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Iconic Celebrity Watches From Hollywood to Politicians
Being a celebrity doesn’t just mean you’re in Hollywood, you can be a famous sports figure, political figure, musician or even a tech conglomerate. Big money, big events and even bigger personalities can showcase some interesting wristwear, whether the celebrity watch is part of a sponsorship or a true passion for watches.
Watch connoisseurs can be known to spot watches worn by celebrities on the red carpet, in movies and even when they are playing sports. While many celebrities, or movie partnerships, are endorsed by luxury watch brands, when the watch is being worn we take notice.
In this article, we’ll discuss the following celebrities and brands:
> Tiger Woods – Rolex
> Rory McIlroy – Omega
> Bubba Watson – Richard Mille
> Rihanna
> Gordon Ramsay
> Rafael Nadal – Richard Mille
> Serena Williams – Audemars Piguet
> Roger Federer – Rolex
> Barack Obama
> Bill Clinton
> Steve Jobs
> John Mayer
> Ellen Degeneres
> Jay-Z
Key Takeaways
>Watch collectors in Hollywood span TV, film, music, and sports.
>Luxury timepieces are often designed for timing sporting events, eventually making their way on to the wrists of top athletes.
>Star professional golfers like Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Bubba Watson flaunt luxury watch brands like Rolex, Omega, and Richard Mille.
>President Barack Obama has been spotted wearing a Tag Heuer Series 15000.
>Passionate Hollywood watch collectors include John Mayer, Ellen Degeneres, and Jay-Z.
Top Celebrity Watch Brands
Watches have always been a staple in films, think James Bond and his Rolex Submariner, now Omega Seamaster tool watch. Watches were even designed for timing sporting events, and eventually made their way onto top athletes to track performance. Let’s take a look at a few of our favorite celebrity timepieces.
Tiger Woods – Rolex
Well known for being one of the greatest golfers, and one of the most famous athletes, has a sponsorship by one of the top watchmaking manufacturers: Rolex.
He can be seen wearing the Sea-Dweller Deepsea and the D-Blue. He was spotted wearing the D-Blue when he won his fifth Masters tournament in 2019.
Rory McIlroy – Omega
Another golfer who is known for his skill on the course, Rory McIlroy has an affinity, and is sponsored, by Omega. He has been seen wearing a few different models, from the Seamaster Aqua Terra to the Speedmaster Aventurine. He even has a special Speedmaster “Rory McIlroy” edition. McIlroy also helped design an Aqua Terra “Ultra Light”, which he wore during his practice round at the 2019 Omega European Masters.
Bubba Watson – Richard Mille
Our final golfer on our list, but definitely not the last who has an interest in watches, Bubba Watson is slightly different than the other players. Bubba Watson wears his Richard Mille watch while he’s playing. Most athletes don’t wear their watches while playing because they can get in the way of wrist movement, be heavy and are not shock resistant.
Richard Mille is no stranger to making high performance watches, so the partnership with Watson was just the next step. Watson can be spotted wearing his RM 38-01, with a retail value of $825,000. The watch has a g-sensor measuring his swing, is made of light weight titanium and is white and green, with the green being specifically for his two Masters wins. He’s been wearing Richard Mille since 2011 and has had three watches designed for him by the brand.
Rihanna
One of the best-selling musical artists, and no stranger to fashion, style icon Rihanna has been known to wear a few different watches over the years. Unlike the first three athletes who are sponsored by brands, Rihanna let’s fashion dictate what she wears on her wrist. While she wears mainly Rolex, she doesn’t let that stop her from taking fashion into account and wearing iconic models from other brands.
In her 2008 music video for ‘Take A Bow’ she wore a simple black outfit and gold jewelry, one of the prominent pieces in the opening scene is an all yellow gold Piaget Polo. Changing up her style, she has been seen wearing a two-tone 36mm ladies Datejust and 36mm yellow gold Day-Date. She was also partnered with Chopard in 2017, where we saw her experimenting with more diamond watches. She also wears a classic Cartier Panthere, which can be seen in a promo-video for her Fenty Beauty collection.
Gordon Ramsay
Known for his cutthroat temperament, owning 35 restaurants globally and multiple TV shows, Chef Gordon Ramsay is also a watch connoisseur. In a recent preview for the latest Hell’s Kitchen, ChefRamsay is wearing a bold watch with yellow dial. This standout piece is none other than the Cockpit Chronograph from Breitling.
