For more than four decades, Tom Cruise has been many things to many people: the brash Navy pilot, the smooth-talking sports agent, the impossible-mission specialist.
But one constant has been ticking quietly along with him: his enduring affinity for Rolex.
Cruise has long favored the brand both on- and off-screen, using the world’s most iconic watchmaker to signal character, status, or simply his own personal taste. In Rain Man (1988), his character, Charlie Babbitt, wore a gold Rolex Day-Date, the kind of watch that says you’ve made it (or at least want others to think you have). In Cocktail (also 1988) a steel Rolex Air-King played sidekick to his upwardly mobile bartender, Brian Flanagan.
Off-screen, his choices are equally telling.
A Rolex Datejust ref. 16200 in stainless steel—with its white Roman-numeral dial and smooth bezel—has made regular appearances over the years. It’s the sort of no-nonsense, old-school offering from the Crown that doesn’t shout for attention. Cruise has also worn the technically impressive Sky-Dweller ref. 326934, a dual-time-zone watch made for international travel (a category the Cruiser knows intimately).
In recent years, his taste has leaned bolder. The Rolex Daytona ref. 116500LN, with its crisp black-and-white “panda” dial and ceramic bezel, and the white-gold GMT-Master II “Pepsi,” rich in nostalgia and luxury, have upped the wattage of his collection.
This week, in a quietly extravagant turn, Cruise has turned to the cosmos.
The Rolex Day-Date 40 with a meteorite dial.
While promoting the latest Mission: Impossible installment, he’s been spotted wearing a white-gold Rolex Day-Date 40 with a meteorite dial. It’s a watch that TC has plenty in common with, being timeless, rare, and cut from another world.
Because this version of the Day-Date is far from ordinary. Powered by the advanced calibre 3255 movement and finished with a fluted bezel and the signature white-gold President bracelet, the dial is carved from the Gibeon meteorite, which fell in Namibia and is prized for its naturally occurring Widmanstätten patterns—crystalline structures formed as the meteor cooled over millions of years in space.
Each dial is entirely unique, and Rolex uses this material sparingly, only on a handful of its most prestigious collections. Most meteorite-dial Rolexes are reserved for platinum or 18-karat-gold models, making them even more exclusive.
Getting your hands on one is notoriously difficult. Production is extremely limited due to the scarcity of the material, and demand among collectors is intense. As a result, these watches often command premium prices on the secondary market, especially since some meteorite-dial references have already been discontinued.
The Rolex Day-Date 40 with meteorite dial retails for $56,800—if you can find one at retail. For most buyers, a place on a long waiting list is all but guaranteed.
But if you’re Tom, you can probably skip the queue.
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