While much of Brady’s collection focuses on heavy-hitting wristwatches from Rolex, Richard Mille, IWC, and others, it would seem that his horological tastes are much more adventurous than we might have imagined: This Grand Complication—a timepiece containing three or more complications—was made by Patek Philippe for Tiffany & Co. and sold in May 1917, just a month after the United States declared war on Germany during the First World War. Oversized at 53mm in 18K yellow gold, it features a stunning eggshell dial and a movement with a minute repeater, a split-seconds chronograph, and a perpetual calendar with moon phases. A bidder in the room last night snagged it for roughly a quarter-million bucks—pretty good value when you consider that Patek made only two such watches per year back then!
Rolex ref. 126710BLNR GMT-Master II ‘Batman’: $60,000
The final sale price of this GMT is the best example of how Brady’s provenance can inflate the value of a watch. This 2019 update to the famed travel-time watch typically goes for $15,000 to $20,000 on the secondary market. But the chance to buy a watch once owned by the greatest quarterback in NFL history at least tripled the value of this Rolex sport icon.
IWC Pilot’s Watch Top Gun Edition ‘SFTI’: $42,000
While it might not have done big money like the vintage treasures listed above, this modern tool watch from the International Watch Company is perhaps more personally significant to Brady. He wore this exact piece to the Super Bowl Champion Parade in 2021 (as well as on several other occasions) and even said in 2020 that he’d likely never sell it. But things change, and a lucky bidder was able to pick it up for the (relatively) attainable sum of $42,000. Measuring 44.5mm in ceramic and ceratanium, it’s a cool, blacked-out take on the brand’s typical pilot’s chronograph, made in tribute to the US Navy’s Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (a.k.a. “Top Gun”).
