Wicked Pleasures (1992)

Penny Vincenzi's second novel follows the Praeger banking family of New York and the Caterhams of Hartest in England through the 1960s to the 1980s: a brother and two sisters who discover that none of them was fathered by Alexander, Earl of Caterham. Charlotte Welles goes to work at Praegers on Wall Street; Angie Burbank, once Virginia Caterham's assistant, becomes Baby Praeger's mistress. (Open Library)

Watches

Rolex (unidentified model): Parting at Nassau after three days in the sun with Jeremy Foster, Charlotte is given a Rolex Oyster to remind her of her time as a sea creature; she had always wanted an Oyster and stares at it all the way back to New York. In the office Gabe Hoffman follows her eyes to the watch on her newly browned wrist and calls it a memento of the vacation, her cousin Freddy asks whether it was a present, and Gabe's look, she decides, was jealousy. The text says only "Rolex Oyster"; no model is given.

Source text: They parted at Nassau very fondly, and Jeremy gave her a Rolex Oyster watch as he kissed her goodbye. "To remind you of your time as a sea creature," he said smiling. (Penny Vincenzi, Wicked Pleasures, scan cataloged as Orion, 1993, p. 539; the watch is noticed on pp. 545 and 547 and mentioned again on p. 561; Orion published the first edition in 1992; Internet Archive scan OCR)

Tiffany & Co. watch: Walking with Alexander at Hartest, Angie is told that she should not wear such a beautiful watch on country walks. It is the diamond and emerald watch from Tiffany that Baby Praeger bought her, the first really good jewellery he ever gave her, worn ever since. What Alexander does not know is that it is a fake, copied for her in Hong Kong one weekend so that she could sell the original to pay for a holiday with a young man; Baby, who knows nothing about jewellery, never noticed. The watch on her wrist in the scene is the copy; the original was a Tiffany.

Source text: What on earth would he think of her if he had known that the Tiffany watch was a fake, copied for her in Hong Kong one weekend, so that she could sell the original (Penny Vincenzi, Wicked Pleasures, scan cataloged as Orion, 1993, p. 524; the watch is introduced across pp. 523 to 524; Internet Archive scan OCR)

Gucci (unidentified model): Years earlier, when Angie is Virginia Caterham's eighteen-year-old assistant in London, the cement millionaire M. Wetherly Stern takes her to the Caprice and the Ritz and buys her endlessly beautiful presents: perfume, a Gucci watch, a gold bracelet, a pearl choker, silk shirts and cashmere sweaters. The maker is named; the model is not.

Source text: He bought her endlessly beautiful presents, perfume, a Gucci watch, a gold bracelet, a pearl choker, silk shirts, cashmere sweaters (Penny Vincenzi, Wicked Pleasures, scan cataloged as Orion, 1993, p. 74; Stern is named on p. 73; Internet Archive scan OCR)

Cartier (unidentified model): Calling on the New York interior decorator Dusty Winchester to find out whether he might be his father, Max finds him dressed entirely in white, white linen suit, white silk shirt, white leather shoes, with only a peacock-blue tie for relief; even his Cartier, diamond-studded, has a white strap. Max decides on sight that Winchester could not be father to anyone. The maker is named; the model is not.

Source text: Even his watch, diamond-studded by Cartier, had a white strap. (Penny Vincenzi, Wicked Pleasures, scan cataloged as Orion, 1993, p. 363; Winchester is introduced on p. 362; Internet Archive scan OCR)

Piaget (unidentified model): Max next calls on Michael Halston, who has spent a life studying foolishness, greed and adultery in the fleshpots of New York, brings his mother back to him painfully and then shows him the ducks. Halston, with his close-cropped grey hair, beige linen suit and Piaget bracelet watch, strikes Max as a smart town mouse doing some country visiting, not a man interested in birds. The maker is named; the model is not.

Source text: Halston was the epitome of smart town mouse doing some country visiting, with his close-cropped grey hair, his beige linen suit, his Piaget bracelet watch. (Penny Vincenzi, Wicked Pleasures, scan cataloged as Orion, 1993, p. 368; Halston is named on p. 367; Internet Archive scan OCR)