Exclusive: Robert Pattinson Dishes on The Batman Sequel, Perfecting His Chris Hansen Voice, and Falling In Love with Watches

When Robert Pattinson was 14, he cut the labels out of his dad’s designer boxers and sewed them into his jackets in an attempt to impress his middle-school classmates. Then, he finished off his counterfeit ensemble with one very real luxury: his mother’s Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso. “I’m wearing my mom’s watch and being like, ‘Yeah, I’m a fancy pants,’” the actor says now, laughing.As of today, he no longer has to fake it: Pattinson was just announced as Jaeger-LeCoultre’s latest global ambassador, a role he’s kicking off with a big new campaign. The 40-year-old’s courtship with the storied Swiss watchmaker began at this year’s Academy Awards, where Pattinson teased a then-unreleased version of the brand’s rose-gold Master Control Chronometre Perpetual Calendar. Later that night at the Oscar afterparties, when word got around that Pattinson was wearing a never-before-seen piece, Hollywood’s watch-collecting elite all flocked to him. “All these other actors with their fancy watches on asked me, ‘Hey, what are you wearing?’” Pattinson recalls. “It was one of those moments where I’m like, ‘It’s kind of badass having this thing on.’”While Pattinson admits he was never much of a watch guy prior to that evening, the experience awoke something real inside of him. “It’s nice when you just have a new interest that’s suddenly awakened,” he says. With his new campaign dropping today—in which The Drama star dons both the stainless steel and rose gold versions of JLC’s understated Master Control model—I caught up with Pattinson about his burgeoning watch collection, filming the long-awaited sequel to The Batman, and the unsettling way he perfected his Chris Hansen voice for Primetime.GQ: Where are you in the world right now?Pattinson: I’m in London here till the end of the year doing a Batman sequel.How’s that going?It’s good. I’m definitely feeling my age when fighting a lot. I’m literally like, “Goddamn, this is significantly harder than it used to be.” But it’s really fun. And I think the movie’s going to be pretty great. It’s got a really, really fun cast, but it’s a marathon.I think that’s a stunt double. Is that something in Liverpool or Scotland or something?Someone’s on a motorcycle in the snow, and apparently it’s a Batman alter ego called “the Drifter.”Yeah, it’s me! It’s me. [Laughs.]Yeah, I’ve never done anything like this before. I’ve literally been going nonstop since after the actors’ and writers’ strikes. I was doing a movie with Adam McKay, which fell apart, and I ended up having a big period where I wasn’t working when I recalibrated what I wanted to do.Die My Love with [director] Lynne Ramsay, who I’ve always wanted to work with, came up. And it’s been a cascade of all these projects [since then]. I just changed my mindset, going, “I don’t care about doing big movies or leads. I’m just going to do stuff I find interesting.” And then somehow, I don’t understand how the scheduling actually even worked out, because I literally left Die My Love and flew to The Drama. I finished that and flew to Primetime basically the same day. I was kind of producing [Primetime] as well. We were prepping four films at the same time. But I think it’s worked out. At the end of this, I’m definitely taking a vacation.Primetime is up next. What got you interested in that project?I came on as a producer initially. I really liked the first draft of the script. And then we thought about Lance Oppenheim, who I was developing a documentary with, as the director. I was like, “There’s something about his style that could connect. There’s some sort of Oliver Stone-y, Brian De Palma version of this movie, and I think his style is really perfect for it.”And then when the second draft of the script came in, I was like, “Ooh, I really like this.” It’s really unusual and kind of audacious. I’m so curious to see how people will receive it. It’s so fun to work on something where it was Lance’s first narrative feature. Everyone cared so much about it. It’s the first thing I’ve properly produced from the very, very beginning. And we were doing it really as a team the whole way through it. I remember two Christmases ago, I was on Zoom on Christmas Day for eight hours with Lance and Ajon [Singh], who [was writing] it on Christmas Day because we were starting in January. It was one of those things where you’re like, “Okay, we’re throwing everything at this and trying to make it work.” So I’m curious how it’s going to go down.You’re known for the choices you make with your voice. What was it like prepping to do Chris Hansen?It’s just such a unique voice. It was actually incredibly difficult. He has a podcast discussing his old cases, and I was just walking around constantly trying to imitate his voice, but it’s pretty dark material. I’m wandering around the streets saying what he’s talking about, and people are incredibly confused with what’s going on. But his voice is really iconic to me, and it’s very hard to do it.I love the idea of you walking around saying To Catch a Predator lines—the absolute last thing anyone wants to be approached with. And then we’re here talking about the role of a lifetime…campaign ambassador for JLC. What drew you to the brand and got you excited about this partnership?I was [presenting at] the Oscars, and my manager was like, “Do you want to wear a watch?” And I was like, "Yeah." I wasn’t thinking about doing a watch partnership or anything. I was looking through pictures of watches, and the rose-gold Master Control came up. I was like, “Ooh, that’s nice.” I very rarely even wear watches, but when I tried it on, I