Dwayne Johnson Wore a Pair of Smashing Watches to His New Movie Premiere
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is getting serious in his new film The Smashing Machine. The biopic of MMA pioneer Mark Kerr, directed by Benny Safdie, is getting rave reviews out of the Venice Film Festival, largely thanks to Johnson’s transformative performance as Kerr. In the great tradition of extraordinarily long film festival standing ovations, the crowd clapped for Johnson for a full 15 minutes after the premiere. It’s a dramatic change of pace for the actor and former professional wrestler, who’s spent much of the past decade in big-budget blockbuster fare.
One thing Johnson has always been serious about, though, is his watch collection. He may not be in the trenches with the likes of John Mayer, Tom Brady, and Ed Sheeran, but over the years he’s been spotted in a long lineup of compelling timepieces. Johnson’s range indicates a serious interest in the field rather than a passing interest in snapping up whatever the most expensive piece on the market is at any given moment. He’s shown a fondness for action-hero staple Panerai as well as classics from Rolex, TAG Heuer, and IWC. But in Venice he busted out some stunners from Chopard, one of our favorite underrated watch brands, that instantly top the list of his most impressive wristwear.
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Johnson’s Chopard Alpine Eagle is the house’s signature sport watch. The manufacturer first explored this category back in 1980 when it launched the St. Moritz. Not only was it Chopard’s first non–dress watch, but it was the first design from Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, who was 22 at the time and would go on to become the brand’s current co-president. The young, spry Scheufele pushed for the watch so he’d have something capable of accompanying him on the Swiss Alps. The model was phased out over two decades ago, but Chopard launched its spiritual successor, the Alpine Eagle, in 2019. While the watch shares qualities of other iconic luxury-sport watches like the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and IWC Ingenieur, across all variations of the Alpine Eagle, the watch features a stunning textured dial.
For Venice, Johnson went with not one but two Alpine Eagles. Upon arriving off a traditional Venetian gondola, he sported a steel Alpine Eagle with an appropriate Italian fit, a knit Prada polo, and white trousers. Later, at the red-carpet premiere, he took the Lido in a dusky double-breasted suit and a dressier iteration of the watch, one crafted from 18K rose gold featuring a beautiful navy dial. Both watches came in sturdy 41-mm cases, perfect for one of Hollywood’s beefiest leading men (while much has been made of the man’s slimmed-down look on the Venice red carpet, a slimmer Rock is still the size of any three Internet Boyfriends of the Week combined).
These are serious watches for serious guys—an appropriate selection given that Johnson clearly has Oscar intentions with his role in The Smashing Machine. Awards season is just getting started and it’s a long march from now until it wraps in the spring. Expect this newly serious Dwayne Johnson to bust out some equally serious timepieces to commemorate the occasion.
