« These Are the Watches the Stars Wear »
Especially in the luxury watch segment, the image of a brand or a particular model plays an important role in the buying decision. And it can matter a great deal for a brand's reputation when celebrities or stars are seen wearing one of its watches. But which watches do the stars actually wear, and which brands do celebrities prefer? And which famous personalities have chosen which model?
Priceless Advertising
Celebrity watches are not just a fashion topic; they are genuinely significant for watchmakers. When well-known film stars or figures from politics or sports wear one of their models, the advertising effect is almost priceless. After all, celebrities regularly appear in newspapers and magazines or turn up on television, timepiece and all.
It's no coincidence that several luxury watchmakers deliberately invest in product placement – Omega, for example, with the watches James Bond wears on screen. On top of that, numerous luxury watch brands sign athletes, actors, and other celebrities as brand ambassadors.
Sporty and Modern: Barack Obama
The watches Barack Obama wore during his time as President of the United States were a recurring topic for the tabloids, but also for fashion and lifestyle magazines. They mark him as a man who leads a sporty, active lifestyle.
Obama has been photographed wearing, among others, a large, sporty Jorg Gray chronograph that his Secret Service detail gave him for his 46th birthday, a Fitbit Surge with GPS, and a TAG Heuer Link; he is also said to have been seen with a vintage Aquaracer.
Incidentally, he shares his fondness for TAG Heuer with another leading U.S. politician: Governor Mitt Romney also owns a TAG Heuer Link, which he reportedly alternates with a Seiko Kinetic.
What Watches Did Earlier U.S. Presidents Wear?
Not every U.S. president opted for an outright luxury watch, so celebrity watches include some more modest models as well. George W. Bush and Bill Clinton both chose inexpensive Timex models, though Clinton occasionally wore a Swiss military watch alongside his Timex digital watch on a plastic strap. Dwight D. Eisenhower, by contrast, wore a Rolex Day Date given to him by the Swiss watchmaker, which has since been known as the "Presidential Rolex." Eisenhower also kept time with a Vulcain Cricket, a watch favored by Harry S. Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson as well.
Of course, no look at presidential watches would be complete without mentioning the famous gold Rolex that Marilyn Monroe gave John F. Kennedy for his birthday in 1962. At his inauguration, however, Kennedy had been seen wearing an Omega.
Celebrities' Favorite Watches from Film, TV, Sports, and Music
Celebrities with Omega watches also include Elvis Presley and Reinhold Messner. "Iron Man" Robert Downey Jr. owns an Omega too, but his collection also includes models from Bell & Ross, Patek Philippe, and Jaeger-LeCoultre.
Singer Adam Levine liked to be seen with a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona, while Orlando Bloom drew envious looks from collectors for his vintage Milgauss. Bloom's watches became widely known when a gang of teenage girls stole his impressive collection in 2009, which included several valuable vintage pieces. The "Pirates of the Caribbean" star later got his collection back almost entirely intact.
Other celebrities who round out the ranks of Rolex fans, past and present, include Martin Luther King, Marlon Brando, Tom Cruise, and motorsport legend Sir Jackie Stewart. Over his eight-year Formula 1 career, Stewart not only racked up 27 wins and three world championships; in 1968, then-Rolex head André Heiniger also made him one of the first brand ambassadors of the crown brand, together with French skier Jean-Claude Killy and American golfer Arnold Palmer.
15 Rolexes – and a Different One Every Day
Stewart owns a total of 15 valuable Rolex models and, by his own account, wears a different one every day. He calls a Platinum President his favorite, though for safety reasons he never took it into the cockpit, always entrusting it to his team boss or his wife Helen before the start. Sometimes a star and the watch they wear are a particularly good fit for a specific brand.
John Travolta, for example, serves as an ambassador for pilot's watch specialist Breitling and had the honor of presenting the Chronomat 44 automatic chronograph, tailored to the needs of pilots. In Travolta's case, the campaign was especially credible because he is a passionate pilot himself.
Celebrities with Breitling watches also include soccer star David Beckham, though he is not known to hold a pilot's license.
IWC likewise enjoys a solid following among athletes and actors and has supplied quite a few celebrity watches. Tennis pro Boris Becker, boxer Vitali Klitschko, and soccer pundit Günther Netzer have all chosen an IWC model, as have actors Heinz Hoenig and Heiner Lauterbach. Naturally, the list of celebrity watches could be extended with countless more examples, but that would go beyond the scope of this article.
What is clear, though, is that the stars' tastes in timepieces are remarkably varied: they wear elegant luxury watches just as readily as sporty chronographs or simple, practical models.
