Anthony Davis’s Watch Has the Eye of the Tiger
Welcome to Watches of the Week, where we’ll track the rarest, wildest, and most covetable watches spotted on celebrities.
This flashy Rolex, with rivulets of diamonds running across the dial, was released as one of the Crown’s super-secret Daytona drops in 2019. It is the ideal watch for an NBA superstar like Anthony Davis not just because of the scarcity and the straight-from-the-factory ice, but because of the nickname the watch quickly earned. Upon the watch’s release, collectors started referring to the striped piece with gleaming subdials as the “Eye of the Tiger.” Besides the iPad Davis uses to coach guys up on the bench, this watch is the most effective accessory the Brow has to get his team going while he’s out with a lingering Achilles injury. The piece has its own pump-up music: “It’s the eye of the tiger, it’s the thrill of the fight/Risin' up to the challenge of our rival.” Until Rolex decides to release a watch nicknamed the “We Are the Champions” (champagne-dial something or other) or the “We Will Rock You” (Daytona with dial made from actual rocks), the Eye of the Tiger will continue to hold the title of best watch to ride the pine on. Also this week, great watches aren’t only for NBA players and Michael B. Jordan wears a similarly blingy Rolex.
Christian Petersen
Anthony Davis’s Rolex Daytona “Eye of the Tiger”
Rolex’s typical sobriety makes the brand’s gem-set pieces that much more exciting. An extra-icy version of the GMT “Pepsi” and a rare sapphire-set Submariner are two highlights, but no piece has been the beneficiary of Rolex’s fun streak like the Daytona. The watch has been remade in multiple “Rainbow” versions with multi-colored diamonds running around the bezel and in an absolutely wild “Leopard” pattern. When Rolex goes big it really goes for it: Davis’s Eye of the Tiger carries 36 diamonds on the bezel and 243 more on the dial. Even the hour markers on this watch are made of 18-carat gold.
Nathaniel S. Butler
Michael B. Jordan’s Rolex Day-Date
Davis isn’t the only one who can pull off a flashy Rolex. While Jordan’s Day Date with a diamond-covered bezel looks totally tame in comparison to the Eye of the Tiger, this is still a factory-set Rolex we’re talking about. Slowly but surely, A-list actors are starting to wear iced-out watches to sit courtside at NBA games again. If this isn’t a sign of coming normalcy, I don’t know what is.
Scott Audette
Kyle Lowry’s Patek Philippe Nautilus 5712/1A
The greatest Raptor ever wearing arguably the greatest sports watch ever. While dodging a series of rumored trades this week, Lowry seemed to add another jewel to his burgeoning watch collection. The Nautilus 5712 isn’t the beloved 5711 but what it lacks in prestige it makes up for with its added complications. The watch comes with a power reserve, date indicator, and a moon phase function.
Thearon W. Henderson
Quin Snyder’s Breitling Chronospace Chronograph
Typically, the best watches are reserved for NBA players, while coaches equip themselves with G-Shocks or Apple Watches. But the Utah Jazz’s Quin Snyder is stealing a page out of the playbook of European soccer coaches who have custom Richard Mille and Rolex pieces. This week, while I was watching the Jazz lay the smackdown on my Brooklyn Nets, I couldn’t help but notice Snyder’s watch: a Breitling Chronospace Chronograph. It’s not one of the usual suspects you’d expect to end up on an NBA sideline. The watch, with its big “12” numeral, is a decade old at this point, and no longer in Breitling’s catalog. But Snyder has a track record of gravitating towards interesting watches. He wore the green Rolex “Hulk” Submariner while coaching a game in 2020.
Mark Van Hecke Courtesy of Richard Mille
Mark Cavendish’s Richard Mille RM67-02
Whether it’s Rafael Nadal, Bubba Watson, Odell Beckham Jr., or cyclist Julian Alaphilippe, it’s hard to get over star athletes wearing oversized sports watches while actually competing in their respective sports. That’s a testament to Richard Mille, which makes watches light enough they don’t throw off the delicate balance of a golf swing or follow through of a tennis racquet—and are welcome on the wrists of weight-conscious cyclists. Cavendish’s RM67 is custom made for him in a burnt-orange color. The exclusive colorway is a result of Cavendish’s time cycling for the short-lived Bahrain-McLaren team that made use of that same shade of orange on its uniforms.
Wrist Check: Bobby Shmurda Rocks Rolex Sky-Dweller As First Watch Since His Release
Having just been released from prison, Bobby Shmurda is wasting no time in getting himself looking right. After receiving a fully-iced out Eric the Jeweler “SHMURDA” piece from Rowdy Rebel, Shmurda went on to add a bust-down, two-toned Rolex Sky-Dweller to his collection the diamond jewelry.
As reported by GQ, the 42mm watch needed to be adjusted due to all the mass he put on while working out behind bars. This modern Rolex design features center hour, minute, and seconds hands, a 24-hour display on an off-center disc, an instantaneous annual calendar, and months displayed via 12 apertures around the circumference of the dial – this is all set using Rolex’s innovative Ring Command bezel and the 3 o’clock crown.
