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Tom Brady is widely considered the greatest NFL quarterback of all time, but he might just become the GOAT of watch collecting, too.
The retired football star, who played for the New England Patriots for two decades before finishing up with a two-year stint at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has been spotted wearing some seriously impressive (and expensive) wrist candy this year.
Collecting watches has become something of a hobby for Brady. The seven-time Super Bowl champ was named an IWC ambassador in 2019 and owns at least 20 of the brand’s timepieces. He started out by buying a GST Automatic Alarm in 2002, before later acquiring a Navitimer, Top Gun Miramar, and Portugieser. His collection seems to have grown exponentially in the past year, though.
It’s no longer just IWC on Brady’s wrist, either. The 46-year-old has recently rocked coveted pieces by an array of horological heavyweights, from vintage Rolex Daytonas to six-figure Richard Milles to ultra-rare Patek Philippes. With a sharp eye for quality timepieces, Brady is building a collection that could one day become as legendary as his deep pass.
Below are the best Brady watch flexes of 2023.
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February: IWC Portuguese Tourbillon
Image Credit: IWC/Getty Brady dove deep into his IWC archives for the premiere of 80 for Brady in L.A. last February. The GOAT wore a rare Portuguese Hand-Wound Tourbillon Squelette that was released almost a decade ago on the red carpet. Launched in 2015, the timepiece was limited to just 25 examples and priced at around $100,000. It features a 43 mm case made from 18-karat red gold and a fully skeletonized dial that showcases IWC’s caliber 98920 in all its glory. This piece makes it easy to see why Brady has long been an IWC guy. (Well, this and his sponsorship deal with the Swiss watch brand.)
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June: Rolex Day-Date 40 with “Arabic” Dial
Image Credit: Getty Images/Chrono24 Brady is clearly a fan of Rolex’s Arabic dials. The NFL star has been spotted rocking two limited editions that are only available in the Middle East market. This particular iteration, which the NFL star wore to the French Open final, features a 40 mm platinum case, a handsome olive-green dial with Arabic lettering in the day and date windows, and a platinum President bracelet. Introduced in 2021, Ref. 228206 is known to sell for more than $100,000 on the secondary market. Not that has seemed to deter Brady.
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July: Rolex Day-Date 40 with “Arabic” Dial
Brady wore another Rolex Day-Date 40 to announce his role as a team owner in the E1 electric boat racing championship. This dazzling iteration, Ref. 228396TBR, features a 40 mm platinum case, an ice-blue dial with Arabic lettering in the day and date displays, and a platinum President bracelet. The bezel is also set with baguette-cut diamonds for added bling. Rolex began making a limited number of Day-Dates with Arabic dials in the 1950s for collectors in the Middle East but discontinued the majority in the late ‘70s. The Crown then decided to resurrect them in 2016. Brady must be pleased about that.
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July: Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711
Image Credit: Michael Rubin/1stDibs Brady stuck to the theme at Michael Rubin’s white party. The star athlete turned up to the star-studded soiree in Bridgehampton wearing a stainless-steel Patek Philippe Nautilus Ref. 5711 with a white dial. This particular iteration of the highly coveted reference usually sells for around $100,000 on the secondary market. Brady wasn’t the only standout at the party, of course: Kylian Mbappe, Kevin Hart, Jay-Z and Corey Gamble were all rocking spectacular wrist candy.
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August: Rolex Day-Date 36 with “Jigsaw” Dial
Image Credit: Getty/Rolex Brady proved he is truly the collector of the moment by turning up to the Sky Bet Championship in August with a newly released Rolex on his wrist. Unveiled at Watches and Wonders in March, this Everose gold riff on the Day-Date 36 is distinguished by a jigsaw puzzle motif that covers the dial. The hour markers are fashioned from baguette-cut sapphires in six different hues, while the aperture at 12 o’clock displays inspirational keywords and 31 different emojis rotate in the window at 3 o’clock. The cheerful watch clearly matched Brady’s mood at the soccer game.
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August: Richard Mille RM012 Tourbillon
Image Credit: Richard Mille/AP Richard Mille’s RM012 showcases the same level of precision as Brady on the field. Released in 2006, the platinum Architectural Tourbillon was limited to just 30 pieces and priced at a staggering $450,000. In classic Richard Mille fashion, the simple tonneau-shaped case allows the skeletonized movement to really shine. In an industry first, the base plate has been replaced with a lattice of extruded stainless steel tubes that hold the wheel pivots in their proper positions. It is an innovation befitting of a football great. Brady wore the timepiece to a preseason NFL football game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Dallas Cowboys in August.
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September: Rolex Daytona “Le Mans”
Image Credit: Rolex/Getty In June, Rolex released the Cosmograph Daytona Celebrating 100 Years of Speed to mark the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. By September, the timepiece had already been spotted on the wrists of two A-listers. Mark Wahlberg flexed the piece on Instagram while Tom Brady wore it courtside at the U.S. Open Final. Ref. 126529LN features a 40mm white-gold case, a reverse panda dial with a black backdrop and white registers, and a white-gold Oyster bracelet. In addition, it has a black Cerachrom bezel with “100” in red on its tachymeter scale and a caliber 4132 movement that allows the chronograph function to count to 24 hours instead of just 12.
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September: Rolex Daytona “John Player Special”
Image Credit: Sotheby’s/AP Tom Brady rocked a fittingly spectacular Rolex as he was honored by the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in September. The Paul Newman Daytona, Ref. 6241, features a striking dial that has been nicknamed the “John Player Special” after the racing livery John Player & Sons created for the Lotus F1 team in the ‘70s. The dial showcases the same black and gold hues as the cars and three chronograph subdials with square lollipop hash marks. Brady’s case appears to be attached to a matching gold jubilee bracelet. Only a handful of such examples are known to exist, making them as rare as the star quarterback.
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September: Patek Philippe Ref. 2499
Image Credit: Christie’s/Instagram Brady has mastered the art of a subtle watch flex. The legendary quarterback showed off an ultra-rare Patek Philippe on Instagram in September. The Ref. 2499 in question is considered a holy grail timepiece among collectors—and for good reason. Introduced in 1951 as the successor to the groundbreaking reference 1518, the perpetual calendar chronograph had all the complex mechanics and elegance of its predecessor but was equipped with a new case inspired by the industrial aesthetic of the ‘50s. Patek Philippe produced roughly 349 examples during the model’s 35-year production run. As such, the vintage rarity routinely fetches millions at auction. Brady is certainly spending big to build his collection.
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