How a Rolex Ends Up on a GQ Cover

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The cover star of GQ’s Summer 2024 issue is Kevin Costner in a bright orange anorak—-a stylish callback to the actor’s first appearance on our cover all the way back in May 1987. (Costner has been an A-lister for longer than I’ve been alive!) But for a certain subset of people, the real star of the cover might be the Rolex “Pepsi” GMT-Master II on Costner’s wrist.

While previous cover stars like Cillian Murphy and Barry Keoghan haven’t shied away from wrist accessories, they’ve mostly gone mad for bracelets, leaving the watches on the jewelry table at least for the central shot. Costner is the first cover star of 2024 to smuggle a watch onto the front page with him. (In fact, it’s the first watch on a GQ cover since Donald Glover wore a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso in April of 2023!) I called up former GQ deputy fashion director Jon Tietz, who styled the Costner shoot, to find out how a Rolex gets onto a magazine cover.

“He was such a legend,” said Tietz, who could have been talking about both the watch and the actor. On a shoot, Tietz said, the jewelry is the first thing that gets unpacked and laid out onto trays. Multiple watches get called in for every shoot. Pieces from manufacturers’ current collections (like the GMT) are top priority, but Tietz likes to make sure there are vintage watches in the mix too. He often works with Alan Bedwell of Foundwell to scratch that particular itch.

For Tietz, selecting the right watch for a specific talent feels a bit like reading their auras. “I always look at the talent and take in who that person is and how they carry themselves,” Tietz said. “Are they flashy? Are they subtle? Are they, you know, timeless?” Costner, still as ruggedly handsome as ever at 69, certainly qualifies for that last category. “He’s a classic dude,” Tietz said. “I wasn’t about to put anything flashy on him.”

Classic, of course, can mean many different things. In another universe, Costner might’ve ended up with a Cartier Tank on his wrist rather than a Rolex. But when you’re choosing a watch for a GQ cover, it can’t be selected in a vacuum: In addition to the talent, you also have to consider the clothes. “The Tank is rigid, angular, and so boxy, but the clothes he was wearing were very fluid, relaxed, and soft,” Tietz said. “The GMT was the right balance of elegance, timelessness, and sportiness.”

Despite its icon status in the watch world, the GMT was an unusual choice for Tietz. Back when he used to attend industry trade shows like SIHH and BaselWorld, Tietz was consistently drawn to smaller watches—pieces that wouldn’t draw attention away from the person wearing them. I really like how he worded his attraction to these svelter models: A 36-millimeter case is just the right size, Tietz said, to signal “I have a beautiful watch on, but that’s not the first thing I’m going to tell you about myself.”