was like, “That’s my favorite watch.” I wanted to just buy it.After the Oscars, I went back to London and ended up walking past the store and looking at all the other watches. Something clicked in my mind. I’m like, “They’re just so gorgeous.” And I ended up wearing one in [the next] Batman as well. This seems like quite a nice partnership to have, and it seems very suited to me as well. I like that style so much and the philosophy of the company.I’m glad you brought up The Batman in connection to JLC, because in all of Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies, Christian Bale wears the brand. Was that something you were aware of when you first became interested in these watches?When I was just starting to look them up and trying to decide which model to have for it, I realized that Christian had them as well. It is weird—as soon as you put the Reverso on, it definitely has a Bruce Wayne feel. There’s something that felt so incredibly correct for it, even the strap we chose. It’s the last thing I put on when you put the costume on, and there’s a guy who’s looking after the watch, and it all feels extremely Bruce Wayne-coded.So that watch from the Oscars made you a convert, because it feels like you weren’t a huge watch guy prior to this.No, I never really wear watches. Now, I’m into the idea of going to the archive and all this stuff. I really like the people who work there, and so I’m kind of like, “What’s a little special thing?”But the Master one—I don’t think I’ve sent so many pestering emails. I was like, “When’s it ready? When can I get that?”In Hollywood, do you feel like watches have become a bigger deal for actors and actresses?One hundred percent. I mean, I didn’t realize how obsessed a lot of guys are with them—that literally seemed to be the main topic of conversation at the [Oscars] afterparty. Everyone’s showing off their watches, which no one owns. Actually, I guess probably some of the people do own them. But it’s funny, I was looking in the last issue of GQ with Jay-Z’s watch collection. It was fascinating. There is something amazing about it. And the fact that you can go back such a long time with these pieces is kind of astonishing.Now that you’re a watch guy, are you going to get into one of the intersecting interests? Cars, cigars, whiskey? You have to pick one of those up now that you’re into watches.I mean, the car thing—I’ve kind of gone through that. When I was doing Twilight, I got this Shelby Mustang, which is the car I always wanted when I was a kid. I think it was a GT350, maybe, or a Fastback, like the one from Gone in 60 Seconds.But you don’t realize that it’s not a car that you can drive every day. The number of times that I had humiliating experiences, where it would choose to just not start or break down—always in front of enormous groups of tourists or something like that—and I’d have to push it around the corner. I was like, “That’s it. I’ve had enough of this. I need something that just works.”I do like the whiskey thing. I can’t say that my taste’s too discerning, but I like the ritual. There’s a place near my spot in New York that’s called Brandy Library. I think my taste’s probably pretty atrocious. Cigars, same thing. I also like the idea of it but I always feel like I don’t particularly know what I’m doing.Yeah. It’s a tricky one. Surprisingly difficult.Surprisingly difficult, and also I remember when I quit smoking, I had a cigar and someone who does smoke cigars came around and they realized I’d been smoking the same cigar for about four days. And I was like, "Yeah, you can just keep relighting it." And they were like, “That’s not how you’re supposed to do it.”When did you become conscious of watches when you were younger? Are there any sentimental pieces that came your way through working on movies or that were passed down to you in your family?My dad got my mom a Reverso when I was a teenager. I was probably 14. And I remember when I joined my middle school, I wore it thinking that it would impress people.The only watches that I’ve ever had of my own were a few ’60s vintage watches, which I always really liked. I still have them, but they’re incredibly simple. Whenever a watch gets too thick and it keeps your cuff up, I don’t really understand the appeal. A lot of guys really like that, but I don’t think I can really pull that off. I need to only have a half reveal.As you’ve gotten into this, what’s stood out to you in terms of your preferences?I definitely like really thin watches. That’s the main thing. In general, I would probably prefer a leather strap, but for some reason, the metal strap on the Master Control collection—there’s something extremely elegant about it, and I think it just fits my wrist really well. I like having the watch be almost all one material as well. Sometimes, when you’ve just got too much stuff going on, the watch looks sort of like a toy to me. I like it looking adult and clean.When I became a parent, a watch became really important because it means I can tell the time without pulling my phone out all the time. Are you someone who’s really intense about screen time and getting off your phone, or is it just a free-for-all for you?I mean, I’m just like the worst. I literally have absolute zero self-control on anything. The thing with kids, though, is I love the idea of handing [my watches] down. There’s something about a watch that, out of anything else in your life, you’re like, “I’m not going to lose it. I’m not going to give it away. I’m going to give it to my kid.” And there’s hardly anything else in life that you can do that with and your kid will really appreciate it. It’s such an amazing thing to be able to give your kid when they come of age. I like that narrative.