Feature: Beckham’s watch journey to vintage cool
Do you reflect on some of your early watch purchases with the same level of embarrassment as seeing your old school photos? You know, the ones where you’ve got a gappy smile and hair that looks like it’s been cut with a pair of blunt sheep shears.
Most elite footballers will also have a few “Did I really wear that?” moments in years to come. When they finally retire and start Googling themselves, looking for footage of their greatest moments on the pitch, they’ll also come across photos of their younger selves wearing some of the most hideous watches ever made.
David Beckham is certainly a player whose career has been blessed with greatness, and the same could be said for his watches. The style-savvy footballing legend has a collection to rival any of his peers, but his current tastes are very different to those of twenty-odd years ago. Let’s take a look at how Becks’ horological choices have matured like a bottle of vintage Chateau Lafite.
Beckham’s Bling Days
There’s a photo of Beckham taken in 1999 that clearly shows him wearing a yellow-gold Rolex Yachtmaster with a white dial. Alright, it’s not exactly subtle, but given the wide range of choices available to a man of wealth, Beckham could have opted for something far more extravagant. A Yachtmaster wasn’t an obvious choice for a Premier League footballer and it hints at a man who already knew his own mind when it came to matters of style.
A yellow-gold Yachtmaster is believed to be Beckham's first Rolex. Image courtesy of Bonhams
Ah, but wait! Before we hail young Beckham as a watch-trend pioneer par excellence, there’s the small matter of his Jacob & Co watch to contend with. Nothing against this ultra-high-end brand, which makes some of the most technically accomplished watches around—see last year’s incredible $380k Godfather model that featured a tourbillon and a music box—but we’ve seen car dashboards smaller than the Jacob & Co model Beckham wore circa 2011.
We’re not entirely sure he has the wrists to carry off such a hefty horological beast.
Watch Ambassadorial Debut
By 2013, when he was playing for his final club, Paris Saint-Germain, Beckham was fronting a campaign for Breitling’s Transocean Chronograph, striking a moody pose on an airport runway for this aviation-inspired brand.
The Transocean Chronograph model he promoted during his stint as a Breitling ambassador
Given that Beckham followed Hollywood megastar John Travolta in this role, it was an impressive coup and Breitling suddenly acquired a new fan base. Football has clearly been on Breitling’s radar ever since, with Manchester City’s Erling Haaland its latest signing.
Still, for Beckham the allure of Rolex never faded…
Indulging In Rolex
His Breitling chapter behind him, Becks appears to have been let off the leash, indulging his passion for iconic Rolex models, including a vintage Submariner and a root-beer GMT Master II paired with a bund strap—which is such a Beckham thing to do.
He’s also been spotted suited-up with a yellow-gold Datejust on a black leather strap and dressed down with not one but two versions of the Sky Dweller. His wife, Victoria, is also partial to some very desirable Rolexes, too, with a green ‘Stella’ dial gold Day-Date and an Everose Daytona among her favourites.
Say what you like about her music, you can't fault her taste in watches.
Beckham owns at least two Sky-Dwellers, including this rose gold version
Even the couple’s kids have been bitten by the Rolex bug, with their oldest son Brooklyn favouring a vintage Submariner—possibly his dad’s—and Romeo wearing a ‘Pepsi’ GMT Master II on a jubilee bracelet. Meanwhile baby of the bunch, Cruz, prefers a ‘Starbucks’ Submariner.
He's been seen wearing a vintage Submariner, possibly a reference 5513
The Lure Of Tudor
Now signed up with the Crown’s edgier sibling, Tudor, Beckham is possibly allowed to get away with wearing the occasional vintage Rolex, but it’s not as if Tudor’s catalogue hasn’t got plenty of models for him to pick from.
Tudor's two-tone Black Bay Chronograph M79363N, which Beckham pairs with a bund strap
Since becoming a Tudor ambassador, he’s certainly been ensuring the brand is getting its money’s worth, with several Black Bays (including the oddball P01), an occasional Pelagos and even the spartan-looking Ranger—Tudor’s version of the Explorer—spotted on his wrist. Given his public ubiquity and his apparent genuine love for the brand, this might well be the most mutually beneficial celeb-brand partnership ever.
Could he one day be Rolex’s first ever brand ambassador from the football world? It wouldn’t be for want of trying.
