Stars and their luxury watches

Famous watches on famous wrists – who wears what?

Insights into the lives of famous people are always fascinating. What do they do? What does their everyday life look like, or what do they wear? Watch lovers are naturally particularly interested in one thing: what watches do the stars of politics, sport or show business wear? Just watching the news shows that in political Berlin or other capitals of the world, things are very discreet and reserved when it comes to wristwatches. You won't find any pictures of heads of state with a Hublot Big Bang - King Power or a Breitling for Bentley 6.75. In reality, things are much more sober. Chancellor Angela Merkel even makes do with a simple Boccia Titanium that sells for less than 100 euros. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble at least wears Junghans and has, quite pragmatically, opted for a solar model. One might have expected a GMT model from frequent flyer and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, but in fact he, like Gerhard Schröder, is accompanied through his daily ministerial life by a NOMOS Glashütte Tangente , a gift from his wife for her 50th birthday. FDP leader Christian Lindner, on the other hand, treated himself to an IWC Portugieser , the brand that Helmut Kohl also prefers. Former minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has long relied on his classic Calatrava by Patek Philippe . Incidentally, he shares this taste with France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy, who has also been seen wearing a Rolex on several occasions.

The luxury watches from Geneva are a real constant in the otherwise changeable politics: Sarkozy's predecessors Chirac, Hillary Clinton and Joschka Fischer wear them, and Konrad Adenauer, Ludwig Erhard, Richard Nixon and Martin Luther King were also Rolex men, while pilot Franz-Josef Strauss naturally chose Breitling. Even Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro could not resist Rolex and, not very socialistically, bought 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 trusted. Kennedy also briefly owned a Rolex that Marilyn Monroe gave him, complete with a personal engraving, which the President would have liked to see disappear, but which resurfaced years later at an auction. 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 the 1500 series by TAG Heuer for a long time, but then switched to an American Jorg Gray. This JGC6500 chronograph is usually available for around 250 euros, but Obama owns a unique piece with the logo of the Secret Service, which gave him this watch as a birthday present. The situation is completely different for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who likes variety, unusualness and expensive things. Putin has been seen wearing a Breguet Marine, a Blancpain made of titanium and various Patek Philippe models, is a customer of avant-gardist Thomas Prescher's haute horlogerie and also owns a Lange & Söhne Tourbillon.

Famous watches on famous wrists – who wears what?

Times play a crucial role for almost every athlete. Big sports stars pay a similar amount of attention to their wristwatches. Sometimes, however, it remains unclear whether the decision for a brand or model was a private one, or whether money, kind words and the occasional finely filled watch case also played a role. Rolex's sponsorship of golf courses or tennis courts has led to many close ties between the Genevans and individual athletes. Roger Federer and Ana Ivanovic wear Rolex on the tennis circuit. Federer values ​​a Day-Date , a Datejust and a Rolex Daytona from 1981. His colleague Rafael Nadal, on the other hand, shows off an extremely exclusive piece by Richard Mille, while Serbian tennis ace Novak Djokovic has been showing off an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore and Arnold Schwarzenegger The Legacy Chronograph since 2011. Among golfers, Bernhard Langer and Martin Kaymer are well-known and avowed Rolex wearers. Golf legend Tiger Woods is also part of this group, although he previously worked with TAG Heuer for many years. Football greats such as Pelé, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Oliver Kahn also support Rolex. David Beckham also appreciates them, but he has also worn Jacob & Co and, as a brand ambassador, Breitling for some time now. Another dazzling footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo, gave specially made Bulgari Diagono models to the entire Real Madrid team in 2014 as a souvenir of winning the Champions League and in his private life he likes to be seen wearing a Jacobs & Co watch, a deLaCour BiChrono or, together with tennis player Maria Sharapova, as a brand ambassador for TAG Heuer watches. Many active and former drivers in Formula 1, such as Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Niki Lauda, ​​also often wear them. Michael Schumacher, on the other hand, has been closely associated with the Omega brand since the 1990s.

Another look into show business

Big film stars, in front of the camera or in private, and musicians are of course always trendsetters when it comes to fashion or watches. Film icon Steve McQueen set a trend again with the film "Le Mans", where he helped the TAG Heuer Monaco achieve cult status. In private, however, the actor would not have given up his Rolex Submariner for the world. Rolex and TAG Heuer are also often seen on Leonardo di Caprio. He also strapped on a Breitling Avenger for the film "Blood Diamond". At work and in Her Majesty's Secret Service, Daniel Craig only wears Omega, but in private he switches to one of his seven Rolex watches. This makes him much more loyal than his film character James Bond, as the British secret agent has already worn Rolex, Gruen, Hamilton , TAG Heuer and, in keeping with the quartz age, a Seiko. Omega has been making the 007 watch for over 20 years now and even supplied a custom-made Planet Ocean 600M made of titanium for "Skyfall". This means that James Bond has probably worn as many watch models as mega-star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who, not surprisingly, loves big, expressive wrists. The Terminator actor has been seen wearing a Panerai Luminor Marina , an Italian U-Boat U-42 ​​and, most recently, a Laco observation watch.

The actor has of course also often shown off the special models from Audemars Piguet dedicated to him, the Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph Arnold Schwarzenegger The Legacy and the Edition T3 Terminator. What he was still missing was a watch with just the name Schwarzenegger on the dial, and the mime has now fulfilled this wish too: since 2015 he has been launching his own collection of XL chronographs with the Brazilian Magnum Group. In this he has an advantage over Sylvester Stallone, who otherwise shares his love of large watches. Stallone has often been seen wearing Panerai models, U-Boat, Carl F. Bucherer, Montegrappa and, in the past, Rolex. Their collections are also appreciated by film stars such as Clint Eastwood, Bruce Willis, Nicolas Cage and Sharon Stone, while a real aviator like John Travolta chooses a Breitling befitting his status. A Navitimer was also the favorite accessory of jazz legend Miles Davis. Fellow musician and rapper Jay-Z, on the other hand, loves Hublot , where he also has his own collection. Other singers, such as Rolex wearer Phil Collins, Bruce Springsteen with a Navigator from Glashütte Original , or Eric Clapton and Sir Paul McCartney with selected pieces from Patek Philippe such as the Aquanaut model, prefer a more understated look. So every model is represented on the wrists of celebrities, from the inexpensive watch from the department store around the corner to the fine one-off piece worth the equivalent of a respectable house.

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