Glamour Factory

From a filmmaking museum on Wilshire Boulevard to a mentoring programme for aspiring directors, Rolex’s relationship with cinema continues to break boundaries

Nearly every Hollywood frontman comes equipped with a top-shelf timepiece, whether it’s Marlon Brando playing Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (1979) or Bill Paxton as treasure hunter Brock Lovett, who descends into the Titanic’s watery remains. And what do these action heroes have in common? They wear a killer Rolex.

It’s important to note that these actors were not paid to wear these watches, nor were they part of any larger product placement deal. Rolex is simply part of cinematic history and continues to be the personal choice of directors who want to subtly portray sophisticated style in their characters.

More recently, Rolex has entered a partnership with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and counts filmmakers Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Martin Scorsese among its family of Testimonees—their films boast 57 Oscar wins and nominations between them. In addition, since 2018 Rolex has also been a sponsor of the Annual Governors Awards that recognise life achievement in film.

During the three years that the watchmaker has sponsored the Oscars, Rolex has also created annual designs for the Greenroom at the Dolby Theatre, which is where presenters spend their time before going on stage—although the brand’s been linked to the cinematic world for much longer.

To honour this decades-old connection with cinema, Rolex became a founding supporter of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which is dedicated to historic film preservation. Under construction on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles and scheduled to open later this year, it’s America’s first large-scale museum dedicated entirely to the history of filmmaking.

Designed by Pritzker Prizewinning architect Renzo Piano, the museum will include a 1,000-seat theatre, 50,000 square feet of exhibition galleries and an education studio.

A value instilled by the founder of the company, Hans Wilsdorf, Rolex supports outstanding achievement in the arts through the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. One of the watchmaker’s numerous ventures, it has been nurturing gifted young artists from all over the world since 2002, through full teaching programmes and one-on-one mentoring.

Few brands in the watchmaking industry have taken on such a larger-than-life role beyond Hollywood and the silver screen, and there’s no doubt that Rolex will continue to foster creativity for decades to come.