As Ellie embarks on her journey to exact revenge on Joel’s killer in The Last of Us, the decision all comes back to one involving a watch. In episode three last week, Ellie was presented with a box from Joel’s brother containing the former’s broken watch and his revolver. Showrunner Craig Mazin and The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann have both spoken about how season two and The Last of Us Part II are about the perpetuation of cycles of violence. In receiving the watch, Ellie is offered the chance to stop the clock, to end the cycle, to take the high road rather than seek vengeance against Abbie for taking Joel from her. She doesn’t. She takes another object from the box: a gun. The clock ticks on.
No one is doing more with timepieces than the prop masters on prestige television shows these days. On the most recent season of The White Lotus, each character’s watch provided additional clues to deciphering their characters—even the lack of a watch revealed how tuned in they were to the resort’s spiritual confines. And Ellie’s choice the previous Sunday was far from the first time Joel’s watch played a significant role on The Last of Us.
In both the game and the show, the timepiece ties back to Joel’s deceased daughter Sarah, who was tragically killed in the first episode of the series. In the game, the watch was a gift to Joel from his daughter to celebrate his birthday; while in the show, she got his old watch repaired for him. The watch doesn’t function for long, though. By the end of the very first episode of the series, it’s broken again and its crystal shattered. The message feels clear: time and life as he knows it have stopped for Joel. Still, he continues to wear it as a reminder of his daughter until his own death.
The watch is just one standout piece from The Last of Us. Showrunner Mazin probably didn’t intend to create a modern menswear classic in The Last of Us but that’s exactly what he did. A certain kind of viewer–likely regular readers of this publication–can’t help but look at the sprawling post-apocalyptic America and wonder exactly which waxed jacket Pedro Pascal’s Joel is trekking through the wasteland in (it’s by Flint & Tinder and yes, it’s currently in stock). The show is a treasure trove of hearty western and workwear, portraying a world in which clothing needs to be more form than fuction (not that the form isn’t sometimes off the charts). While Joel’s jacket gets the bulk of the love, eagle-eyed horological enthusiasts also warmed to his well-worn timepiece adorning his wrist throughout the show. Despite the piece being broken, it’s a constant in Joel’s wardrobe and has important ties to both his past and the show’s present. Talk about provenance!
Joel’s watch is about what you’d expect from a dude forging his way through armies of Cordyceps creeps: a simple field watch with a NATO strap, no-frills, sturdy, and functional. At a quick glance it bears a resemblance to classic field watches like the Hamilton Khaki. From our best glimpses of the watch on the show we can see that it features a black dial with a subdial at 6 o’clock, Arabic numerals at 3, 6, and 9, and sword hands. However, it’s a bit hard to scope out details due to the crystal being permanently damaged (again, this is a guy fighting literal zombies–he’s not taking it in for servicing or anything).