Some of the greatest watches ever worn by Super Bowl players, and the stories behind them
The NFL Super Bowl doesn’t just decide champions. It locks moments in time. You remember the big plays, the halftime performances, and of course, the TV commercials. When the game ends, players step into a strange afterlife of microphones, lights, and history. And somewhere in that blur, during arrivals, interviews, parades, and postgame quiet, watches appear.
They're not part of the uniform. They’re choices made by athletes who’ve arrived. They are living through one of the career-defining moments of their careers.
This is what makes Super Bowl watch moments matter, and here are a few of the most notable from the players that made it.
10.Joe Namath, Gold dress watch (1969)
Team: New York Jets
Joe Namath didn’t just win Super Bowl III in one of the greatest upsets in Super Bowl history, he changed what winning looked like. At a time when football players were still treated like blue-collar heroes, Namath leaned fully into celebrity. The fur coats. The confidence. The unapologetic style.
The gold dress watch he wore around that game signalled that the Super Bowl wasn’t just a sporting event anymore, it was a cultural moment. That watch helped establish a tradition that still exists today: champions don’t just lift trophies, they present themselves.
This is where the idea of the “Super Bowl watch” truly begins.
9.Roger Staubach, Rolex Datejust (1978)
Team: Dallas Cowboys
Staubach was the anti-Namath. A Naval Academy graduate, Vietnam veteran, and disciplined field general, he embodied structure and control. The Rolex Datejust fit him perfectly.
It wasn’t flashy. It didn’t demand attention. It simply worked, just like Staubach did. Worn during Super Bowl XII, the Datejust represented a shift: watches were still tools, but they were becoming symbols of earned authority.
This was luxury without ego. A watch chosen by someone who measured success quietly.
8.Joe Montana, Rolex Day-Date (1989)
Team: San Francisco 49ers
By the late 1980s, Joe Montana had become football’s calm centre. No panic. No drama. Just precision. His Super Bowl-era Day-Date mirrored that image.
The Day-Date had already earned its nickname, “The President”, and Montana wore it like someone who didn’t need the title explained. In a dynasty defined by control and execution, the watch felt like a quiet stamp of leadership.
This wasn’t about flash. It was about confirmation.
7.Troy Aikman, Rolex Submariner/Daytona (1996)
Team: Dallas Cowboys
The 1990s changed everything. Television coverage exploded. Players became brands. And the Super Bowl became slick.
Aikman’s Rolex fit the era perfectly. It was athletic, recognizable, and modern without being ostentatious. The Sub and Daytona had moved beyond their roots and become the default watch of capable professionals, on Wall Street, in boardrooms, and now, on the Super Bowl stage.
This was the watch of someone who looked like he belonged there.
6.John Elway, Rolex Daytona (1999)
Team: Denver Broncos
Elway’s Super Bowl watch moment matters because of timing. After years of coming up short, Super Bowl XXXIII finally delivered closure. The Daytona on his wrist wasn’t celebratory, it was definitive.
The Daytona is a watch associated with endurance, precision, and legacy. Elway wearing one felt like punctuation at the end of a long sentence. This wasn’t a man celebrating the beginning of something. It was a man acknowledging completion.
Some watches mark victories. This one marked resolution.
5.Peyton Manning, Panerai Radiomir Composite 3 Days (2016)
Team: Denver Broncos
Peyton Manning never did subtle. Neither did his watches.
The 47mm Panerai Radiomir Composite he wore around Super Bowl 50 was enormous, legible, and impossible to ignore, much like Manning’s presence in the room. It felt analytical and purposeful, a watch chosen by someone who thinks in systems.
As a final championship chapter, it worked perfectly. This was authority worn on the wrist.
4.Jalen Hurts, Patek Philippe Nautilus 5712R (2023)
Team: Philadelphia Eagles
Jalen Hurts’ Super Bowl watch moment landed because it didn’t feel accidental, it felt informed.
Arriving for Super Bowl LVII wearing a rose-gold Patek Philippe Nautilus 5712R, Hurts made a choice that instantly separated him from the usual quarterback-watch script. This wasn’t the entry-level Nautilus. It wasn’t the safe steel option. It was the complicated one, asymmetrical dial, power reserve, moonphase, a watch that quietly signals collector knowledge rather than surface-level luxury.
That detail matters. The 5712R isn’t loud unless you understand it. To casual viewers, it reads as “nice watch.” To watch people, it reads as intent.
And that mirrors Hurts perfectly. Calm under pressure. Deliberate. Focused on preparation rather than performance. Even in defeat, the watch felt appropriate, not as a victory trophy, but as a statement of arrival. A quarterback announcing that he belonged in this room, on this stage, and would be back.
This is the Super Bowl watch as self-definition. Not celebration. Not excess. Just confidence, worn quietly.
3.Patrick Mahomes, Rolex Yacht-Master 40 Everose (2020)
Team: Kansas City Chiefs
Mahomes’ Everose Yacht-Master appeared at the exact moment the NFL’s future arrived. Gold, rubber, modern proportions, the watch felt athletic, young, and expensive without being fragile.
It was a declaration that this wouldn’t be the last time we saw him here. This Yacht-Master feels less like a trophy and more like equipment for the next chapter.
2. Joe Burrow, Custom Cartier Santos (2022)
Team: Cincinnati Bengals
Burrow didn’t need to win the Super Bowl to own the moment. His custom, diamond-set Cartier Santos instantly became one of the most talked-about player watches ever seen at the game.
Why? Because it felt generational. Fashion-forward. Intentional. This wasn’t old-school quarterback luxury, it was modern cultural fluency.
The watch told you exactly who Burrow was.
1.Tom Brady, From IWC to Jacob & Co. (2021–2025)
Teams: New England Patriots & Tampa Bay Buccaneers
GOAT Tom Brady tops the list because no one else’s Super Bowl watch story spans eras this cleanly.
After Super Bowl LV, he wore an IWC Top Gun “SFTI”, disciplined, military-coded, and purpose-built. It looked like legacy.
In more recent Super Bowl appearances, Brady has shifted again, wearing high-jewelry, technically outrageous Jacob & Co. pieces. These watches aren’t about winning anymore. They’re about mythology. Excess as punctuation. Confidence without explanation.
Brady’s watches evolved the same way his career did, from contender to champion to something untouchable.
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