The Watches of the NBA

It’s not a secret that the hugely rich and famous players of the National Basketball Association hold a few things to be sacred. Amongst the shortlist of these sacred things are the game, sneakers, Kobe, the Celtics v Lakers rivalry, and luxury watches. Whilst the official watch brand of the NBA is Tissot, you’ll see very few Tissot pieces gracing the wrists of some of the richest sportsmen in the world. You’re far more likely to glimpse iced out Royal Oak models, flashy gold Day-Dates, sporty Hublots, or custom pieces. After lusting after a few famous NBA watches (like the Audemars Piguet watch that LeBron James’ designed, James Harden’s and Steph Curry’s legendary watch collections, or Dwyane Wade’s Hublot Classic Fusion or King Power) we got curious about the unsung watches of the NBA. Which luxury timepieces were lurking in Instagram photos, peeking out from beneath the sleeves of bespoke suits or Nike sweatshirts, yet to be discovered? After compiling our database of the watches of the Premier League, we knew that if we searched long and hard enough we’d root out all the most interesting (and most expensive) watches worn by current NBA players.

Who Wears What?

You’ll need to check out the full database to find out all the details, but here’s a little run down:
  • The average spend of an NBA player on just one watch is nearly fifty thousand dollars - and do bear in mind that most of them have larger collections than we can even imagine getting our grubby little hands on.
  • The total spend for the watches we’ve found is over 7 million dollars - which for many of these players is less than they make in a year.
  • Five different Rolex models take up spots in the top ten most popular watches chosen by NBA players.
  • The most expensive watch we found worn by an NBA player costs more than eight hundred thousand dollars. That’s also big money.
You can check out the most popular models, or see if any players have your favourite niche pick. Whether you’re a basketball lover keen to gaze at the fashion choices of your idols, or a watch aficionado who just wants to have a good time looking at some watches, we’ve got you covered. You can view players organised by team or players organised by the sheer amount they dropped on their luxury timepiece, so whether you want to see which teams are the biggest spenders or which player is flashing their cash the most, leave it to us - we’ve done the research.

How we did it

It took us weeks. Not that we’re complaining, because looking through NBA player’s Instagram pages for hours and deep-diving on google doesn’t feel like work at all really. We made lists, we took screenshots, we built spreadsheets, we squinted hard at the pixelated watches on our screens and sometimes even bought in back up in the form of fellow watch lovers to help us puzzle out what some of the watches were. We tried to find watches for as many players who are on the court this season as possible. We know we haven’t got every player, and there are definitely some famous faces missing, but that’s only because we haven’t found watches for them yet. We’ll continue the search, and you can help. If you know something we don’t, then there’s an update info button at the top of the page, so you can let us know what you’ve spotted. Or if you think we’ve misidentified a watch, you can correct us. Feel free to send us photos, articles and thoughts, and we’ll update the content as fast as you can send it.

Why we did it

At Barrington, our hearts are devoted to watches. That’s why we do what we do. NBA players play because they love the game, we build and sell quality watch winders because we love watches. We believe quality deserves quality, and we understand that if you spend your money on a watch then the last thing you want is to buy a bad quality winder that damages it. We wish we could have spotted NBA player’s watch winders out in the wild but that’s maybe an impractical dream. There are videos of James Harden’s impressive collection strewn into a huge display case, but really watches like that deserve better care. With just a fraction of the money spent on his huge watch collection, he could have a winder safe built for 12 watches, to safely store and maintain his impressive collection. Watches are an investment that need protecting, whether you’re saving up hard-earned cash and splashing out on one, or dropping what feels like pocket change on a fifty thousand dollar timepiece. If you’ve got just the one luxury watch and you wear it day in and day out, sure, you might not need a winder. But if that watch sits on your bedside table for fear of the damage that could come with daily wear, or if you have a large collection and get to take your pick of watch every day, storing your watch in a winder feels like common sense. Check out our full collection of watch winders here.

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