Celebrity Watches: Who Wears What

Featured image: Alesili, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The watch celebrities wear more than any other is the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona, today the steel ref. 126500LN, with Paul Newman’s ref. 6239 as the most famous example ever sold. After Rolex, the brands you see most on famous wrists are Omega, TAG Heuer and Cartier, and most of those pairings come from paid ambassador deals.

The Most Celebrity-Worn Watch: Rolex Cosmograph Daytona

The Daytona is a chronograph Rolex introduced in 1963 for racing drivers. It became the celebrity watch largely because of one man. Paul Newman wore a ref. 6239 with an “exotic” dial for years, and collectors still call that dial style a “Paul Newman.” His own watch, engraved “Drive Carefully Me” by his wife Joanne Woodward, sold at Phillips in New York in October 2017 for about $17.8 million. That was a record for a wristwatch at auction at the time.

The modern version is the ref. 126500LN, launched in 2023. It looks a lot like the Daytonas Newman and later stars made famous, but it runs on Rolex’s in-house automatic chronograph movement and has a black ceramic bezel. Getting one at retail is still hard, and that scarcity is part of the appeal.

Spec	Rolex Cosmograph Daytona 126500LN
Case size	40 mm, about 12.4 mm thick
Material	Oystersteel with a black Cerachrom ceramic bezel
Movement	Rolex Calibre 4131 automatic chronograph, about 72-hour power reserve
Water resistance	100 m
Approx. price	About $16,900 retail; roughly $29,000 to $35,000 pre-owned

Celebrity Watches at a Glance

Here are the pairings people search for most. “Ambassador” means a paid brand partnership. “Collector” means a watch the person bought and talks about themselves.

Celebrity	Watch most associated with them	Relationship
Paul Newman	Rolex Daytona ref. 6239 “Paul Newman”	Personal watch (sold 2017)
John Mayer	Rolex Daytona ref. 116508, green dial	Collector
George Clooney	Omega Speedmaster	Longtime Omega ambassador
Daniel Craig	Omega Seamaster Diver 300M 007 Edition	Worn as James Bond
Steve McQueen	Heuer Monaco ref. 1133B	Worn in Le Mans (1971)
Ryan Gosling	TAG Heuer Carrera	TAG Heuer ambassador since 2021
Timothée Chalamet	Cartier Crash, Cartier Tank family	Cartier ambassador; Urban Jürgensen partner since 2026
Taylor Swift	Small yellow-gold Cartier	Personal (exact model reported, not confirmed)

Rolex: Paul Newman, John Mayer and the Daytona Effect

Newman never had a Rolex endorsement deal, which is part of why his story carries weight. He just wore the watch. Our Paul Newman watch guide covers the 6239 and the dial that took his name.

A generation later, John Mayer became music’s best-known collector. The watch most tied to him is the yellow-gold Daytona ref. 116508 with a green dial, which collectors nicknamed the “John Mayer Daytona” after he talked about it on Hodinkee’s Talking Watches. He has also worked on a limited Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar and Hodinkee’s G-Shock 6900 collaboration. The full collection is in our John Mayer watch article.

The Daytona pattern goes beyond those two. Athletes, rappers and actors keep choosing it because people recognize it at a glance, it holds its value, and you can’t simply walk into a store and buy one.

Omega: George Clooney and Daniel Craig

George Clooney is one of Omega’s longest-serving ambassadors. He fronted a Speedmaster campaign in 2015 and the blue-dial Speedmaster ’57 campaign with Hyun Bin in 2022, which was shot near his home on Lake Como. He has been photographed in Seamasters and De Villes too, and Time+Tide reported an Omega De Ville Trésor on his wrist at his 2014 wedding. In the 2024 film Wolfs he was reported wearing a steel Speedmaster on a bracelet.

Daniel Craig’s link to Omega comes from James Bond, a role Omega has supplied watches for since 1995. In his last Bond film, No Time to Die (2021), he wore a titanium Seamaster Diver 300M 007 Edition, which we break down in our No Time to Die watch guide.

If you want the “astronaut and movie star” Omega, look at the Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional. New and near-new examples of the current steel ref. 310.30.42.50.01.001 are listed at roughly $6,000 to $6,800.

