Watch Icons follows the people whose watches became part of cultural history. Today: Marlon Brando and the Rolex GMT-Master reference 1675 he wore in Apocalypse Now.
The watch Colonel Kurtz would not remove
During production of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film, Brando wore his own Rolex GMT-Master while playing Colonel Walter E. Kurtz. Rolex records that the production team considered the watch too recognizable. Brando chose to remove its red-and-blue bezel rather than take off the watch itself.
The result was instantly distinctive: a GMT-Master with its bare steel bezel channel exposed, fitted to a black strap. Brando also hand-engraved “M. Brando” on the caseback.
Documented provenance
Phillips documented the watch as a reference 1675 manufactured in 1972 and confirmed that it was the example seen on Brando’s wrist in the film. Brando later gave it to his adopted daughter, Petra Brando Fischer. Phillips sold the watch in New York in 2019; Christie’s later offered it in Geneva in 2023, where it sold for CHF 4,582,500.
Its importance comes from more than celebrity ownership. The removed bezel and hand engraving make the watch a physical record of Brando’s choices on set—an object shaped by the actor as directly as the character he played.
Sources: Rolex, “Time zone to time zone”; Phillips, Game Changers, Lot 30; Christie’s, Marlon Brando’s Rolex GMT-Master ref. 1675.
The accompanying image is an AI-generated editorial illustration. This is independent historical content. Marlon Brando, his estate, Apocalypse Now and Rolex are not affiliated with or endorsing SEKUND.STORE. The featured watch is not represented as SEKUND.STORE inventory.