On top of his new chain, watch, and rings, Bobby Shmurda also uploaded a new picture of him wearing an iced-out Audemars Piguet Royal Oak on the other wrist. Not a bad way to spend the first few days as a free man.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bobby Shmurda (@realbobbyshmurdags9)
In other watch news, our latest Behind the HYPE covers why the Patek Philippe Nautilus met an untimely demise.
Bobby Shmurda Picked This Watch for His First Day Out
Welcome to Watches of the Week, where we’ll track the rarest, wildest, and most covetable watches spotted on celebrities.
Bobby Shmurda’s first 24 hours of prison were a fantasy come to life. Months ago, his pal Quavo drew up the details: “a jet, flooded out with his gang, his family, a couple vibes [read: women] for him,” the Migos member told GQ. That wasn’t all. There was the Dumbo penthouse, a barber on location, a FaceTime call from Meek Mill, and a watch befitting a rap phenom. According to GQ’s Frazier Tharpe, Bobby’s friends brought him a whole buffet of items to choose from, including racks of luxury clothing and a selection of watches. Bobby quickly landed on this Sky-Dweller. There was just one small—err, big—problem: the watch didn’t fit at first, and Bobby joked it was because of all the muscle he put on over the past several years. Once that was straightened out, it was clear that Bobby made the right decision. It’s hard to imagine a better watch to pair with a triple-layer-cake-sized stack of cash—or to sit side-by-side with Quavo’s iced-out Richard Mille RM 11-03. Also this week, Jay-Z wears another ridiculous Patek Philippe, and Usher’s watch looks like a sci-fi movie prop.
Photo by Flo Ngala
Bobby Shmurda’s Rolex Sky-Dweller
The Sky-Dweller is Rolex’s youngest model, and when it debuted in 2012, it was only available in different shades of gold. In other words: it was more expensive, and not quite as casual, as the brand’s other sports watches. Consequently, it didn’t take off immediately. That all changed in 2017, when Rolex started offering the Sky-Dweller in stainless steel. Now, the piece is a favorite among folks like Michael Jordan, Young Thug, and LaMelo Ball—and now Bobby Shmurda.
PRNewsfoto/Moët Hennessy
Jay-Z’s Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Chronograph
Jay-Z wears watches that typically only show up in auction catalogs. His collection of timepieces includes a one-of-one Richard Mille that took 3,000 hours to make, a Patek Grandmaster Chime worth $2.2 million, and a Rolex that watchmaker Franck Muller upgraded with an aftermarket perpetual calendar. Add to that list this Patek Philippe, which Jay wore to announce his champagne brand’s sale to LVMH. While the Nautilus hogs the spotlight among mainstream Patek fans, diehard collectors know that few watches are more impressive than the brand’s perpetual calendar chronographs. As Hodinkee pointed out in a review of this piece in 2014, “no other watch has appeared on as many watch auction catalog covers.” And while many auction-cover-worthy pieces disappear into safety deposit boxes the moment they’re sold to the highest bidder, Jay-Z is the type of collector who actually wears his best pieces.
Usher Raymond is seen leaving a dry cleaners MEGA
Usher’s Purnell Escape II
Usher’s watch is distinguished by Purnell’s Double Spherion mechanism, which spins the watch’s two movements operating in reverse of one another. Each of these movements keeps its own time; an average of the two is taken, and displayed on the face. The movement is the brainchild of cult-favorite designer Eric Coudray, who works with brands like Jaeger-LeCoultre—but really gets to let his freak flag fly with smaller, more daring houses like Purnell or MB&F. (You may know the latter as the brand that makes literal rocket ships for the wrist.) Usher’s Escape II is just another example of Coudray’s spage-age thinking—and the piece’s alien-green accents certainly don’t hurt, either.
Mike Conley of the Utah Jazz arrives prior to the game against the Los Angeles Lakers Melissa Majchrzak
Mike Conley’s Audemars Piguet Millenary
Poor Mike Conley may have been snubbed for the NBA All-Star Game again, but he won’t be snubbed by Watches of the Week, too. This week, Conley showed up wearing an Audemars Piguet, a favorite among NBA ballers, but went away from the watchmaker’s most famous piece. While many of Conley’s colleagues gravitate to the iconic Royal Oak, Conley went with the brand’s Millenary model. The Millenary is rather unique in the luxury watch world: the watch features an oval-shaped case and an off-center dial that oozes out to the right. The design of the watch enables Audemars to include a (sorta) legible dial with a fully skeletonized movement.
Mike Carlson Courtesy of Hodinkee
Aaron Boone’s Oris Aquis Date Relief
Over the course of last year’s MLB playoffs, baseball fully got its swag back. Unlike the other major sports that involve high-speed and high-flying collisions, baseball’s slo-mo style of play makes it possible for the athletes to wear full trays of jewelry during the action. Managers got in on the trend, too: Dave Roberts wasn’t without his Panerai Luminor while managing his Los Angeles Dodgers to a World Series victory. The upcoming baseball season is already off to a great start in this department, thanks to Yankees manager Aaron Boone. Boone showed up for the Bombers’ team photos wearing an Oris Aquis Date with a red rubber band and red accents. The Aquis is a diver’s watch aimed at raising awareness for the startlingly short supply of fresh water left on Earth.