Sylvester Stallone's Watch Collection - Rolex, Richard Mille, Panerai and Patek Philippe
Sylvester Stallone may be best known for his foray into the (fictional) boxing ring and playing badass Vietnam vet John Rambo in the Rambo franchises. However, Stallone is also a prominent watch collector often seen out and about showcasing one of his new pieces.
While Stallone is often associated with large and loud timepieces (I’m looking at you Panerai and Richard Mille), early on in his career he was often be seen wearing a gold Rolex Submariner. This watch is a very special piece to Stallone, and not only because it has the highly sought after “Tiffany" & Co.” stamp on the dial. In the book A Man and His Watch by Matt Hranek (Artisan Books, Copyright © 2017, Photographs by Stephen Lewis), Stallone says that this Submariner “by far, is the watch I’m most emotionally connected to. The first time I saw it, it was on the wrist of the rock star Gregg Allman, lead singer of the legendary Allman Brothers band. It was in 1976, we were on a plane, and Gregg was sleeping; I looked over and saw the most beautiful watch I had ever seen. As soon as we landed, I tracked one down, and it’s been my pride and joy ever since. It was the first valuable thing I could afford to buy, and I still love it dearly. The strength, the simplicity, the masculine shape — it was perfect. It still is! It’s like Rocky says to Adrian in Rocky II: ‘Do you like having a good time? Then you need a good watch!’ This is one of the few things that connects me to the ‘good old days’.”
The watch pictured on the right is Stallone’s actual gold Submariner. Photo of the watch courtesy of A Man and His Watch.
However, Stallone’s love for Rolex has continued to this day. In 2020, he was pictured wearing the very popular Rolex GMT Master II "Pepsi." This piece is one of the most sought after stainless steel Rolexes being made today.
Stallone has also been photographed wearing a variety of other Rolexes, including a variety of white gold Rolex GMT-Master IIs with diamond bezel (a “Pepsi” variation beset in the bezel with rubies and sapphires and another with diamonds and black diamonds).
It is noticeable that Stallone’s Rolex collection runs the gamut, from steel to gold, and (relatively) inexpensive to expensive. He has also been spotted recently wearing a steel Rolex Oyster Perpetual with green dial. This piece is as entry level as it gets for a Rolex collector.
Stallone is also often credited with making Panerai a global watch powerhouse brand. He wore his first Panerai in the 1996 film Daylight. Prior to this film, Panerai had only been selling watches to civilians for three years. Panerai had previously only manufactured timekeeping gear for the Italian Royal Navy and the Egyptian Navy. Stallone claims he found the watch in a boutique in Italy, but some people believe that it was pure product placement. This Panerai Ref. 5218-201/a worn by Stallone in Daylight was auctioned off in December 2020 by Phillips and fetched an incredibly price of $214,200 USD (it was initially estimated to sell for between $40,000 and $80,000 USD).
Stallone wearing his Panerai in Daylight along with a photo of the actual watch auctioned off. Photo of watch courtesy of Phillips.
Stallone was also seen wearing a Panerai Radiomir 8 Giorni Brevetatto. This piece has an 8 day power reserve.
Stallone is also known to have quite the collection of Richard Mille timepieces, perhaps the hardest watches to get these days. Indeed he even wore a Richard Mille RM 032 in the 2014 film The Expendables 3. At the aforementioned December 2020, Phillips auctioned off this piece for around $816,500 USD.
Stallone wearing his RM 032 in The Expendables 3. The photo of the watch is Stallone’s actual piece. Photo of watch courtesy of Phillips.
Three other of Stallone’s Richard Milles were also sold at this auction. An RM 25-01 Adventure Tourbillon Chronograph sold for $937,000 USD (which he also helped design), a RM 59-01 Yohan Blake “Beast” tourbillon numbered 11 of 50 sold for $816,500 USD, a RM 032 chronograph sold for $151,200 USD, and a Richard Mille RM 52-01 Skull tourbillon went for $998,000 USD.
Stallone wearing his RM 25-01. The photo of the watch is Stallone’s actual piece. Photo of watch courtesy of Phillips.
Stallone wearing his RM 59-01. The photo of the watch is Stallone’s actual piece. Photo of watch courtesy of Phillips.
Stallone wearing his RM 52-01. The photo of the watch is Stallone’s actual piece. Photo of watch courtesy of Phillips.
And yes, Stallone has been spotted wearing many, many different Patek Philippe watches, mostly different variations of the Nautilus. He’s seen wearing the rose gold Nautilus chronograph (Ref. 5980/1R), the two-tone Nautilus chronograph (Ref. 5980/1AR-001), the white gold Nautilus perpetual calendar (Ref. 5740/1G), and, yes, even the extremely rare steel Nautilus with green dial and factory-set baguette diamond bezel (ref. 5711/1300A-001). That’s quite the collection of Nautiluses.
But no Patek Philippe collection would be complete without a diversity of models. Sly’s Patek collection goes beyond just Nautiluses. He has been spotted wearing an annual calendar with blue dial and baguette diamond bezel as well as a rose gold Patek Philippe Aquanaut (Ref. 5167) on a brown rubber strap.
What do you think of Rocky's choices of watches?