This isn’t his only watch in the collection, he also wears an Everose Rolex Yachtmaster, a Submariner “Smurf”, and a vintage 1950’s Rolex Submariner.
Rafael Nadal – Richard Mille
Moving back to sports, iconic tennis star Rafael Nadal wears Richard Mille. The partnership between the two took a lot of convincing from Richard Mille. Nadal had refused to wear watches, and the thought of wearing one while playing tennis never crossed his mind. This led to the pair developing the lightest tourbillon at the time, and Nadal today can be seen wearing a few different Richard Mille Models.
In 2020 Nadal wore the latest model worth around $1million dollars, the RM 27-04. This watch can withstand 12,000 Gs and a pool-blue strap to stand out on the court. The previous collaboration was the RM 27-03 and was tiger strapped with red and yellow, a homage to Nadal’s home country of Spain.
Serena Williams – Audemars Piguet
Tennis superstar with 23 grand slam titles, Serena Williams partnered with Audemars Piguet over 6 years ago. She became the face of the Royal Oak Offshore in 2014 and has been seen wearing the Offshore Chronograph while playing. When she has more formal events, she opts for dressier pieces from the brand, such as a rose gold Millenary. When attending the Met Gala in 2017, it was hard not to notice the Diamond Outrage from the Haute Joaillerie collection.
In a recent video playing with her daughter, Serena can be seen wearing one of the most recent Royal Oaks, the ceramic Openworked. She can also be seen wearing other Royal Oak models throughout different campaigns.
Roger Federer – Rolex
Another one of the greatest tennis players, with 20 Grand Slam titles, Roger Federer has quite the collection of Rolex watches. He was wearing his Rolex Datejust II in 2009 when he lifted the trophy after winning the French Open for the first time. The watch, similar to the trophy, is an icon for that day, bringing back memories when he wears it.
Other Rolex models in his expansive collection include a GMT-Master II “Batman”, Daytona “Big Red” and the elusive blue dial Sky-Dweller.
Barack Obama
President Barack Obama could be found wearing a Tag Heuer Series 1500 in the 10 to 15 years before he was elected into office. For his 46th birthday in 2007, he was gifted a Jorg Gray JG6500 from his Secret Service team. Jorg Gray has been making watches in the United States since the late 90’s, making it a perfect fit for the American President.
Now that he is no longer in office, he has been seen wearing a Rolex Cellini reference 50509 when attending the Invictus Games a few years ago.
Bill Clinton
Similarly to President Obama, President Clinton wore a more understated watch during his presidency in the 1990s. He wore a Timex Ironman digital watch to his inaugural ball in 1993, which was called an “unsightly blemish” and a “wrist gargoyle” by the Washington Post Style section. Newsweek called his preference “technonerd.” This watch is now on display at the Smithsonian.
After leaving office however, President Clinton started to explore his watch tastes. His collection now includes a PAM 89 LUminor GMT, PAM 282 Radiomir Black Seal and a Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Compressor Alarm Navy Seals. He has also worn a limited edition A. Lange & Sohne Grosse Langematik Gangreserve in platinum.
Steve Jobs
Rounding out this part of our list is Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. He is known, outside of the tech-world, for being obsessed with simplifying everything. His uniform was a pair of New Balances, Levi’s and a black turtleneck. His watch style also mirrored this simplicity. Steve Jobs wore a Seiko Quartz 6431-6030. It is a classic 3-hand design with arabic numerals on a white dial with a black leather strap.
This watch went up for auction a few years after Jobs passed away, and in 2016 his watch sold for $42,500. Seiko reissued the watch in 2017 as a limited release.
What Celebrity Has the Best Watch Collection?
While we left quite a few celebrities off our list above, we also wanted to highlight a few others who’s watch collecting goes a little deeper. The following celebrities have a passion for watches and their extensive collections can prove it.
John Mayer
If you’re into watches, you most likely already know part of the collection owned by John Mayer. The singer-songwriter is known to flaunt his collection across the watch industry and on his Instagram. His passion for watches has also led him to encouraging friends and family to make their own purchases, including Andy Cohen and Kevin O’Leary. He has also partnered with editorial site Hodinkee to release a Casio G-Shock that he designed and released in late 2020.
