The Unlikely Watch Collector: Dean Martin

No one epitomized the Rat Pack like Dean Martin. Born Dino Paul Crocetti in Steubenville, Ohio, to Angela (née Barra) and Gaetano Alfonso Crocetti, a barber, Martin was an elevated everyman. Before becoming an entertainer, Martin held jobs as a boxer (named Kid Crochet), a steel mill worker, a gas station worker, and a casino croupier and dealer.

Eventually, Martin found work as a nightclub singer in and around New York City. It was there that he met a young comic named Jerry Lewis in 1945, deciding to team up soon after. Only a few years later, the comedy duo became one of the top-grossing acts in the world, signing a lucrative radio deal with Paramount in 1949 and starring in movies like At War with the Army and That’s My Boy.
 

While a big part of their appeal was the contrast between Martin’s suave demeanor and Lewis’ goofy physical comedy, they were great friends. They even wore matching watches.

Men’s wristwatches in the 1950s skewed smaller than today’s timepieces, and in the style of the era, Martin’s and Lewis’ matching watches were chain-link bracelets set with tiny dials. In photos, you can see the pair sporting identical watches in either yellow or white gold.
 

A 2018 auction of Lewis’ estate even featured a similar set – a 14K yellow gold Tobias watch and a 14K white Schulz watch, both with baton and Arabic chapters on rectangular dials and chain bracelets. Given the timepieces are identical, but for the color of gold used, we’re assuming that these were custom-made pieces.
 

Personality conflicts caused the duo to break up. But after Martin and Lewis disbanded, Dino went on to have greater success as both a singer and an actor.

It was during stage of his career that he recorded classics like “Volare,” “That’s Amore,” and his signature piece “Everybody Loves Somebody.” He also got good reviews while appearing with heavy hitters Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift in The Young Lions. Which led to a role co-starring with Frank Sinatra in the drama Some Came Running.
 

Having relocated to Hollywood permanently, Martin soon became part of Sinatra’s social circle, nicknamed “The Rat Pack” by the press. Eventually, Martin followed Frankie to Las Vegas, where the versatile group of entertainers made the city a mecca for all things glamorous.

The Rat Pack knew how to live the high life, which seemed to include handing out gold watches like party favors. In the early 1960s, in the peak Pack days, Sinatra gifted Martin with an oval Bueche-Girod. Going out of business in the early 2000s, Bueche-Girod an opulent brand popular with Vegas performers but is best known today as the timepiece Robert De Niro’s crime boss character Sam ‘Ace’ Rothstein wore in the movie Casino.
 

As rock and roll and counterculture eclipsed crooning and buddy movies like Ocean’s 11, Martin found a new platform for his star power in television. The Dean Martin Show, which ran from 1965 until 1974, brought the camaraderie of the Rat Pack into American living rooms.
 

Martin once said, “In regular clothes, I’m a nobody. In a tuxedo, I’m a star.” But because TV is a more familiar medium, Martin’s wardrobe became more casual. But whether he wore a tailored suit or country-club sweater and plaid pants combo, it was Martin’s laid back demeanor that really sold his style.
 

One of the main sponsors of The Dean Martin Show was Bulova. And Martin slipped into wearing an Accutron just as easily as a cashmere sweater. While we haven’t been able to ID the exact model he is wearing in this still from the show, ads from the era suggest it dates from 1966 and was a present from Bulova.
 

While it’s a departure from his avant-garde gold watches from the 1950s and early ’60s, it still shows how versatile Martin was in adapting to new technology and fashion without giving up his unique persona.