Dwayne Johnson is most definitely a watch guy. From TAG Heuer to IWC, from Panerai to Oris, the GQ Man of the Year has proven his horological bona fides again and again with all sorts of large tool watches. At any given event, screening, or premier, you can find a race-ready Monaco, a cushion-cased Luminor, or an oversized Big Pilot strapped to his wrist. And given that all these models are classics, it’s little surprise that we find him wearing yet another classic in the Rolex GMT-Master II to a special promotional appearance for his new film Red One.
This week, a crowd of utterly delighted kids—and their parents, frankly—were treated to a dose of whatever The Rock happened to be cooking that day when he showed up unexpectedly at Hamleys, a historic toy store in London. Clearly visible on Johnson’s wrist, meanwhile, was the Rolex GMT-Master II ref. 126715CHNR, a solid-gold take on the brand’s iconic dual-time travel watch with a matching gold Oyster bracelet. (If you’re gonna hand out teddy bears to kids, you may as well do it in style, no?)
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The GMT-Master II makes perfect sense for a globe-trotting star like Johnson, but its origins are much more utilitarian: In the 1950s Rolex designed an entirely new complication for the flight crews of Pan Am, then the leading American airline and one of the world’s most glamorous. The idea behind the watch, which the Swiss watchmaker dubbed the “GMT-Master,” was that a fourth hand, attached to the local hour hand, could be used in conjunction with a rotating 24-hour bezel to display a second time zone. This way, air crews could monitor both local as well as Greenwich Mean Time, which was then the common reference time for pilots. (Today, it’s U.T.C.)
Because the GMT hand was paired with the hour hand, the spinning bezel was necessary in order to calculate this second zone. However, in 1983, Rolex released the GMT-Master II, which featured an independently adjustable local hour hand. This allowed for two things: It meant that the watch could now technically track three time zones and frequent travelers could quickly and easily update local time without spinning all the hands in a potentially long scroll. (Just pop out the crown to the correct position and jump the hour hand in one-hour increments.) Even before the birth of the “II,” however, Rolex had begun making GMT-Masters in solid gold, turning this once-relatively-affordable pilot’s tool into a distinctive luxury product for the wealthy.
The original blue-and-red “Pepsi” bezel—divided into two colors in order to quickly differentiate day from night—has since spawned numerous other colorways. Johnson’s, which features a black-and-brown bezel, has been nicknamed “Root Beer” by the collector community. Its solid Everose gold case and matching Oyster bracelet send it even further into the luxury stratosphere, and at $42,300, it’s probably not gonna feature on too many pilots’ wrists any time soon. But if your last name is “Johnson” and you happen to be on a globe-spanning mission to save Santa Claus, it’s sort of the perfect watch.
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Michael Jordan’s Patek Philippe Cubitus
We have another Cubitus fan on our hands in the form of one Michael Jordan—perhaps you’ve heard of him? His Airness was spotted rocking the stainless steel ref. 5821/1A-001 while trackside at the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway. (Jordan is a co-owner of 23XI Racing.) Launched last month in Munich, the Cubitus is Patek owner Thierry Stern’s dream project—a square watch in the mold of luxury sports watch classics such as the Nautilus and Aquanaut. Large yet thin, it’s the perfect model for a taller guy with a bigger wrist, and the olive dial is undeniably handsome.
Steve Granitz
Drew Starkey’s Cartier Tank Américaine
Queer actor Drew Starkey went full Cartier mode at the L.A. premier of his new movie, which he stars in alongside Daniel Craig. In addition to a brooch, bracelet, and ring, Starkey wore the 18K yellow gold Tank Américaine in its small configuration—a new take on the famously elongated model born in 1989. The piece features a 19.4 mm by 35.4 mm case with a signature blue cabochon crown, a Roman-numeral dial, a quartz movement, and a black leather strap. One of the maison’s most beloved shaped watches, the Américaine looks even better in this smaller size, which is decidedly on-trend these days.
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Pharrell’s Richard Mille RM UP-01 Ferrari
Although it was recently dethroned as the thinnest mechanical watch in the world by Bulgari’s second-generation Octo Finissimo Ultra, the Richard Mille RM UP-01 Ferrari is still wildly impressive at just 1.75mm. Pharrell, an early adopter, rocked one at GQ’s Men of the Year party on Thursday night, proving that this Grade 5 titanium wonder is still one of the coolest timepieces ever devised. The RM’s unconventional elongated frame measures a wide 51mm in diameter, but its incredible light weight and thinness mean that it doesn’t wear like its dimensions would indicate. For an über-creative like Pharrell, such a timepiece seems like the perfect accessory.
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Louis Vuitton
Taylor Swift’s Louis Vuitton Tambour
Louis Vuitton’s 2023 relaunch of the Tambour might not have sparked the same frenzy as MoonSwatch Madness or Tiny Cartier Tumult, but for watch guys and gals who love the original’s inventive case shape and playful design it was a momentous occasion. Not nearly as momentous as Taylor Swift strapping one on to wear to the Chiefs game last week, however. The singer-songwriter chose the yellow-gold version with matching bracelet, which features a movement crafted by the mad horological geniuses at La Fabrique du Temps, now owned by LVMH.
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