Is Marlon Brando’s Rolex Worth 100 Million? Replica Watch

Marlon Brando and Paul Newman were both Hollywood male gods in the middle of the last century. They were handsome and talented. They could earn a living based on their appearance, but they both won various movie awards for their extraordinary acting skills.

Even Marlon Brando is even more famous, and every movie fan knows “The Godfather.” So, will another Rolex worth over 100 million be born?

12 missing extreme watches

Benjamin Clymer, the founder of the well-known foreign watch online media, Hodinkee, and a watch media person, once wrote an article called “12 Missing Ultimate Watches”. As a senior watch fan, he summarized the 12 most influential watches in his eyes—a missing watch.

Coincidentally, Paul Newman’s own Rolex “Paul Newman Face” Daytona and the Rolex GMT watch worn by Marlon Brando when he played Colonel Kurtz are both prominently listed.

Paul Newman wears a Rolex Daytona.

In the eyes of Benjamin, these 12 ultimate masterpieces include a Jaeger-LeCoultre and a Rolex once worn by Picasso, a Rolex worn by former Cuban President Castro, the Omega Speedmaster worn by Aldrin when he set foot on the moon, and Breguet. The master made the first watch for the Queen of Naples, etc.

On July 21, 1969, Buzz Aldrin wore an Omega Speedmaster and landed on the moon.

Politicians, great artists, movie stars, the moon landing… either the watch has been associated with highly famous figures in modern history. It has a celebrity aura, or the watch itself is a star. The 12 missing watches are worth a lot of money.

Later, everyone knew that in 2017, Paul Newman’s daughter and her ex-boyfriend took Paul Newman’s “Paul Newman Noodle” Daytona out of the safe for charity auction.

What’s more interesting is that very similar to Paul Newman’s Daytona experience, Marlon Brando also gave his GMT watch to his daughter Petra Brando in 1995, and later, the watch was given to Petra. Husband Russel Fischer, it has been treasured by Russel since then and has never been worn.

Petra with Marlon and Russel Fischer taken in May 1998 @Petra Brando

He also wrote a letter encouraging his daughter: “This Rolex GMT is like a tank. I hope you can do it.” Whatever you want to do, keep doing it. I hope this watch will always remind you that I am proud of you.”

This GMT watch is in good original condition. The dial, hands, mirror, and case have yet to be replaced or repaired. The slightly yellowed luminous hour markers bear traces of time. More importantly, when filming the movie, Marlon Brando deliberately removed the bezel, so this watch does not have the two-color 24-hour scale ring on ordinary GMT watches.

Marlon Brando’s Rolex GMT watch

On the bottom cover of the watch, there is also the “M. Brando” signature engraved by Marlon Brando himself. Although the font engraving is not perfect, it also highlights the uniqueness and specialness of this watch.

Marlon Brando’s Rolex GMT watch case is back signed.

Another Rolex from “The Godfather”

The six-figure auction price is hundreds of thousands of dollars, two orders of magnitude different from Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona. Why is this?

Because Paul Newman’s Daytona led a series of Rolex antique watch legends, this series is the “Paul Newman Daytona.”

Paul Newman’s Paul Newman Face

Over the past two decades, these Daytona watches from the 1967s and 1960s have become famous among watch fans and collectors. Their prices have risen from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. They are in good condition. , has a story, and maybe the only watch worth more than a million dollars. Replica watch.

Paul Newman’s Daytona was auctioned in the spring of May 2019, with prices ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Paul Newman’s piece is the beginning and end of this series, so it becomes the most expensive watch. However, the antique Rolex GMT watch does not have a series like the “Paul Newman watch, “and the Marlon Brando one has no similar meaning. Its value mainly lies in Marlon Brando personally.

Coincidentally, another Rolex watch said to have been owned by Marlon Brando was auctioned not long ago, which can be used as a reference for the final auction price of this GMT.

It was a Rolex Datejust watch sold on an American online auction website in May 2019. It is a website that mainly auctions items related to Hollywood stars. The starting price of this Datejust watch was US$2,600. The final transaction price was US$40,000.

The Rolex DJ watch is said to be the “godfather.”

According to the watch owner who sent it for auction, this Rolex was a gift from Marlon Brando at the 1973 Oscars. That year, he won the Oscar for his role as the mafia leader Vito Don Corleone in “The Godfather,” The 45th Academy Award for Best Actor.

Different from the 18K white gold tooth ring of the modern steel Datejust model, the tooth ring of this watch from the 1960s and 1970s is made of stainless steel. The highlight is the bottom cover of the case, which is engraved with the words “Vito’s” and “MB.” Representing the characters in “The Godfather” and Marlon Brando himself.

“The Godfather” Rolex DJ watch case back signature.

Later, Marlon Brando gave this watch to Patricia Norris, who was nominated for the 1976 Academy Award for Best Designer. They were talking about friends at the time. After Patricia Norris passed away in 2015, the owner bought this Rolex Datejust watch from her family.

The story is evident and smooth, but except for the explanatory letter handwritten by the watch owner, there is no other information to prove that the above experience with this watch is entirely accurate.

“The Godfather” ‘s Rolex DJ watch description letter.

But judging from the auction results, the price was US$40,000, 15 times more than the starting price. The buyer was still looking for Marlon Brando.

The Rolex GMT watch that will be auctioned at Phillips has been personally testified by Marlon Brando’s daughter and son-in-law. No one should doubt its authenticity.