In 2015, Mayer told the New York Times that his watch collection is valued in the “tens of millions.” It’s not hard to see once you start to dive into different pieces he’s been spotted wearing and has openly talked about in different videos. He has an extensive Rolex Daytona collection, to name a few key pieces, he owns a Daytona 6265 with Omani Khanjar stamp, Daytona 6263 18k gold, Daytona 6264 Paul Newman, Rainbow Daytona 116598 in yellow gold and a second in white gold, the Daytona 116508 in yellow gold with green dial and the 116509 in white gold with blue dial.
The collection doesn’t stop there, he also owns a Patek Philippe 5164A, 5971 and 5004G, a white ceramic Audemars Piguet Concept GMT Tourbillon and Royal Oak Extra-Thin Tourbillon, a Rolex Submariner 5514 Comex and GMT Master II 116719BLRO white gold.
Ellen DeGeneres
Another celebrity and someone not afraid to show off her collection, Ellen DeGeneres has quite the collection of watches. If you’ve ever tuned into her show or have caught pictures of her at events, you have surely seen a wide variety of watches on her wrist including both modern and vintage pieces. She does tend to lean towards Rolex and Patek Philippe models.
A few pieces from an extensive collection, Ellen has been seen wearing a Rolex Explorer II 1655, Daytona 6241 “John Player Special”, a Patek Philippe 5271P Perpetual Calendar Chronograph, a Patek Philippe 5204/1R Split Seconds Perpetual Calendar, a Speedmaster Professional and an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Dual Time. She was also given the Omega Seamaster 300 “Spectre” from Daniel Craig, Bond himself, when he was on her show promoting the movie.
Jay Z
Rounding out our current list is a man who needs no introduction, Shawn Carter (also known as Jay-Z) is another watch connoisseur. He has rapped about watches in quite a few of his songs and even had a partnership with Hublot where he released to models, a Classic Fusion in ceramic and in rose gold.
He has collected watches from quite a few brands, although when he first started collecting he favored Rolex. From there he has added Audemars Piguet, Hublot, Patek Philippe and Jaeger LeCoultre to his collection. He can be seen wearing a Royal Oak perpetual calendar in his court-side seats watching basketball, and a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso at a black tie event. In his song Summer which was released with Beyonce, he can be heard saying, “I don’t have no concept of time. Even with a Rose Gold Concept on me” in reference to wearing the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon in rose gold.
For P.Diddy’s 50th birthday celebration, Jay-Z wore a Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime 6300G, one of just 6 pieces of the reference and worth $2.2 million. In 2019, Jay-Z sent a bottle of champagne and a rose-gold Rolex Daytona in VIP invitations.
What Rolex Do Celebrities Wear?
Rolex is mentioned quite often on this list of celebrity watches, and many different models are worn. Celebrities and collectors alike wear the Daytona, Submariner, Deepsea, Sky-Dweller, Cellini, Datejust and Day-Dates. The Date-Date is one of the most famous models and is nicknamed the “President” because of how many influential politicians wear the model. The Daytona is another classic model, with celebrities collecting both modern and vintage models.
Finishing off our article is a list of other celebrities and watches we’ve spotted them wearing over the years. What’s your favorite watch you’ve seen a celebrity wearing? Has their wrist wear inspired your next watch purchase? Shop the entire The 1916 Company collection to find your next luxury watch.
Jason Statham loves his Panerai,here he is wearing a Panerai Luminor Marina (click to view)
Kim Kardashian strutting a Rolex with Diamonds (click to view)
Lebron James for Audemars Piguet (click to view)
Angelina Jolie in slim and sleek Cartier Tank
Pierce Brosnan in Jaeger-LeCoultre (click to view)
Dwyane Wade rocking a Hublot King Power (click to view)
Jennifer Aniston in her Rolex Presidential
Photo Credit: WatchPro
Daniel Craig spotted wearing a Rolex GMT Master Pepsi (click to view)
David Beckham spotted in one of his favorites- Jacob & Co (click to view)
Leonardo DiCaprio in a Tag Heuer Carrera Caliber 16 Day-Date Chronograph
Sylvester Stallone flashing a Panerai Luminor (click to view)
Jeremy Renner in anIWC Top Gun Chronograph (click to view)
Usher in a sleek Rolex Milgauss (click to view)
Basketball player Kobe Bryant flashing his Girard -Perregaux (click to view)
Tom Cruise spotted in a ‘handsome’ IWC (click to view)
Ashley Tisdale in a beautiful gold Rolex
Rob Dyrdek in a Rolex Yacht Master