sister brand of Rolex — had produced 400 watches featuring the OpenAI logo on the dial.

The backs of those models carry the inscription “Good Research Takes Time.” The same slogan was used on T-shirts sold by OpenAI.

A “War” of Memes

The news quickly caught the attention of watch collectors on X. One account, The Luxury Watch Guy, racked up more than a million views on a post about the timepieces. Soon, the exclusive watches sparked a wave of memes — many of them unsurprisingly playing on Silicon Valley’s longstanding fascination with The Lord of the Rings, according to Business Insider.

The idea of rare watches created specifically for a small group of chosen employees immediately reminded X users of the Rings of Power from J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy saga.

Energy-market researcher Rory Johnston, for example, responded to the discussion with a still from the opening of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Another user rewrote Tolkien’s famous poem in tech-world terms, assigning the watches to AI researchers, venture capitalists and “doomed” SaaS founders.

In that version, one of the watches went to Altman, who found himself “on his dark throne in the land of Silicon Valley, where the shadows lie.”