What Kind of Watch Did Gatsby Wear? Redford vs. DiCaprio

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

It depends on which Gatsby you mean. Robert Redford’s Jay Gatsby in the 1974 film carries a gold pocket watch on a thin chain, while Leonardo DiCaprio’s Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 film wears a rectangular steel wristwatch with a white dial and a subsidiary seconds dial. Neither watch has been formally identified by the productions.

Robert Redford’s Gatsby (1974): a gold pocket watch

BAMF Style, which documents screen costumes in detail, notes in its guide to Redford’s white suit that Gatsby wears a gold pocket watch on a thin gold chain in his left vest pocket, with the chain draped across the front of the vest rather than threaded through buttonholes. The site gives no brand or model for it, and we found no production credit that names one. Treat it as a period-appropriate gold-cased pocket watch, in keeping with the Jazz Age tailoring the film is famous for. Its brown-suit article also describes the gold watch in the lower left pocket and again names no brand.

That choice is historically sensible. The story is set in the early 1920s, when pocket watches were still common among wealthy men and wristwatches were only gradually shifting from a women’s accessory and a wartime tool into mainstream menswear.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s Gatsby (2013): a rectangular wristwatch

Luhrmann’s version is a more modern, stylized take, and DiCaprio’s Gatsby wears a wristwatch. BAMF Style describes it as having a rectangular stainless case and bracelet, a white face and a subsidiary dial. The only brand the article mentions is a popular guess, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso, and it points out that the Reverso debuted in 1931, roughly a decade after the film’s setting. So the Reverso suggestion is both unconfirmed and a little anachronistic. We could not find any watch magazine or brand statement that settles it, so we would not call it a Reverso.

Two other details are worth knowing. Tiffany & Co. was a major partner on the 2013 film for jewelry, but the Tiffany Great Gatsby collection covered platinum and diamond jewelry, not watches. And the fashion-forward styling of the film, with its blend of 1920s silhouettes and modern drama, makes a rectangular watch a natural fit even if the era’s exact timekeeping would have been different.

Gatsby watches at a glance

Detail	Redford (1974)	DiCaprio (2013)
Type	Pocket watch on chain	Wristwatch
Case	Gold	Stainless steel, rectangular
Dial	Not specified	White, with a subsidiary seconds dial
Brand	Not identified	Not identified (Reverso is a fan guess)
Period accuracy	Fits the 1920s well	Rectangular watches existed, but the Reverso itself is later

If you wanted the real thing: period-right watches

The early 1920s did have luxury wristwatches. The Cartier Tank dates from the late 1910s, and Rolex, Patek Philippe, Longines and Vacheron Constantin all made dress watches in that period. A vintage Cartier Tank is the sort of watch an American millionaire of the time might have worn, and it is also the watch linked to President Kennedy. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Classic remains a famous rectangular option, with new examples costing in the several-thousand-dollar range.

Get the look: affordable Gatsby-style watches

These are real, currently sold watches with the right spirit. Prices are approximate USD.

• Hamilton American Classic Boulton (about $800 to $1,200): Best for a rectangular Jazz Age feel with Swiss quality. Pro: art-deco-inspired shape. Con: the priciest on this list.
• Timex Marlin Hand-Wound (about $200 to $250): Best for a vintage-inspired round dress watch. Pro: charming and affordable. Con: round, not rectangular.
• Orient Bambino or Bambino Small Seconds (about $150 to $250): Best for a white dial with a classic look. Pro: automatic movement. Con: a bit larger than a 1920s watch.
• Charles-Hubert Paris gold-tone pocket watch (about $30 to $80): Best for a Redford-style pocket watch. Pro: inexpensive and fun. Con: the movement and finishing are basic.

For more, see our guide to the best dress watches under $500, what Ernest Hemingway wore (another American in the same era) and our overview of homage watches.

The timepiece that matters in the novel: a clock

F. Scott Fitzgerald never tells us what watch Gatsby wears. The most famous timepiece in The Great Gatsby (1925) isn’t on his wrist at all.

In chapter five, when Gatsby finally meets Daisy again in Nick’s cottage, he leans against the mantelpiece, his head resting “against the face of a defunct mantelpiece clock”. The clock tilts, Gatsby catches it with trembling fingers, and apologizes: “I’m sorry about the clock.”

Readers have long taken the stopped clock as a symbol of Gatsby’s wish to turn back time and pick up with Daisy where they left off five years earlier. It is also the reason watch-minded viewers pay attention to what each film adaptation puts on his wrist: time is the theme of the whole story.

Dressing the 2013 Gatsby

Baz Luhrmann’s film had a full wardrobe of brand partners, and they help explain why its Gatsby looks more polished and modern than a strict 1922 reconstruction.

• Brooks Brothers worked with Oscar-winning costume designer Catherine Martin on more than 50 menswear pieces inspired by the film, including Gatsby’s pink linen suit. Out reports the collection took three years to develop.
• Tiffany & Co. released Art Deco jewelry and accessories, including enamel cufflinks and an onyx signet ring. No watch was part of that line.

So the wristwatch DiCaprio wears was not a branded tie-in that anyone announced, which is one reason its maker remains unidentified.

What a rich man could actually buy in the 1920s

The decade was a turning point for men’s wristwatches. Cartier had made a wristwatch for the aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont in 1904 and sold the Santos to the public from 1911. In 1926, a year after the novel came out, Rolex patented the Oyster, a case with a screw-down bezel, caseback and crown that Rolex calls the world’s first waterproof wristwatch. In 1927 Mercedes Gleitze wore one while swimming the English Channel.

A real-life Gatsby setting out to impress in 1922 would most likely still have carried a gold pocket watch, as Redford does. A man of the same money a few years later could have chosen an Oyster. For another wealthy American of the era, see the watches Ernest Hemingway wore.

For another film where the character’s watch is more argued over than named, see Patrick Bateman’s watch in American Psycho.

FAQ

What watch does Gatsby wear in the 2013 movie?

A rectangular stainless steel wristwatch with a white dial and a subsidiary seconds dial. The brand is unconfirmed.

Does Robert Redford’s Gatsby wear a wristwatch?

No. He carries a gold pocket watch on a thin chain in his vest.

Is the Gatsby watch a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso?

That is a common guess, but it is unconfirmed, and the Reverso was introduced in 1931, after the story’s setting.

Did people wear wristwatches in the 1920s?

Yes, increasingly, though pocket watches remained common, especially among older and more formal men.

What is the clock scene in The Great Gatsby?

In chapter five, Gatsby leans against a broken mantelpiece clock while meeting Daisy again, nearly knocks it over and says, “I’m sorry about the clock.” It is often read as a symbol of his wish to stop time.

Did Rolex make watches in the 1920s?

Yes. Rolex patented its waterproof Oyster case in 1926, and Mercedes Gleitze wore an Oyster when she swam the English Channel in 1927.

Sources

• BAMF Style: Redford in Gatsby’s white three-piece suit
• BAMF Style: Jay Gatsby’s brown suit and yellow Rolls-Royce (1974)
• BAMF Style: Gatsby’s caramel suit and yellow Duesenberg (2013)
• Jewellery World: Tiffany launches Great Gatsby collection
• Project Gutenberg: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Out: Gatsby fashion from Brooks Brothers and Tiffany’s
• Rolex: Mastering waterproofness
• Bob’s Watches: Cartier Santos history