If people’s enthusiasm for Marlon Brando’s watches continues, and based on Paul Boutros’ predicted starting price of $100,000, the Rolex GMT watch should eventually fetch more than $1.5 million.

smart auction house

The Rolexes of Paul Newman and Marlon Brando have been missing for 20 or 30 years. Why do they appear today?

Now might be the perfect time to fetch a high auction price for a Rolex sports watch.

On the one hand, in the past ten years, the antique watch market has continued to heat up, and the prices of star products, represented by the Rolex Daytona and Patek Philippe Chronograph Perpetual Calendar, have continued to rise. You can read our past articles and reports to learn more. Patek philippe replica.

On the other hand, it can be said that due to the influence of the antique auction market or the popularity of the sports trend itself, modern sports watches have become the mainstream market in recent years, especially steel watches from brands such as Rolex and Patek Philippe.

In June 2019, a 5711/1A sold for US$75,000 at Sotheby’s New York.

At the 2016 Basel Fair, Rolex replaced steel rings with ceramic rings and launched two new steel Daytona watches with black and white dials. This was the starting point for the full-scale Rolex sports watch craze. Although green glass and ceramic rings had previously been, Ghost and other watches are becoming increasingly difficult to buy.

In the past few years, sports watch series such as Daytona, Submariner, GMT II, and Sea-Dweller have become hard to find one after another. The secondary market prices are getting higher and higher. Even the steel model Sky Dweller Non-sports models are challenging to get in stock in brand stores.

In May 2019, a steel Daytona was sold at a Geneva auction for 30,000 Swiss francs.

Although Rolex has always been considered the most valuable luxury watch brand on various lists after the new millennium, there has never been a situation like today where everyone is chasing Rolex.

This has also brought the Rolex brand influence and value to unprecedented heights. Brand Finance, a veteran British rating and ranking agency, ranked Rolex seventh among the top ten most influential brands in 2019.

People need help to predict the future trend of sports watches accurately. Still, at present, if you dig out the Rolexes once owned by big stars such as Paul Newman and Marlon Brando and put them up for auction, you will get a more satisfactory price than before. Price.

Accurately seizing the opportunity and star products is the strength of Phillips Auction House and Bacs & Russo, and it is also the reason why they have become stars in the watch auction market in just a few years.

Among the items auctioned in the same auction as the Marlon Brando GMT watch is a gold Rolex day-date watch belonging to a big star – American golf star Jack Nicklaus.

Jack Nicklaus’s Rolex Day-Date

Chinese people may not be familiar with golf, but Jack is nearly a household name in the United States. Nicknamed “Golden Bear,” he won 18 championships in over 20 years from the 1960s to the 1970s.

Finding “Game Changers” in various fields, this Phillips New York auction will gain broader attention in the United States.

“Golden Bear” wears Rolex Day-Date.

Jack’s Rolex watch was a gift from Rolex when he won his 12th championship title in 1967. All proceeds from the auction will be used for children’s charity through Jack’s charitable foundation.

What’s more interesting is that the proportional auction commission collected will also be donated to the charity fund by Phillips and Bacs & Russo. In addition to holding the hammer for free, the auction house will gain more eyeballs, market influence, and new customers.

Learn about the “secondary market.”

Auctions, especially high-priced antiques, are far away from ordinary watch fans like us. We are more concerned about modern watches that are closer to us. However, the actual price of sports watches has doubled or even increased, bringing significant benefits to ordinary watch fans. A little troubled.

Regarding the hot sports models of currently popular brands, we should clarify two questions. One is, do we buy them because we like them, or do we buy them out of a chasing trend?

The answers of different groups of people may be very different. Some people like it, some want to pursue fashion, and some want to make money in this trend.

Another question we need to understand is, if we like a particular sports watch, how should we buy it? Or do you have to pay twice the public price to buy it?

Let’s first explain a basic concept, primary market, and secondary market.

The primary market is watch brand stores and authorized dealers. At this time, whether it is a specialty store or a collection store counter, popular watches are basically out of stock. According to standard logic and processes, we only need to register the information, reserve the watch, wait in line, and wait for several months or more. I bought this watch at a regular price a few years ago.

The concept of the secondary market is more complicated. The auction mentioned earlier is a secondary market. Some online trading platforms are also secondary markets. Offline individual sellers also belong to the secondary market. They buy from places that the brand does not officially authorize. Almost all of them belong to the secondary market behavior.

A 5711/1A produced in 2015 was auctioned in London in April 2019 for more than 50,000 pounds.

The watches on the secondary market include original new products, used second-hand watches, and other types. The actual price will vary slightly depending on the different conditions of the product and the game between buyers and sellers.

Most phenomena, such as “super public prices,” now occur in the secondary market.

In fact, for brands like Rolex and Patek Philippe, it is a mixed blessing that their modern new products are performing so well in the secondary market.

It is a good thing that supply exceeds demand. It proves that your products are popular and your brand value is high, so you don’t have to worry about subsequent production and sales. On the other hand, there will also be lousy feedback, such as being criticized for “hunger marketing” or being misunderstood as market manipulation. , etc.

A 2015 Green Water Ghost, auctioned in New York in June 2019 for US$17,500

Great companies will only do something consistent with long-term development for immediate benefits. Entrepreneurs will try their best to solve those bad things.

Ordinary consumers and watch fans should face the watches we like rationally and calmly, choose the channels and methods that suit us, and let our hobbies bring more pleasure.