How a Rolex Ends Up on a ‘GQ’ Cowl

That is an version of the e-newsletter Field + Papers, Cam Wolf’s weekly deep dive into the world of watches. Join right here.

The duvet star of GQ’s Summer time 2024 difficulty is Kevin Costner in a vivid orange anorak—-a fashionable callback to the actor’s first look on our cowl all the best way again in Might 1987. (Costner has been an A-lister for longer than I’ve been alive!) However for a sure subset of individuals, the true star of the quilt is perhaps the Rolex “Pepsi” GMT-Grasp II on Costner’s wrist.

Whereas earlier cowl stars like Cillian Murphy and Barry Keoghan haven’t shied away from wrist equipment, they’ve principally gone mad for bracelets, leaving the watches on the jewellery desk at the least for the central shot. Costner is the primary cowl star of 2024 to smuggle a watch onto the entrance web page with him. (In reality, it’s the primary watch on a GQ cowl since Donald Glover wore a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso in April of 2023!) I referred to as up former GQ deputy style director Jon Tietz, who styled the Costner shoot, to learn the way a Rolex will get onto {a magazine} cowl.

“He was such a legend,” mentioned Tietz, who may have been speaking about each the watch and the actor. On a shoot, Tietz mentioned, the jewellery is the very first thing that will get unpacked and laid out onto trays. A number of watches get referred to as in for each shoot. Items from producers’ present collections (just like the GMT) are prime precedence, however Tietz likes to verify there are classic watches within the combine too. He usually works with Alan Bedwell of Foundwell to scratch that exact itch.

For Tietz, deciding on the precise look ahead to a selected expertise feels a bit like studying their auras. “I all the time have a look at the expertise and soak up who that particular person is and the way they carry themselves,” Tietz mentioned. “Are they flashy? Are they delicate? Are they, , timeless?” Costner, nonetheless as ruggedly good-looking as ever at 69, actually qualifies for that final class. “He is a traditional dude,” Tietz mentioned. “I wasn’t about to place something flashy on him.”

Traditional, in fact, can imply many various issues. In one other universe, Costner may’ve ended up with a Cartier Tank on his wrist moderately than a Rolex. However whenever you’re selecting a look ahead to a GQ cowl, it will possibly’t be chosen in a vacuum: Along with the expertise, you even have to contemplate the garments. “The Tank is inflexible, angular, and so boxy, however the garments he was sporting had been very fluid, relaxed, and mushy,” Tietz mentioned. “The GMT was the precise stability of class, timelessness, and sportiness.”

Regardless of its icon standing within the watch world, the GMT was an uncommon alternative for Tietz. Again when he used to attend trade commerce exhibits like SIHH and BaselWorld, Tietz was constantly drawn to smaller watches—items that wouldn’t draw consideration away from the particular person sporting them. I actually like how he worded his attraction to those svelter fashions: A 36-millimeter case is simply the precise measurement, Tietz mentioned, to sign “I’ve a good looking watch on, however that is not the very first thing I’ll inform you about myself.”