Why Richard E. Grant was wearing two watches at the BAFTAs
This year’s edition of the BAFTAs was co-hosted by none other than Richard E. Grant, the brilliant acting icon known for his wonderful performances in classics such as Withnail and I. While Grant has established a loyal global following due to the strength of his early roles, the actor has continued to deliver outstanding work in some of his recent projects, such as Can You Ever Forgive Me?, which earned multiple prestigious accolades.
Grant did a great job hosting the BAFTAs alongside Alison Hammond, but there was one particular moment that caught everyone’s attention. During the in-memoriam segment, where the audience remembers the film icons who lost their lives in the last 12 months, Grant had a hard time maintaining his composure and eventually broke down.
Before beginning the difficult segment, Grant said: “Tonight is a celebration of film in all its mad, sad, funny, frightening, and thought-provoking forms.” The actor continued, eventually needing a pause to deal with it: “Let’s take this opportunity to pay tribute to those members of the global film community that we sadly lost…”
After taking a pause to regain his composure, Grant added: “Over the last 12 months… Sorry, their impact lives on in film. Let’s take a moment to remember them now.” His speech has already gone viral on social media platforms, garnering the sympathy of thousands of fans who expressed their support for the co-host. Many fans also noted that Grant actually wore two watches to the BAFTAs, wondering if there was a specific reason for his choice.
“I would wear ten on each arm if my wife wouldn’t shoot me,” Grant once explained (via the Richard E. Grant archive). “I love watches. My wife once gave me a Cartier watch, and I would love a Patek Philippe. I have a box of watches at home. It all goes back to when I was seven, and I was given a watch. My parents had been to Switzerland, and I got one as a birthday present. I will always remember the thrill of that.”
During a conversation with The Telegraph, Grant claimed the second watch has a specific purpose: “As Eswatini is the smallest country in the Southern Hemisphere, it was ingrained from an early age that the Big Wide World was beyond its borders, so I began ‘looking outwards’, via books and movies, from a very early age. I still wear two watches, with the right one set to Eswatini time.”
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