Serena Williams Adds a New Title to the List: Watch Designer

There are many titles you can put in front of Serena Williams’s name. Of course, there’s number 1 ranked tennis star and four-time Olympic gold medalist. And there’s mother, entrepreneur, producer, and style icon— adventurous with her looks on the court before anyone else was doing it. Now she adds another: watch designer.

On the heels of the U.S. Open, Williams is collaborating with Audemars Piguet on a limited edition wristwatch in white ceramic and pink mother of pearl. And as Williams tells it, this was inevitable. “Watches are my life,” she says, noting that she’s a long-time collector.

But time is something she doesn’t have a lot of these days. On top of juggling two young daughters, returning to the court dominated much of her summer. She spoke with VF ahead of the tournament about having her daughters experience this moment in her career, and what she would spend time on if she had an extra hour.

When Audemars Piguet approaches you, how involved are you with the design choices for something like this?

Very involved, but it's so intricate. Being able to spend time in Switzerland at the headquarters was really good and really fun and being able to see how the pieces actually worked and to understand what to pick out. But for me, it was really about empowerment and picking. And pink's my favorite color.

What are other ways that you treat yourself?

I don't. I think that's the thing. We become mothers and we do a lot and we never take a breath and we never stop. And even now I'm running from training to meetings to putting my baby down to this. And it's like I never take a minute to just say self-love time, which is super important. It's also good just to be okay with giving yourself something nice.

Well, speaking of time, if you had an extra hour in a day, what would you spend it on?

I mean, I would [spend it] laying down because I don't get to do that enough, but my kids wake up very early, so I don't know. I'll probably spend it on cooking or being with them. See, like I just told you, I never spend any time on myself and a lot of women are kind of like that.

Courtesy of Audemars Piguet

When you think about your style generally, obviously you've had such an impact on the court, off the court, how do you think you've evolved as you've grown into today?

I think I'm growing every day. Every day changes you and makes or breaks you, but there's always tomorrow. And I always tell myself there's a new adventure tomorrow. Every day is a chance to grow for me.

Who do you look to for style inspiration? Or are you like, "It's just me."

I've always been inspired by pop culture and then just mixing it with lots of classic silhouettes or colors or things of that nature and then making it my own.

What are you watching and reading right now?

Nothing. I mean, I haven't had time to read a book in a while. My kids are very busy and I'm with them every day of their lives. So I do like reading, and now that they're getting older, it's getting easier. Well, one is older, but the little one needs a lot of attention, so I don't get to do as much about it when it comes to reading. And I like to be hands-on, so my life is pretty boring. And then I picked up a tennis racket this summer, so that kind of threw any other extra time that I did have out the window.

You've been playing with your sister. How has it been being together on the court?

Sharing it with my sister is really cool because we get to laugh, but we are also very serious and we also get to communicate.

It's been so fun. It's like, I've been looking at it from a different angle with my daughters here to see, and [Olympia] is so proud of me every time I leave the court, whether I win or lose. She gives me the biggest hug and I'm like, "I didn't win. How can you be hugging me?" But she doesn't see it like that.

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