‘Succession’: Why Kendall Wears a Flashy Richard Mille Watch and Cousin Greg Rocks a Rolex “Pepsi” GMT

Kendall Roy’s new watch on the latest and final season of Succession is hardly a quiet luxury.

The Roy scion – who in previous seasons favored timepieces from more traditional makers such as Vacheron Constantin and Patek Philippe – now rocks a much flashier item on his wrist: a sporty Richard Mille RM 67-01 that qualifies as a watch with ten tables (meaning a watch flashy enough to be noticed by people 10 tables away in a restaurant).

The watch is hardly there by accident. Its presence heralds the new chapter in Kendall’s life as he and brother Roman take over the reins of their father’s company, and it was personally chosen by actor Jeremy Strong after an exec at Richard Mille sent it to him. “Those are all things I do on my own because those details are just really important to me, so I take initiative in that area,” Strongly told GK last February, regarding his clothing choices for the character. (One of Richard Mille’s ambassadors is Michelle Yeoh, who wore a diamond-encrusted RM 07-02 Sapphire watch to the 2023 Academy Awards, where she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.)

Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) also wears a new watch in season four, a choice that Danny Milton, editor-in-chief of the Watch News website Hodinkee, consulted. “Cousin Greg, I think, is everyone’s favorite character,” Milton tells me The Hollywood Reporter, “and after a few conversations we finally gave him a Rolex GMT ‘Pepsi’ on a Jubilee bracelet, the modern ‘Pepsi’ GMT.” Greg’s new timepiece is a follow-up to the Rolex he bought at a party last season for too high a price. “I think one of the coolest Rolex watches out there right now is that Jubilee ‘Pepsi’ Rolex,” Milton added. “It seems to me like Greg might be leveling up. He’s the kind of guy who’s gone from blindly buying a Rolex to actively understanding what he wants – that’s kind of the thinking behind it.”

Movie and TV show costume designers generally don’t choose the watches that appear on screen. “Watches fall under the scope of the prop master,” explains Milton. “Anything anyone can touch on screen is put there by the prop master or his team, and that’s not a role that gets recognition at the Oscars. They are unsung heroes.”

On Succession, the task of choosing the watches falls to props master Monica Jacobs. She told recently Esquire that she’s flattered by how much attention is paid to what the show’s characters wear on their wrists, even to the point of calling out the watch-collecting community for what’s seen in paparazzi shots taken during filming. “I started seeing so many (people) just turned on by the watch. Like, “Oh my god, we saw Tom walking out to film, and he’s wearing the Audemars!” That is what are they looking at? It’s pretty exciting to be like I did,” Jacobs said.

For this season of Succession, Milton also collaborated with Jacobs in choosing watches for the PR duo of Carolina (Dagmara Dominczyk) and Hugo (Fisher Stevens). Hugo is wearing a Panerai Radiomir, while Carolina can be spotted wearing “a vintage Vacheron Constantin,” says Milton. “It’s an asymmetric watch from the 1970s with a Roman numeral dial. It’s really cool.” Over the course of the show, dedicated watch spotters have also noted that Logan Roy has worn timepieces like a Breguet Classique and a Jaeger-LeCoultre Rendez-Vous, while Shiv Roy mainly wears Cartier Panthères and Pashas and Roman Roy prefers Rolexes (although he was recently seen in a IWC Pilot’s Watch Mark XX (which retails for $6,150)

Milton writes Hodinkee’s regular client ‘Watch Movies’ column (including on the website), in which he describes timepieces that have been spotted in films, such as Ke Huy Quan’s Casio in Everything Everywhere Everything at once and Daniel Craig’s Omega Seamaster Glass onion.

He is also consulted on watches seen in Brooks, Fletch (a Rolex Daytona 1680 from Hodinkee’s vintage store, worn by Jon Hamm), and in the upcoming season two of And just like that. On the latter, he says, “We were recently able to find a vintage Speedmaster for one of the love interests on the show. We went with a watch that had a lot of patina and a lot of character. It looks like a loved, often worn watch.”

Milton also talks to THR about his personal favorite timepieces he saw at the recent Watches & Wonders trade show in Geneva, Switzerland, and mentions his favorite movie watch ever.

Milton’s favorite watch in a movie

“My favorite movie of all time is a watch that has been in multiple movies,” says Milton. “It’s a Rolex Red Submariner reference 1680, Robert Redford’s famous personal watch, and he wore it in at least three movies: The candidate, All the president’s men And The electric rider. That’s kind of the Red Submariner trilogy. The great thing about that watch is that it’s his watch, but he always wears it prominently. And I’m not sure about this, but he still owns the watch. It’s one of those I wait for it to come up. I imagine at some point, knowing his philanthropic efforts, it would be something that would hit an auction block at some point. It’s one of those legendary watches for me.”

Watch an anachronistic movie Watch

“The big short is a funny movie because it takes place during the economic crisis of 2007-2008. But in the movie, Steve Carell’s character wears a ceramic Submariner, and those watches didn’t exist yet. It’s one of those movies where, if you’re into watches, you can get a little distracted from what you’re seeing. That watch does get some good screen time though. It’s a bit in your face.”

Famous unidentifiable movie watches

Asked to name a watch on screen that bedevils look at to this day, Milton names the timepiece that Humphrey Bogart enters Casablanca. “You can pause that movie all you want,” he says, still unable to identify him. Milton believes the legendary star wore one of three watches in the movie. ‘It’s either two types of Longines or possibly a Lord Elgin. It is clearly not a round watch. It is somehow square or curved. There’s a very good chance that it was (Bogarts) watch…that he was Warner Bros.

Milton is also interested in exactly which black watch Dustin Hoffman wore in 1979 Kramer vs. Kramer but admits that the answer has eluded him so far. “I’m a 1970s movie buff, and every movie from that era really appeals to me,” says Milton. He wears what we think is a LeJour chronograph in black PVD. But there were a lot of brands that produced black PVD, from Heuer to LeJour to Porsche Design. So it’s very hard to narrow it down, even though we think we’ve come pretty close to it.

Milton’s pick of the best new watches of 2023

“A big favorite of mine was the gold Rolex GMT on the Jubilee bracelet only because they haven’t actually done the golden jubilee since the ’80s and ’90s. I like what TAG Heuer has done this year. They celebrate the 60^e anniversary of the Carreraand they came out with one 39mm chronograph that’s a refreshed redesign of one of their core models. It’s compact and I love it. It feels like I’m wearing a vintage watch on my wrist, but when I look at it, it still feels like a robust, modern watch,” says Milton.

He also notes the number of watch brands that debuted movements in smaller diameters this year. “Panerai has released a whole line of 40mm Radiomir watches. As someone who has somewhat smaller wrists, that’s a much more attractive offer to me. (And) Tudor brought one 37mm Black Bay 54 this year that’s a watch that I don’t think anyone asked for or knew they wanted. And suddenly we’re all putting it on our wrists and saying, ‘Whoa, a 37mm watch based on a historic diver from the past. It is awesome.'”

Another trend? Watches with salmon colored dial. “Salmon dials are having a serious moment. This year you saw Bulgari do one, while the Chopard Alpine Eagle with the LUC movement in it and the salmon colored dial is really a beautiful piece.”