Inside a Rising Soul Musician’s Extremely Vibey Watch Collection
This is an edition of the newsletter Box + Papers, Cam Wolf’s weekly deep dive into the world of watches. It’s currently being manned by Jeremy Freed, watch writer extraordinaire, while Cam is on parental leave. Sign up here.
There are an infinite number of reasons you might fall in love with a watch. Family history, your birth year, world events, ties to celebrities or cultural moments, iconic design, engineering finesse. Perhaps the most underrated of them all, however, is vibes. Forget the name printed on the dial, what the case is made out of, whether it’s quartz or automatic, or if it even tells time reliably. How does it feel? The deeper one gets into watches, and the more watch orthodoxy one absorbs, the less importance we tend to ascribe to that feeling, and this seems like a shame. It’s also what makes the musician Johnny Rodriguez, better known by his stage name, 54 Ultra, an unusual breed of watch enthusiast.
For anyone familiar with 54 Ultra’s oeuvre, his penchant for extremely vibey watches will come as no surprise. With his Freddie Mercury mustache, oversized aviator frames, and a tightly curated wardrobe of disco-era tees and band-collar leather jackets, 54 Ultra’s look is as much an homage to the style of the ’70s and ’80s as his soul-and-Latin-laced sound. His taste in watches follows a similar tack, with vintage pieces from the ’40s through the ’80s, each chosen for its character, its feel, and—for lack of a better word—its vibe.
54 Ultra’s watch collection has grown along with his stature. Just under two years since releasing his first single, 2024’s “Heaven Knows,” 54 Ultra has already had his debut EP named one of Billboard’s Best Projects of 2025, topped 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and played sold-out shows across the US, Europe, and Mexico. With a new single due at the end of March, a new album set to drop in the fall, and a plum spot on the Coachella lineup in early April, he’s on track to have a busy summer, too. We called him up at home in New Jersey to talk about thrifting, finding his dream Rolex, and the best place to buy a watch in Quakertown, Pennsylvania.
Courtesy of 54 Ultra
Box + Papers: What’s the vibe of the next album?
54 Ultra: I’m still trying to do a Donnie and Joe Emerson thing, but with a little bit more of a Latin flair. I like that homeyness, that kind of home recording vibe. I’ve also been into a lot of Marvin Gaye, Fania All Stars, Joe Bataan, and I think that’s gonna end up coming through by the time I finish this album.
How did you come up with your look?
For the record, I found the vibe before the music. I’m 25 now, and I think when I was 19 or 20, I started to really get into Michael Jackson. I just liked how he looked when he was younger. And then I’d also see pictures of my uncles and my dad when they were younger, and I was just drawn to the style and how everything fit. So when I started to learn how to thrift, I learned how to know my measurements, and how to date things.I went super ’70s costumey at first, and then dialed it back to a more casual look. It was a fun hobby.
Are you still thrifting on tour?
I’m still in the thrift stores. If I have time in a city, I’ll try to find a boutique so I can run in real quick and find something nice. I go on Depop or eBay as well when I have a really specific peace in mind.
Do you find your tastes changing as time goes by?
Yeah, of course, absolutely. It wouldn’t be me to stay in one thing forever. You can overdo it or underdo it, and right now I feel like I’m finding the right balance where it’s not costumey, like replacing my t-shirts and jeans with ones from the ’70s or ’80s. It’s very subtle.
When did you become interested in watches?
That started around 2022 or 2023. When I would see merengue singers, or Bachata singers from Dominican Republic, and salsa singers from the ’70s from Puerto Rico, and pictures of my uncles, it’s like, I have the clothes down, but I wanted to accessorize. I guess you hit that age where it just makes sense, right?
What makes a watch interesting to you?
I respect watchmaking, and quality movements, and the idea that it’s a million little things working together to make this watch work, but for me, it’s definitely vibes. It’s always about the look for me. I’d prefer an automatic movement, but the Cartier Santos that I have is quartz, and it’s beautiful.
