Patrick Mahomes, the Funnest Player in the NFL, Wears the Funnest Rolex in Existence

Welcome to Watches of the Week, where we’ll track the rarest, wildest, and most covetable watches spotted on celebrities.

When it comes to the NFL, there is nothing more fun than watching Patrick Mahomes. The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback plays with a joy unseen elsewhere in the sport the sport: he can effortlessly fling the ball almost the full length of a football field, evade tackles until he can get that rocket off, and seems to live for the drama of mounting a comeback. So Mahomes could not have found a better match with his watch, the equally joyful Rolex Daytona Rainbow—the timepiece that always goes for it on fourth down and tries the two-point conversion. What Mahomes and this watch also have in common is statistical—eye-popping, mind-boggling numbers. Mahomes has a 5,000-yard, 50-touchdowns season, while this Rainbow puts up equally gaudy numbers: a bezel featuring a rainbow of 36 baguette-cut sapphires, the case is set with 56 more diamonds, and even the hour markers come in the form of 11 more sapphires. This is the type of watch the typically conservative Rolex doesn’t make very frequently, but Mahomes is also a once-in-a-lifetime type player.

Patrick Mahomes’s Rolex Daytona “Rainbow”

This is what a $503 million contract buys you. As we’ve watched Mahomes ascend to superstardom over the past several seasons, we’ve seen his watch game evolve, too. During the Chiefs Super Bowl parade, Mahomes wore a Rolex Yacht-Master, and upgraded to a GMT-Master during the championship ring presentation this summer. The new Rainbow Daytona is unquestionably the crown jewel of Mahomes’s collection, which just got a lot more fun.

Megan Thee Stallion’s RM-07-01

GQ’s rapper of the year has the bars and the flow worthy of the title—and the watches, too. At the American Music Awards, Megan appeared onstage wearing a watch from the most-rapped-about watch brand, Richard Mille. The RM-07-01, with its thinned-down version of RM’s signature tonneau-shaped case, is technically part of the watchmaker’s women’s collection. However, that hasn’t stopped some of Meg’s male peers, like Drake, from wearing it. There’s no reason this watch shouldn’t cross gender lines, either. It’s got Richard Mille’s skyhigh standards for horsepower, with a new movement built specifically to fit in the new slimmer case. In addition to the technical details, Richard Mille says the watch “shines with the sensual and curvaceous lines of its tonneau shaped case design.” Or, as Megan thee Stallion might say, “Body-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody.”

Lewis Hamilton’s IWC Big Pilot

Hamilton continues to rack up wins in this made-just-for-him version of the IWC Big Pilot. The exclusivity is a bummer: an all-black ceramic edition of the perpetual calendar might be the coolest piece in IWC’s catalog, were it only available to buy. The watch is more than just cool, too. According to Formula 1 reporter Kym Illman, the all-black colorway is meant to be a subtle nod to the Black Lives Matter movement that Hamilton has vocally supported throughout this year. (IWC declined to confirm or deny.)

Mark Wahlberg’s Rolex Submariner

Of course prolific watch collector Mark Wahlberg would already have one of the year’s hottest new Rolex pieces. This year, the brand focused on adding some juice to the Submariner line, with a version with a green dial and bezel, as well as this white-gold edition with a blue bezel. Rolex’s new releases are infamously impossible to get for ordinary customers, but they are clearly beginning to trickle out to VVIP customers: last week, Tiger Woods wore the new standard black-dial version of the new Submariner to the Masters.

Lewis Capaldi’s Patek Philippe Aquanaut 5167A

It used to be that this column couldn’t go a week without finding a highly sought-after Patek Philippe, like the Nautilus or this Aquanaut. But the pandemic slowed their appearances to a trickle—even if you’re a celebrity, a Patek isn’t the type of watch you wear for a masked-up java run. That is, until Capaldi wore this black version of the Aquanaut to the American Music Awards red carpet this week. The Aquanaut was first launched in 1997 as Patek’s sportiest model—it was the very first the house put on a rubber bracelet—and in 2020 it looks perfect walking the red carpet.