Bare-chested in an asymmetrical Fendi dinner jacket that fastened with an ornate bejewelled clasp by De Beers, it’s safe to say Mr Simu Liu was never looking to pass unnoticed. That impression is cemented by his choice of wristwear, a Jacob & Co creation called The World Is Yours Dual Time Zone. Although far from the wildest thing Mr Jacob Arabo has ever designed for the wrist, it is no shrinking violet, with its bright blue dial, dual time zone indicators and carefully engraved relief map of the world. We suppose it’s handy if you want to tell folks halfway round the world “tune in, I’m on the Oscars red carpet”.

There’s always space for some Audemars Piguet Royal Oak appreciation, and this year it comes courtesy of Mr Justin Theroux. He wasn’t the only one – you might have spotted Mr Chris Hemsworth, out of contract with TAG Heuer, rocking a Royal Oak x Alyx chronograph piece in yellow gold. But Theroux kept it classic at the Vanity Fair after-party. His Royal Oak automatic, also in yellow gold with a blue dial, was a perfect foil for his all-navy outfit and jewelled brooch.

If there was a colour of the 96th Academy Awards, it was burgundy. (Sorry Mr Ryan Gosling – we’re over pink.) Everything Everywhere All At Once star Mr Ke Huy Quan wore it well, in his double-breasted dinner jacket and tinted glasses. But we’re here to talk about his watch. A limited-edition version of the Cartier Santos-Dumont with an engraved, skeletonised micro-rotor movement, it’s a showstopper watch from the brand’s 2023 Watches and Wonders collection. The thing to note is that although Cartier produces plenty of watches with burgundy dials and straps, Quan plumped for contrast over a matching approach. This piece, in yellow gold, has a royal-blue lacquered bezel and blue strap – and that’s the genius of it.

If there is ever a night to dazzle, it’s the Oscars. And Mr Colman Domingo took that to heart, with bejewelled Louis Vuitton suiting, gold toe-capped cowboy boots and a bevy of rings and bracelets (including a ring that once belonged to Mr Bayard Rustin, the civil rights activist who Domingo portrayed in the film he was nominated for). Against such a glittering ensemble, can you max it out with a gem-set watch? Domingo opted to play it safer, with an Omega De Ville that perfectly matched the jet-black and white-metal theme of his other jewellery.

Mr Robert Downey Jr picked up the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. And supporting him? The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Chronograph, of course. Released at Watches and Wonders in Geneva in 2023, the rose-gold watch is both a technical tour de force and a handsome update to a beloved figure. We could say much the same about Downey Jr (especially now that he’s lost the fussy Marvel beard), who also nailed a couple of other Oscars mini trends with his tinted specs and lapel brooch.

The suit – a custom-made Dior number with a silk shawl collar – is a beauty, and could almost upstage the watch. Even once you see what it is, you might not realise how interesting it actually is. “Oh, an IWC Schaffhausen Portugieser,” you might think. “Smart.” But it’s better than that: this is an out-of-production Portugieser Regulateur Tourbillon, a rare and top-of-the-range model from 2008. Sadly, it’s not Brown’s own watch – it was loaned by the brand – but that raises intriguing questions of its own. Why dig out a rare groove Portugieser for such a headline moment? With Watches and Wonders around the corner, perhaps it provides a clue as to what new launches are on their way.

The business of getting your watch seen on the red carpet is, well, it’s big business. It’s no surprise you see a lot of the same brand names cropping up again and again. But occasionally a star steps outside the usual parameters and brings something that shows they really know watches. So it is with Mr Jon Batiste’s watch: a gorgeous, traditionally styled watch from in-the-know American independent maker JN Shapiro, respected for its hand-engraved guilloche dials. The musician was a Best Original Song nominee for “It Never Went Away” from the documentary American Symphony, which he performed on the night before losing out to Ms Billie Eilish and Finneas. But he wins “most original watch choice” by a mile.