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Talking Watches With Curtis McDowald, U.S. Olympic Fencer

A rising star swordsman shares his love of watches, on the eve of the Tokyo Olympics.


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By the time you watch this episode of Talking Watches, Curtis McDowald will be in Tokyo, along with the rest of the U.S. fencing team. Fencing, for many Americans, is an exotic sport – so much so that if you mention it, you might very well get a blank stare. (I remember asking a clerk at a Montgomery Ward department store, in the 1970s, if they sold fencing equipment. I ended up in an aisle full of gear for building fences.)

But McDowald and his team hope to change all that – and to establish American fencing as a force to be reckoned with, internationally.

Every sport has its unique demands – fencing, as well. Fencing is sword-fighting – it has its origins in late 19th century dueling practices. By that time, the goal of dueling was less to kill the opponent – though fatalities did occur – than to "satisfy honor" by proving you were willing to risk your life for it. The development of non-lethal swords, and fencing as a sport, were the next logical evolution. Modern fencing demands incredible agility, split-second reflexes, stamina, and intense focus.

There are three types of weapons used in modern fencing: Saber, foil, and epée. Each has its counterpart in the world of fighting blades. The fencing saber descends from the cutting sword of the same name (often favored by cavalry). The foil and epée are both descendants of light dueling swords like the European smallsword, which was almost exclusively a thrusting weapon. Dueling is obviously dangerous no matter how you slice it, haha, but a thrusting weapon is especially hazardous as a puncture wound to the chest stands an excellent chance of hitting the heart, a major artery, or collapsing a lung.

Each has its own rules – in foil, for instance, only the torso is a legal target, while in epée, the entire body, including the head, hands and feet, are fair game. The sport today uses electronic scoring and in epée, a winner may score by making a hit as little as 40 milliseconds before their adversary.

McDowald's weapon is the epée. It's the largest and heaviest weapon in the fencing arsenal, and competing with the weapon requires a chess player's appreciation for tactics. A native of Queens, McDowald began studying the art at the Peter Westbrook Foundation, which was founded by the first Black fencer to win an Olympic medal for the USA (Peter Westbrook took home a bronze for Team USA in 1984, in men's saber). He showed a talent for the sport, very early on, but he also had a persistence, and diligence in practice, which put him, shall we say, a cut above his contemporaries.

Taking home some medals is obviously top of the list for the team, but they've already made history just by getting there – the U.S. has not had a men's epée team qualify since 2004, and the last time the U.S. epée team medaled was in 1932 (in Los Angeles, which was also the first year Omega provided timers for the Games). The pressure is on.

And one of the ways that McDowald relaxes in his spare time (such as it is) is by looking at watches, and thinking about watches, and reading about watches. The 25-year-old's collection is small but growing – and shows, already, a harmonious relationship of design among the watches that would be a credit to any collection.

We'd like to thank Curtis for making time to sit down with us just before his departure for Tokyo with the rest of Team USA – and for sharing his very real, and very deep, passion for watches and watchmaking.


Gucci Pantheon

This was Curtis' first "good watch" and already, you can see it anticipating a lot of the elements that his subsequent watches would have. Curtis says it's the first watch he bought for himself, at 17. It's a recognizable name, and also a crisp, clean design in a modern urban-oriented automatic watch that sets the stage for what comes next. 


Tudor Prince Oyster Date

The next watch Curtis acquired was this Tudor Prince Oyster Date. In addition to its classic good looks and great value, Curtis wanted a vintage watch that would be a reliable daily wear companion and he says that the fact that it can be easily serviced, was a big part of the attraction. For Curtis, the vintage world was enormously attractive but he wanted to make sure he avoided one of the biggest potential pitfalls, which is ending up with a watch that's more show than go.


King Seiko Ref. 45-7000

From 1961 to 1975, Daini Seikosha made the King Seiko watches which were positioned to compete more or less directly with Grand Seiko on quality and performance. This reference has a high-beat, hand assembled movement and it Curtis picked it up on his first trip to Japan (the Tokyo Olympics are his second visit to the country). Curtis was training with the Japanese fencing team in a small village and struck up a friendship with the son of a local watchmaker – and thereby hangs a tale.


Rolex GMT-Master Ref. 1675

They say every watch tells a story and boy, this watch tells a story. This is the current star of Curtis' growing collection: A GMT Master ref. 1675. It's a classic, of course, but in this case it's also a watch with an incredible lost-and-found history behind it. Originally, the watch belonged to Curtis' grandfather, and Curtis had heard it mentioned on and off growing up, but never saw it, and never asked about it. But, one day curiosity got the better of him.


Casio G-SHOCK GA2110ET-8A

Although this "Casioak" G-Shock might seem a radical departure from his other watches, it still ticks a lot of the same boxes. As G-Shocks go, it's a slim, elegant design and has the same subtle but definite geometry as his other pieces. Curtis says it's also proof that no one's immune to Instagram.

Once again, a big thank you to Olympian Curtis McDowald for joining us for this episode of Talking Watches! To find out more about his path to the Olympics, check out his interview with Bradford William Davis for GQ, and for more on the place that became a young fencer from Queens' first home, visit the Peter Westbrook Foundation.