Those with an eye for detail might have spotted something cool on the cover of GQ’s new Summer 2024 issue: the gorgeous Rolex “Pepsi” GMT-Master II 126710BLRO on Kevin Costner’s wrist. One of the most iconic and best-selling Rolex models in the current catalog, the current Rolex Pepsi reference with a Cerachrome bezel first came out in 2018 and pays homage to the original “Pepsi” GMT bezel, the world’s first dual-timezone watch, which Rolex debuted in 1954. Costner sports the 40mm Jubilee-band stainless-steel version on the magazine’s cover.
While at times celebrities appearing in magazines wear their own watches, Costner’s was sourced by the stylist GQ used for the shoot, the magazine’s former deputy fashion director John Tietz, according to this behind-the-scenes report from GQ.com. Regarding how the GMT ended up on the Yellowstone star’s wrist, “I always look at the talent and take in who that person is and how they carry themselves,” Tietz tells GQ’s resident watch expert Cam Wolf. “Are they flashy? Are they subtle? Are they, you know, timeless? [Costner] is a classic dude. I wasn’t about to put anything flashy on him…. The GMT was the right balance of elegance, timelessness, and sportiness.”
Tietz had other watches on hand for the shoot, including a classic Cartier Tank, but it wasn’t a perfect fit. “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,” Tietz recalls. “But nothing else felt right.” So right that Costner ended up wearing the GMT not just for the cover shot but throughout the images accompanying the major feature inside the magazine, which runs to several pages, when usually more than one watch would be featured (if only to appease advertisers).
Bob’s Watches Founder and CEO Paul Altieri agrees that Costner and the Rolex GMT-Master II are a perfect match. “A lot of famous people have worn ‘Pepsi’ GMTs over the years, from Daniel Craig to Tom Cruise to Tom Selleck and Sylvester Stallone. As an iconic leading man, it suits Costner to a ‘T’. It also telegraphs that he’s a man of action; it’s a watch that that isn’t just a piece of jewelry.” And there’s another connection that GQ doesn’t mention, but that Altieri remembered right away: in 1990’s thriller Revenge, Costner plays a retired U.S. Navy pilot who wears a Rolex throughout the film – in that case a Rolex Submariner 16610.
“Of course, a GMT would have been more appropriate,” Altieri says. “But the Submariner established him as a man to be reckoned with, a man with some of Steve McQueen’s flair. And now he’s come full circle with the GMT on his wrist in GQ. It’s a brilliant move.” Those who want to land their own GMT can choose from one of several models, both vintage and contemporary, in stainless steel and white gold, currently available from Bob’s Watches, ranging in price from $10,495 to $39,995, while a model identical to Costner’s Rolex Pepsi 126710 costs $21,295.
