What Watch Did Ernest Hemingway Wear? Rolex, Hamilton and a Gold Pocket Watch

Featured image: EMore98, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Ernest Hemingway was primarily a Rolex man. He is believed to have owned a 1940s Rolex Bubbleback and two 1950s Rolex Oyster Perpetuals, and his friend Ava Gardner gave him a vintage Hamilton for his 55th birthday in 1954. No single reference number is firmly documented, so the exact models remain an educated reconstruction.

Hemingway’s Rolex watches

Crown & Caliber describes Hemingway as primarily a Rolex wearer and says he is believed to have owned three: a Bubbleback from the 1940s and two Oyster Perpetuals from the 1950s. The word “believed” matters. The wording comes from watch-history profiling rather than a documented inventory, and we could not find a Rolex reference number tied to him by a reliable source.

The Oyster Perpetual shows up in his fiction too. Across the River and Into the Trees refers to a Rolex Oyster Perpetual. That is a literary mention rather than proof of a specific watch on his wrist, but it fits the picture of a writer who valued a sturdy, self-winding watch for fishing, hunting and travel.

If you want a sense of what these looked like, a 1940s Bubbleback is a round, domed steel watch around 32 to 34 mm, and a 1950s Oyster Perpetual is a simple steel dress-sport watch around 34 mm. Those sizes are typical for the models rather than figures from Hemingway sources.

The Hamilton from Ava Gardner

According to the same profile, Ava Gardner gave Hemingway a vintage Hamilton for his 55th birthday. It was engraved with a dedication dated 21-7-1954. The profile does not name the model, so we are unable to say which Hamilton it was.

The Christie’s pocket watch

The best-documented item is a pocket watch. Christie’s offered it in New York in December 2019.

Detail	L. Leroy & Cie pocket watch
Date	Circa 1920
Case	18k gold, 53 mm
Complication	Split-seconds chronograph
Provenance	Gift from Charles Ritz for Hemingway’s 1946 marriage to Mary Welsh; returned to Ritz after Hemingway’s death in 1961
Estimate	$15,000 to $25,000 before the sale
Result	Sold for $43,750, as part of a two-watch lot with a 1914 Vacheron Constantin pocket watch that had belonged to Ritz

WatchPro reports the lot sold for $43,750, more than double its estimate. That price covers both watches, so it should not be read as the value of the Hemingway piece alone. The Ritz connection is a nice detail: Charles Ritz, the hotelier, was a close friend who gave Hemingway the watch to mark his marriage to Mary Welsh in 1946.

A modern Hemingway tribute watch

Cuervo y Sobrinos, a Havana jeweler and watch brand whose store Hemingway is reported to have patronized as a customer, has released several Hemingway-themed watches. The Historiador Hemingway limited editions arrived in 2022. Monochrome reports a 40 mm polished steel case, 100 m water resistance and the automatic CyS 5121 caliber, which is based on the Sellita SW200-1. The cream and brown dial versions were limited to 140 pieces each, priced at CHF 2,500 and CHF 3,000 at launch.

An earlier Cuervo y Sobrinos model, the 2020 Historiador Tradición, is limited to 882 pieces with a 40 mm case and a Sellita SW300 automatic, priced at 3,500 CHF at launch. aBlogtoWatch is careful to note that being a customer of the brand does not mean Hemingway owned a particular model, and it reiterates that he is far better known for an Oyster Perpetual Rolex.

Why the details are so thin

Hemingway is one of the most photographed writers of the twentieth century, yet his watches are poorly documented. Most photographs show him on boats, safaris and fishing trips, where sleeves are rolled and a watch is rarely the focus. The Rolex Oyster Perpetual, introduced in the 1930s with a self-winding rotor and a waterproof Oyster case, was exactly the kind of tool watch an outdoorsman wanted. That, together with the brand’s association with him, is why most writers pair the two, even though the exact reference never shows up in primary sources.

Affordable alternatives

You do not need a vintage Rolex for a Hemingway-style watch. His taste was for simple, durable steel watches with a clean dial.

• Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical: Best for a rugged, understated field watch. Pros: hand-wound, military heritage. Cons: smaller wrist presence than modern watches. Typically around $500 to $600 new or pre-owned (a marketplace aggregator showed around $500 for the 38 mm black-dial version).
• Cuervo y Sobrinos Historiador Hemingway: Best for a direct tribute. Pro: tied to the author. Con: limited, so availability varies.

For more affordable versions of classic Rolex designs, our homage watch guide and Rolex Submariner homage roundup are good places to start. You might also like what watch JFK wore and the Great Gatsby’s watch, two other mid-century icons.

FAQ

Did Ernest Hemingway wear a Rolex?

He is believed to have, with a 1940s Bubbleback and two 1950s Oyster Perpetuals reported. No reference is firmly documented.

Who gave Hemingway a Hamilton watch?

Actress Ava Gardner gave him a vintage Hamilton for his 55th birthday, engraved with a dedication dated 1954.

Was Hemingway’s pocket watch sold at auction?

Yes. A circa 1920 L. Leroy & Cie gold pocket watch that Charles Ritz gave him was offered at Christie’s New York in December 2019 and, per WatchPro, sold for $43,750 as part of a two-watch lot.

Is there a Hemingway watch you can buy?

Cuervo y Sobrinos released the Historiador Hemingway limited editions in 2022, though availability today varies.

Sources

• Crown & Caliber: Profiles in Time, Ernest Hemingway’s watches
• The Peak: Hemingway’s gold pocket watch at Christie’s
• WatchPro: Hemingway pocket watch sale
• aBlogtoWatch: Cuervo y Sobrinos Historiador Tradición
• Monochrome: Cuervo y Sobrinos Historiador Hemingway limited editions