The Unlikely Watch Collector: Tom Selleck

Who doesn’t love Tom Selleck? His brand of slightly exasperated cool has made him a welcome presence on our TV screens since his first appearance on The Dating Game in 1967. And who can forget his silver screen turns in classics like Quigley Down Under (1990) and Three Men and a Baby (1987)?

His most beloved character, however, was (and still is) Thomas Magnum in the Oahu-based television crime drama of the 1980s, Magnum, P.I.
 

His most beloved character, however, was (and still is) Thomas Magnum in the Oahu-based television crime drama of the 1980s, Magnum, P.I.

The show ran for eight years and made Hawaiian shirts and luxurious facial hair fashionable in the 1980s. But Magnum was not Selleck’s only sartorial success. His dadcore look as ophthalmologist Richard Burke on Friends still inspires Gen Ys who are reviving ’90s fashions. And let’s not forget how much we love the man in uniform on Blue Bloods.
 

Selleck’s style shows range and longevity. And his on- and off-screen watches deserve a place in the pop cultural pantheon as well.

As rad as the Sea Quartz was, Magnum was a man who led a life of luxury. He lived in a lavish estate and drove a red Ferrari 308. Ultimately, the character had to up his watch game with a Rolex red and blue GMT-Master Ref. 16750 on an Oyster bracelet.

We first got a sip of the “Pepsi” when Selleck sported a Seiko SQ Quartz diver with a red and blue bezel in a couple of episodes. Eventually, Magnum switched to the stainless steel 1675 – the one with the classic matte dial variant produced from 1980 to 1988 – matching the series’ run to the very year.
 

Some say this timepiece was Selleck’s watch, but in an interview with watchesandculture.com in 2018, the actor said: “Ah, the Rolex 1675! That I did keep. I’ve always loved that watch. It was the perfect match for Magnum. It’s a watch that likes action, and believe me, I know what I’m talking about. I’ve had my fair share of ‘sport’ watches but never one as tough as the Rolex. It’s been underwater, buried in sand, taken I don’t know how many knocks, and never a problem…I thought the red went well with the Ferrari and the blue matched Hawaii’s lagoons and sky.”
 

And at the end of the interview, he added: “All that’s left of my Magnum days are my Rolex, a couple of Hawaiian shirts, and my mustache comb. The rest is history!”

In the recurring role of Monica’s much older Jaguar-driving, ophthalmologist boyfriend Richard Burke on the TV show Friends, Selleck was also the inspiration for Chandler growing a mustache and Joey taking up cigar smoking.

In fact, we binge-watched the second season of Friends trying to figure out what the cool dad version of Selleck wore on his wrist. Sadly, our eyesight isn’t that great.
 

However, we did note that he wore a modern Rolex Daytona Ref. 116515LN with a ceramic bezel, rose gold case, and off-white dials on a leather strap during the 2021 Friends reunion.
 

Selleck is a Rolex loyalist, but he does take advantage of the brand’s diverse offerings to find models that best suit his roles.
 

For example, as Frank Reagan, the patriarch of a policing dynasty on the long-running drama Blue Bloods, Selleck wears a two-tone Oystersteel and Gold Datejust on a Jubilee bracelet, which is apt for the character because it’s the kind of watch that you can see being passed down through the generations.
 

And just like Selleck, two two-tone watches are back in the collective consciousness. We’d argue that they’ve never gone away.