This is an edition of the newsletter Box + Papers, Cam Wolf’s weekly deep dive into the world of watches. It’s currently being manned by Jeremy Freed, watch writer extraordinaire, while Cam is on parental leave. Sign up here.
There are an infinite number of reasons you might fall in love with a watch. Family history, your birth year, world events, ties to celebrities or cultural moments, iconic design, engineering finesse. Perhaps the most underrated of them all, however, is vibes. Forget the name printed on the dial, what the case is made out of, whether it’s quartz or automatic, or if it even tells time reliably. How does it feel? The deeper one gets into watches, and the more watch orthodoxy one absorbs, the less importance we tend to ascribe to that feeling, and this seems like a shame. It’s also what makes the musician Johnny Rodriguez, better known by his stage name, 54 Ultra, an unusual breed of watch enthusiast.
For anyone familiar with 54 Ultra’s oeuvre, his penchant for extremely vibey watches will come as no surprise. With his Freddie Mercury mustache, oversized aviator frames, and tightly curated wardrobe of disco-era tees and band-collar leather jackets, 54 Ultra’s look is as much an homage to the style of the ’70s and ’80s as his soul-and-Latin-laced sound. His taste in watches follows a similar tack, full of vintage pieces from the ’40s through the ’80s, each chosen for their individual character, feel, and—for lack of a better word—vibe.
54 Ultra’s watch collection has grown alongside his career. Just under two years since releasing his first single, 2024’s “Heaven Knows,” 54 Ultra has already had his debut EP named one of Billboard's Best Projects of 2025, topped 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and played sold-out shows across the US, Europe, and Mexico. With a new single due at the end of March, a new album set to drop in the fall, and a plum spot on the Coachella lineup in early April, he’s on track to have a busy summer, too. We called him up at home in New Jersey to talk about thrifting, finding his dream Rolex, and the best place to buy a watch in Quakertown, Pennsylvania.
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54 Ultra: I’m still trying to do a Donnie and Joe Emerson thing, but with a little bit more of a Latin flair. I like that homeyness, that kind of home recording vibe. I’ve also been into a lot of Marvin Gaye, Fania All Stars, Joe Bataan, and I think that's gonna end up coming through by the time I finish this album.
For the record, I found the vibe before the music. I’m 25 now, and I think when I was 19 or 20, I started to really get into Michael Jackson. I just liked how he looked when he was younger. And then I’d also see pictures of my uncles and my dad when they were younger, and I was just drawn to the style and how everything fit. So when I started to learn how to thrift, I learned how to know my measurements, and how to date things.I went super ’70s costumey at first, and then dialed it back to a more casual look. It was a fun hobby.
I’m still in the thrift stores. If I have time in a city, I’ll try to find a boutique so I can run in real quick and find something nice. I go on Depop or eBay as well when I have a really specific piece in mind.
Yeah, of course, absolutely. It wouldn't be me to stay in one thing forever. You can overdo it or underdo it, and right now I feel like I’m finding the right balance where it's not costumey, like replacing my t-shirts and jeans with ones from the ’70s or ’80s. It’s very subtle.
That started around 2022 or 2023. When I would see merengue singers, or Bachata singers from Dominican Republic, and salsa singers from the ’70s from Puerto Rico, and pictures of my uncles, it’s like, I have the clothes down, but I wanted to accessorize. I guess you hit that age where it just makes sense, right?
I respect watchmaking, and quality movements, and the idea that it’s a million little things working together to make this watch work, but for me, it’s definitely vibes. It’s always about the look for me. I’d prefer an automatic movement, but the Cartier Santos that I have is quartz, and it’s beautiful.
Honestly, no. Mike Nouveau pops up on my TikTok, and I like to see what he’s got, and I'm also part of the r/vintagewatches community.
I’ve only posted twice. When I got the Longines Ultra-Chron, I posted that, and then when I got the Day-Date, I posted that to kind of toot my own horn a little bit. I felt proud to finally be like, I've been lurking here for three years, so I want to show you guys what I’ve got.
I stumbled on it fully. That one is a fun story. I was seeing somebody from Pennsylvania at the time, and we went to this antiques store in Quakertown, owned by this guy whose name is Romulus Von Stezelberger. He’s a character. He was a stylist for a bunch of artists in the ’80s and ’90s, and he came back to Pennsylvania and opened an antique store called Rinky Dinks. This was right when I was starting to get into watches, and he had a bunch of them. He had the Ultra-Chron and the rose gold Bulova His Excellency, and I wanted both of them. He was charging maybe 350 each, and I haggled him down to 400 for both of them. I finessed it; we had a nice conversation about it, and I think he just trusted me with them.
I read about it years ago, but it was my stage name, 54 Ultra, that drew me to it. In my naiveté, I was like, It says Ultra-Chron, and I need it, without really knowing what it was. I’m also a Yankees fan, and Yankee Stadium in the ‘70s had a big Longines sign on the outside of the stadium, so I knew Longines from that.
When I first started getting into watches, I would see older gentlemen with these crazy beautiful watches that were also subtle. So that's what got me into the idea of getting a Rolex that’s super subtle, but then when you look at it closer there are these little details. I never thought I'd find it this early, but I knew it had to be gold, where the gold is worn down and looks pretty, with diamond hour markers, and a pie pan dial. It was just a fantasy because I thought if I found it, I’d never be able to afford it. And then somehow the timing of everything just worked out where I was in LA, and I went to this store called Wanna Buy a Watch, and it was just there, just how it is now, with the same alligator strap. I fell in love with it right there.
It’s an early ref. 6611 from 1959; the second iteration of the Day-Date. It's not a quick-set, so they had to wind it like crazy for me. Pray for me as I try to find the date again at the beginning of March.
I'd had my eye on that one for a long time. I don't have the exact year, but it’s a 1980s, Santos Galbée. I’ve always wanted a Cartier, because growing up my parents had his-and-hers Cartier Tank Françaises. Once they sold them, I was like, Okay, now I gotta get my own. Tanks are gorgeous, but I wanted to get a Santos to be a little bit different, and to have something more like a sports watch as my daily driver.
It was my way to celebrate the year that I had, because my life changed in 2025. I was able to do music full-time, and I started working with a lot of people, and I had some production credits on things, and my music was doing well, and people were discovering me and kind of joining the party. I started to tour, and one by one, things just started to fall into place for me, and they’re still falling into place, god willing. I wanted to get that watch to give me something to look at that would remind me that this is what happens when you work hard.
No, not yet. I’m a little nervous to do that, because once I know I can just browse and buy it like it’s on Amazon, that might be a little dangerous.
I like the Cartier Tank Louis Phase de Lune from the 1990s. I saw one for sale in New York but I took too long to bite, so I missed it. I’d also like a 28 millimeter Royal Oak. I think it's a ladies one, but I still think they're beautiful. I've tried on the normal Royal Oaks, the 38 and the 41 millimeter, but those are way too big. So once I realized that they had ladies’ ones, I said, Okay, now I can be a part of this family eventually. And I still want a Frank Mueller. People have things to say about that, but I still like them.
I just love how art deco they look. They look like those vintage watches from the ’20s and ’30s, but with a modern edge to it. Just to say that I had the rainbow one would be nice. I’d also love to have the watch from Scarface, the Omega la Magique.
I think so. Maybe I’ll play the first weekend, celebrate with the watch, and then wear it for the second weekend.