2019-11-13 The Hollywood Reporter

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 57 NOVEMBER 13, 2019

premiere of Last Christmas, the stainless
steel on star Henry Golding’s Patek Philippe
Nautilus watch fit seamlessly with the light-
gray Ralph Lauren Purple Label suit he wore.

Casual Friday
Watches are a great way to dress up a casual
look, as actor Chris Pratt recently proved when
he wore dark slacks and an everyday plaid shirt
to a recent presentation of his
2020 Disney film Onward. Spiffing
up the outfit was a hard-to-get
Rolex Daytona on a steel bracelet
with ceramic white dial. Once
again, a classic stainless-steel
watch on a link bracelet is a never-fail option.
Says timepiece expert Matt Hranek, author of
A Man & His Watch, “Stainless-steel watches
like a Rolex Submariner or a Daytona can
transcend a lot of situations from business to
casual settings.” A nylon Nato band on a classic
pilot watch from IWC is also a good look.

Brando’s Rolex Hits

the Auction Block

W

hen Paul Boutros received a cryptic

email from Petra Fischer saying

she had “something of interest” for the auc-

tion house Phillips, he “tried googling her,

but nothing came up,” recalls the Watches

division head. “On the phone, she used her

full name: Petra Brando Fischer. My heart

started beating a little faster.” The item

of interest was her father’s Rolex, a 1972

GMT-Master ref. 1675 that Marlon Brando

wore while filming 1979’s Apocalypse

Now. Despite the director Francis Ford

Coppola’s apoplexy, the actor had insisted

on wearing it in the seminal film, conceding

only to popping off the distinctive bezel.

Since 2014, Brando’s watch has been

categorized as among 12 missing time-

pieces sought by collectors, alongside a

Patek Philippe of John Lennon’s and the

Omega Speedmaster that Buzz Aldrin

wore to the moon. L.A. collectors will get to

see the Rolex when Phillips previews it at

West Hollywood’s L’Eclaireur Nov. 15 and

16, before its sale Dec. 10 in New York, with

some proceeds going to charity.

The GMT-Master had been living in a

drawer after Petra gave it to her husband,

Russel Fischer, a producer on 2002’s

Bend It Like Beckham, when they married

in 2003. (Brando gave it to Petra after

her graduation from Brown in 1994.) Says

Fischer: “I always treated it like a holy

relic, something I would never dream of

wearing.” Last year, while the couple con-

sidered starting a charitable foundation,

Fischer learned that a 2017 auction of Paul

Newman’s 1968 Rolex Daytona fetched a

record $17.8 million for charity. Given the

provenance of Brando’s watch, it could also

grab a large philanthropic sum. Brando

“cared about certain things very deeply

— the environment, civil rights, Native

Americans,” says Petra. “He would love that

this watch could make a difference in our

charity work.” — LAURIE BROOKINS

OF COURSE, IN HOLLYWOOD, WHO you’re taking

meetings with also factors into wardrobe

choices. So while it may not be recommended

to wear a flashy watch to a job interview, an

interesting-looking watch, says Hodge, can

be a plus, in that it can telegraph that you

are creative. “You should wear a watch that

represents how you think. To me, watches are

time-telling machines, not jewelry. I want

you to think about how this thing on my wrist

works, just as I want to engage you with the

way my mind works.”

If you’re meeting with someone in the indus-

try who is also into watches, you may want to

take that into account and flex a little. That’s

what TV director Ivan Dudynsky does when he

goes to talk business with the likes of fellow

watch lovers like Kevin Hart and recording art-

ist and producer Ryan Tedder. Says Dudynsky,

“If Ryan and I are going to be together for the

day, it’s a little bit of a game, like, ‘Here’s what I

got. What have you got?’ ”

Left: The Patek Philippe

Nautilus Ref. 5711/1A on Henry

Golding, $30,620; Patek

Philippe presented by Gearys

Beverly Hills. Right: H. Moser &

Cie’s Venturer Small Seconds

XL Purity, $25,500; Westime, L.A.

Left: Rolex’s new GMT-Master II

in steel, $9,250; the Rolex

Boutique at Gearys on Rodeo

Drive, Beverly Hills. Right:

IWC’s Pilot’s Watch Automatic

Spitfire, $4,350; IWC

Schaffhausen, Beverly Hills.

Light Suit Casual Friday

Henry

Golding

Chris

Pratt

Dudynsky

Marlon Brando hand-engraved his signature

onto the back of his Rolex GMT-Master, on view

at WeHo’s L’Eclaireur on Nov. 15 and 16.