How a Rolex Ends Up on a GQ Cover

Fanny Latour-Lambert

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The cover star of GQ’s Summer 2024 issue is Kevin Costner in a bright orange anorak—-a stylish callback to the actor’s first appearance on our cover all the way back in May 1987. (Costner has been an A-lister for longer than I’ve been alive!) But for a certain subset of people, the real star of the cover might be the Rolex “Pepsi” GMT-Master II on Costner’s wrist.

While previous cover stars like Cillian Murphy and Barry Keoghan haven’t shied away from wrist accessories, they’ve mostly gone mad for bracelets, leaving the watches on the jewelry table at least for the central shot. Costner is the first cover star of 2024 to smuggle a watch onto the front page with him. (In fact, it’s the first watch on a GQ cover since Donald Glover wore a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso in April of 2023!) I called up former GQ deputy fashion director Jon Tietz, who styled the Costner shoot, to find out how a Rolex gets onto a magazine cover.

“He was such a legend,” said Tietz, who could have been talking about both the watch and the actor. On a shoot, Tietz said, the jewelry is the first thing that gets unpacked and laid out onto trays. Multiple watches get called in for every shoot. Pieces from manufacturers’ current collections (like the GMT) are top priority, but Tietz likes to make sure there are vintage watches in the mix too. He often works with Alan Bedwell of Foundwell to scratch that particular itch.

For Tietz, selecting the right watch for a specific talent feels a bit like reading their auras. “I always look at the talent and take in who that person is and how they carry themselves,” Tietz said. “Are they flashy? Are they subtle? Are they, you know, timeless?” Costner, still as ruggedly handsome as ever at 69, certainly qualifies for that last category. “He's a classic dude,” Tietz said. “I wasn't about to put anything flashy on him.”

Classic, of course, can mean many different things. In another universe, Costner might’ve ended up with a Cartier Tank on his wrist rather than a Rolex. But when you’re choosing a watch for a GQ cover, it can’t be selected in a vacuum: In addition to the talent, you also have to consider the clothes. “The Tank is rigid, angular, and so boxy, but the clothes he was wearing were very fluid, relaxed, and soft,” Tietz said. “The GMT was the right balance of elegance, timelessness, and sportiness.”

Despite its icon status in the watch world, the GMT was an unusual choice for Tietz. Back when he used to attend industry trade shows like SIHH and BaselWorld, Tietz was consistently drawn to smaller watches—pieces that wouldn’t draw attention away from the person wearing them. I really like how he worded his attraction to these svelter models: A 36-millimeter case is just the right size, Tietz said, to signal “I have a beautiful watch on, but that's not the first thing I'm going to tell you about myself.”

How did a 40-millimeter Rolex end up on Costner’s wrist, then? To be honest, Tietz exhausted every other avenue. In addition to the Cartier, Bedwell loaned out a “a very special and unique Art Deco, French, handmade piece,” he told me over email. The watch is undeniably pretty and, adding to its chicness, the brand is a total mystery. “I really wanted to try and use that French watch,” Tietz said. “Every now and then [throughout the shoot] I'd be like, ‘Okay, I'm gonna pull [the GMT] off and I'm gonna throw something else on him. [But] nothing else felt right.”

The GMT didn’t just end up being the cover star—it accompanies Costner throughout the entire shoot. It’s there with Costner’s cable-knit Prada cardigan and again when he gazes longingly into the Pacific Ocean in a faded crewneck Visvim sweatshirt. For Tietz, it all came back to reading the man wearing it. “I tried [the French watch] on him and immediately knew, ‘Nope, that's not it. It looks way too dainty.’” Costner can pull off a big watch. “He's got a lot of swagger,” Tietz said, “so your eye doesn't go directly to that watch, even though it's not the smallest.” And it’s no small feat that this Rolex made it onto the cover with Costner.

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Originally Appeared on GQ