Prominent watches on prominent wrists – who wears what?
Insights into the life of prominent contemporaries are fascinating time and again. What are they doing? What does their everyday life look like or what do they attract? Of course, watch lovers pay particular attention to one thing: which watches do the stars from politics, sport or show business wear? Just looking at the Tagesschau it becomes clear that in political Berlin or other capitals of the world the subject of wristwatches is very discreet and restrained. No pictures of heads of state with a Hublot Big Bang – King Power or a Breitling for Bentley 6.75 can be found here. In reality, things are much more sober. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is even content with a simple boccia titanium at a sales price of less than 100 euros. After all, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble is already wearing Junghans and has decided, quite pragmatically, in favour of a solar model. Frequent flyer and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier might have expected a GMT model, but in fact, like Gerhard Schröder, he is accompanied by a NOMOS Glashütte Tangente, a gift from his wife for the fiftieth time, through everyday ministerial life. FDP leader Christian Lindner, on the other hand, indulged in an IWC Portugieser, the brand that Helmut Kohl also prefers. Ex-Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has trusted in his classic Calatrava by Patek Philippe for a long time. He shares this taste with France’s ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, who has also been seen more often with a Rolex.
The luxury watches from Geneva are a real constant in the otherwise changeable politics: Sarkozy’s predecessors Chirac, Hillary Clinton or Joschka Fischer wear them and Konrad Adenauer, Ludwig Erhard, Richard Nixon or Martin Luther King were Rolex men, while pilot Franz-Josef Strauß naturally chose Breitling. Even Cuba revolutionary Fidel Castro could not resist Rolex and, little socialist, afforded two of them. His former comrade Mikhail Gorbachev, on the other hand, wears a Constellation Manhattan from Omega, a brand that former US President John F. Kennedy already trusted. Kennedy also briefly owned a Rolex that Marilyn Monroe gave him, including personal engraving, and which the president would have liked to see disappear, but which reappeared at an auction years later. Kennedy’s successors, on the other hand, were often as undemanding as Chancellor Merkel: George W. Bush and Bill Clinton often showed up with inexpensive Timex models. US President Barack Obama wore a diving watch from TAG Heuer’s 1500 series for a long time, but then switched to an American Jorg Gray. This chronograph JGC6500 is usually available for about 250 Euro, but Obama owns a unique watch with the Secret Service logo, which gave him this watch as a birthday present. The situation is completely different for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who loves it varied, unusual and expensive. Putin has already been seen with a Breguet Marine, a Blancpain made of titanium or various Patek Philippe models, is a customer in the haute horlogerie of Avangardist Thomas Prescher and also owns a Lange & Söhne tourbillon.
Prominent watches on prominent wrists – who wears what?
Times play a decisive role for almost every athlete. The big sports stars pay similar attention to their wristwatches. But sometimes it remains somewhat unclear whether the decision for a brand or a model was a completely private choice, or whether money, good words and some preciously filled watch cases played a role. As a result, Rolex’s sponsorship of golf courses and tennis courts also created many close ties between Geneva and individual athletes. Roger Federer or Ana Ivanovic wear Rolex on the tennis circuit. Federer appreciates a day-date, a datejust and a Rolex Daytona, born in 1981, while colleague Rafael Nadal shows an extremely exclusive production by Richard Mille, while Serbia’s tennis ace Novak Djokovic has been presenting himself with an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore, Arnold Schwarzenegger The Legacy Chronograph since 2011. Among the golfers are Bernhard Langer or Martin Kaymer well-known and confessing Rolex bearers. Golf legend Tiger Woods, who previously worked with TAG Heuer for many years, also belongs to this circle. Football greats such as Pelé, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Oliver Kahn are also committed to Rolex. David Beckham also appreciates this, but he also wore Jacob & Co and, for some time now, Breitling as brand ambassador. Another dazzling kicker, Cristiano Ronaldo, gave away specially made Bulgari Diagono models to the entire Real Madrid team in 2014 as a reminder of winning the Champions League. In his private time he likes to show himself with a Jacobs & Co watch, a deLaCour BiChrono or together with tennis player Maria Sharapova as brand ambassador for TAG Heuer watches. Many active and former drivers like Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso or Niki Lauda often compete in Formula 1 as well. Michael Schumacher, on the other hand, has been closely associated with the Omega brand since the 1990s.
Another look at show business
Great movie stars, in front of the camera or in private, and musicians are of course always trendsetters in fashion or watches. One such film icon Steve McQueen founded the movie “Le Mans”, where he helped TAG Heuer Monaco to cult status. Privately, however, the actor would not have given his Rolex Submariner to the world for any money. Rolex and TAG Heuer are also frequently seen at Leonardo di Caprio. For the film “Blood Diamond” he also strapped on the Breitling Avenger. At work and in Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Daniel Craig wears only Omega, while switching privately to one of his seven Rolex watches. This makes him much more loyal than his film character James Bond, because the British secret agent has already travelled with Rolex, the Greens, Hamilton, TAG Heuer or, under the sign of the Quartz age, with a Seiko. Omega has been producing the 007 watch for more than 20 years and even supplied a one-off titanium version of a Planet Ocean 600M for “Skyfall”. James Bond must have worn as many watch models as mega-star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who loves it big and expressive on his wrist, no wonder. One saw the Terminator actor already with a Panerai Luminor Marina, an Italian U-42 submarine and most recently often with a Laco observation watch.
The special models of Audemars Piguet dedicated to him, the Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph Arnold Schwarzenegger The Legacy and the Edition T3 Terminator, were of course often presented by the actor. What was still missing was a watch with the name Schwarzenegger on the dial, and the mime has now also fulfilled this wish: since 2015 it has been launching its own collection of XL chronographs with the Brazilian Magnum Group. This is now ahead of Sylvester Stallone, who otherwise shares his love for big watches. Stallone often appeared with Panerai models, U-Boat, Carl F. Bucherer, Montegrappa and earlier also with Rolex. Their collection also includes movie stars such as Clint Eastwood, Bruce Willis, Nicolas Cage and Sharon Stone, while a real aviator like John Travolta chooses Breitling in keeping with his status. A Navitimer was also the favourite accessory of jazz legend Miles Davis. Musician colleague and rapper Jay-Z, on the other hand, loves Hublot, where he also creates his own collection. Other vocal artists like Phil Collins, Bruce Springsteen with a Navigator from Glashütte Original or Eric Clapton and Sir Paul McCartney with selected pieces from Patek Philippe like the model Aquanaut, however, like it more subtle. On the wrists of the celebrities, every model is represented, from the cheap watch from the department store around the corner to the noble single piece in the equivalent of a respectable little house.
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