TAG Heuer: Steve McQueen and Ryan Gosling

Steve McQueen made the square Heuer Monaco ref. 1133B famous by wearing it in the 1971 racing film Le Mans. Off screen, the watch he is best documented wearing is his own Rolex Submariner, usually identified as a ref. 5512. Both watches are covered in our Steve McQueen watch guide.

Ryan Gosling is the modern TAG Heuer face. The brand named him a global ambassador in October 2021, his first brand partnership. Since then he has mostly worn Carreras, including in the 2023 short film The Chase for Carrera. Coverage from 2026 still describes him as a TAG Heuer ambassador, and he was reported wearing a TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E5 smartwatch in his space film Project Hail Mary.

Cartier: Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Swift

Timothée Chalamet has worn Cartier on red carpets since the house named him a Friend of the House in 2021. One of his best-known appearances was the white-gold Cartier Crash he wore to the 2024 Golden Globes. In April 2026 he also became a minority partner and creative adviser at the independent watchmaker Urban Jürgensen, his first equity stake in a brand, so expect to see more independent pieces on him.

Taylor Swift is most often photographed in a small yellow-gold Cartier with diamonds. Some coverage calls it a Santos-Demoiselle and some a Panthère, so the exact model hasn’t been confirmed. Our Taylor Swift watch article lays out the evidence.

The cheapest new way into Cartier is the Tank Must. The large quartz model on a strap is listed at about $4,100 retail in 2026, and pre-owned examples sell for roughly $3,000 to $3,600.

Celebrities Who Don’t Fit the Pattern

Not every famous wrist follows the Rolex, Omega, TAG Heuer and Cartier formula. Floyd Mayweather is known for over-the-top, diamond-covered Jacob & Co. pieces, most famously the Billionaire watch, which was reported to cost $18 million.

Then there are the people who skip watches entirely. Elon Musk is usually photographed with no watch at all, apart from a few reported exceptions we cover in our Elon Musk watch article. When a celebrity has no confirmed watch, we say so instead of guessing.

Affordable Alternatives to Celebrity Watches

You don’t need a five-figure budget to get the look. The Seiko Prospex Speedtimer Solar Chronograph SSC813 has a panda-style dial and racing-chronograph layout that echo the Daytona, and it lists for about $675 to $725. It runs on solar quartz, not an automatic movement.

For a dressier, Cartier-style look, the Cartier Tank Must is the real thing at the lowest Cartier price. For the Clooney look, a pre-owned Omega Speedmaster costs well under half the price of a pre-owned Daytona and has a story that’s just as good.

FAQ

What watch do most celebrities wear?

The Rolex Cosmograph Daytona comes up more than any other model, helped by Paul Newman’s ref. 6239, collectors like John Mayer, and how hard it is to buy at retail; Omega, TAG Heuer and Cartier are the next most common brands, mostly through ambassador deals.

What is the most expensive celebrity watch ever sold?

Among watches that belonged to a celebrity, Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona ref. 6239 is the best-known record: it sold at Phillips in New York in October 2017 for about $17.8 million, a wristwatch auction record at the time.

Do celebrities get paid to wear watches?

Many do: ambassadors such as Ryan Gosling for TAG Heuer, George Clooney for Omega and Timothée Chalamet for Cartier have paid partnerships, while others, like Paul Newman and John Mayer, are known for watches they chose and bought themselves.

What watch does Timothée Chalamet wear?

Chalamet mostly wears Cartier, including a white-gold Cartier Crash at the 2024 Golden Globes, and in April 2026 he became a minority partner and creative adviser at independent watchmaker Urban Jürgensen.

Is there an affordable watch that looks like a Rolex Daytona?

The Seiko Prospex Speedtimer Solar Chronograph SSC813 is a popular choice at about $675 to $725, with a panda-style chronograph dial and a solar quartz movement; it’s an original Seiko design, not a copy.

Sources

• Bloomberg: Paul Newman’s Daytona Rolex Sells for a Record $17.8 Million
• Loupe: Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Ref. 126500LN
• Time+Tide: George Clooney wore an Omega De Ville Trésor at his wedding
• National Jeweler: TAG Heuer taps Ryan Gosling as brand ambassador
• WatchTime: Urban Jürgensen welcomes Timothée Chalamet as partner
• Dappered: Seiko Prospex Speedtimer Solar Chronograph review