Why we engrave watches
For generations, people have engraved watches to mark the moments, people and stories they wanted to carry with them. From famous watches with inscriptions that became part of history to personal messages engraved on AV86 watches today.
A date. A name. A place. A few words meant for one person only.
Long after the moment has passed, the engraving remains to tell the story.
Engravings that made history
A name scratched by hand
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando wore his Rolex GMT-Master while playing Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. On the caseback, he had scratched two simple words by hand: “M. Brando.”
The watch would become one of the most recognisable movie watches in history. But the engraving was entirely personal. No elaborate dedication. No special occasion. Just his name, permanently marking the watch as his own.
Years later, Brando gave the watch to his daughter Petra as a reminder of how proud he was of her. What began as a simple mark of ownership became part of a story carried from one generation to the next.
Your watch can carry more than time
Make it personal
An engraving changes the relationship you have with a watch. It ties it to a person, a memory or a chapter of your life, giving it a meaning that belongs to you alone. As you wear it, that meaning becomes part of the watch itself.
And perhaps one day, the watch will find its way onto someone else's wrist. When it does, the engraving carries something with it. A reminder of who wore it before, what mattered to them and the life they lived.
That's what makes a personal engraving so much more than a few words on the back of a watch.
From the AV86 community
Thousands of moments engraved
Over the years, AV86 customers have trusted us with thousands of personal engravings. Some celebrate life's biggest occasions, while others capture something meaningful to just one or two people.
Together, they offer a glimpse at all the different reasons people choose to make a watch their own.
Here are some of them.
28 September 1968
A date worth remembering
When Vikram chose his AV86, he had one date engraved on the caseback: 28 September 1968.
It was the day his parents were married. Nearly six decades later, he chose to carry their anniversary with him on a watch of his own.
A date that once belonged to two people now lives on with the next generation.