At the US Grand Prix, the actor wasn't messing about with two seriously fun and flashy pieces

Given his part in last year’s F1 film, you’d hope that Damson Idris has a standing invitation to each and every Grand Prix he fancies. (He does – he’s actually an ambassador for Formula One now.) So no surprise to see him in Texas over the weekend for the US Grand Prix. These big races are always an arena for high-calibre watch spotting. TAG Heuer sponsors F1 itself, while Tudor Richard Mille and Breitling have their names on the cars of various teams – and, as per the love-in between Richard Mille and Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton, on drivers’ wrists too.

So, a place to bring your horological A-game, and that’s exactly what Idris did, with a one-two punch of a couple of sublimely OTT watches that surely had even the top drivers trembling at the knees. First up was a Patek Philippe Nautilus Moon Phase with a lot going on on the dial: a moonphase indicator, obviously, but one with a date subdial wrapped around it; also a small seconds subdial and a power reserve indicator.

What’s really fun here is that there’s no attempt to line up these complications symmetrically – we’ve got a mishmash of different shaped indicators at four, seven and 10 o’clock, giving the dial something of the look of a supercar’s instrument panel. Very appropriate for the occasion – and, dare we say, a little more fun and whimsical than your usual complicated Nautilus, which usually ends up as quite a serious chronograph type-thing.

Next, an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, so we’re covered when it comes to the grail sports watch duopoly. But like that Nautilus, this Royal Oak isn’t your average one: it’s got a skeletonised dial, it’s a svelte 8.1mm thick, and if you hadn’t noticed, it’s made of a yellow gold. A lot of openworked Royal Oaks tend to have serious, techy complications like chronographs and perpetual calendars. Not this one: there ain’t even a seconds hand to distract from all that shiny, shiny clockwork.

Like the Nautilus, it’s a real show-stopper that stays in the fun zone rather than attempting to be sporty. Which is wise from Idris, given your average Grand Prix is surely packed with high-performance chronographs and suchlike. Far better for him to veer into his own lane and complete with all those drivers and motorsport geeks indirectly, rather than head to head. He might have only acted the part of an F1 racer, but there’s nothing make-believe about these flexes.