The US Open is Nearly Complete, Which Means Only a Few Days Left to Order the Maurice de Mauriac Rallymaster II

The US Open, the professional tennis season’s final Grand Slam, is currently in its closing stages, which means you’re running out of time to purchase the watch seen here, the Rallymaster II by Maurice de Mauriac, made in partnership with Racquet magazine. This is a sequel to the original Rallymaster, released last year in conjunction with the French Open in a run of just 40 pieces. The quick sell out of that watch prompted the team behind it to make the next one a little more available, with a strategy this time of limited production: anyone who’d like to can order the watch, but only during the dates of the US Open. The tournament began on August 28, and the last match will be played on September 10 (this coming Sunday), at which point tennis fans will have to wait for what we imagine will be a Wimbledon or Australian Open themed watch, but that’s speculation for another day. 

The Rallymaster II takes the whimsical, colorful formula of the first watch and spins it just slightly to accommodate a color palette that makes a little more sense for the marquee event in US tennis. The US Open, year after year, is a spectacle, drawing viewers both in-person and on television that might be only casual tennis fans, but can’t help but get caught up in the tournament’s inherent drama. A combination of the boisterous New York crowds, matches that stretch late into the evening, and competitors playing in top late season form always make for an exciting two weeks. 

Carlton DeWoody, the New York based designer behind the Rallymaster, was inspired by watches he loves from the 60s and 70s as well as a love of tennis in creating the aesthetic of the new piece. It’s a three-hander with a date complication at 3:00, but DeWoody’s primary design inspiration here was actually vintage chronographs, which would often incorporate adventurous color combinations, textures, and sectored dials to draw the eye to the features of the complication. Think about watches designed specifically for motorsport, or yacht timers, and you kind of get the idea. DeWoody leaned into incorporating graphics and color in an old-school way, but with allusions to tennis throughout. The grid running across the dial’s center is, of course, a net. The running seconds hand at 9:00 is tipped with a tennis ball, and that subdial is divided into 20 second sections, a nod to the traditional time limit to serve in pro tennis. And the pastel tones of blue and pink, as well as a bit of gray, conjure the familiar colors seen on the courts of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, the home of the US Open. 

The watch is 39mm in diameter with a stainless steel case, and runs on a Landeron 24 automatic movement, beating at 28,800 vph. The case wears slim, coming in at 12mm tall, and at 47mm lug to lug it should find itself in the Goldilocks zone for many. The watch comes with a pair of two-piece nylon straps (one in pink, the other in blue) and the package also includes a Racquet branded pink tennis ball. 

The retail price of the Maurice de Mauriac Rallymaster II is $1,950. Orders can be placed via the Racquet website or through Maurice de Mauriac until the completion of the US Open.