Michael Jordan is arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, but his elite talents aren’t confined to the basketball court. MJ is also one of the best and most varied watch collectors on the planet.
Jordan does it all as a watch collector. He owns grail-level Rolex pieces and was also an early adopter of haute horlogerie from brands such as A. Lange & Söhne. And while he steps out in some insane Gruebel Forsey once in a while to sip (his own brand’s) tequila, or puts on an insane piece from Purnell to celebrate (his own team’s) NASCAR win, by and large, we’re not talking about red carpet-levels of hi-vis horology here, or a guy who wears a different killer watch every time he picks up his guitar to play a show. With His Airness, you have pay close attention.
Even some of the watches in his rotation cause the nerds among us to open a fresh browser page and start doing some research. But that’s what happens when someone with enormous means has been collecting for 30-plus years: He turns to the high-end independents, and to brands that are more and more specialized in their designs. It makes his horological journey that much more interesting to follow.
Here are some standouts from MJ’s insane collection.
Lange & Söhne Datograph ref. 403.435
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The image of Jordan sitting courtside in the early 2000s wearing a power suit and a first-gen Datograph is enough to make any watch writer swoon. Housed in platinum and featuring the brand’s famous flyback movement with outsize date, the ref. 403.435 dates to a time when Lange was still a true “IYKYK” brand.
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked
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There are Royal Oaks, and then there’s this thing: the Double Balance Wheel Openworked. Worn by Jordan at the 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony, it does away with the typical tapiserrie dial with date window in favor of a design showing off the openworked Calibre 3235 within, which features a double balance wheel.
Purnell Escape II Absolute Sapphire Blue Moon
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What do you wear when your team screams across the finish line at the GEICO 500? How about a Purnell Escape II Absolute Sapphire Blue Moon, a $2M “hyperwatch” built around Spherion, a triple-axis tourbillon and the fastest-revolving tourbillon in the world. (Actually, the Escape II has two Spherions, which means six axes, which means…you get it.)
Greubel Forsey GMT SPORT Tourbillon Titanium 45mm Limited Edition
Courtesy of Cincoro Tequila
What you’re looking at here is the first Greubel Forsey to feature an integrated bracelet. Measuring 45mm in titanium, it features an elliptical bezel and a curved crystal—features you don’t exactly find in your Seiko 5. Complications include a power reserve indicator, a 24-hour world timer, a day/night indicator, a GMT hand, a running seconds indicator, and a tourbillon.
Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Pirelli
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Enormous black DLC titanium case? Check. Skeletonized movement with micro-rotor and Geneva Seal? Check. Rubber strap made out of actual Pirelli tires? Check. For the man for whom both the horological and automotive worlds hold equal interest, this futuristic Roger Debuis is the watch to wear.
Rolex Cosmograph Daytona
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While most of Jordan’s pieces are from high-end independent brands, it seems that His Airness is drawn to the Crown as much as everybody else. And who can blame him? This rose gold Cosmograph Daytona with matching Oyster bracelet and diamond-set indices set against a black dial would surely steal anybody’s heart.
Rolex Sky-Dweller
Maddie Meyer
One more Rollie bears mentioning: this precious-metal Sky-Dweller that Jordan wore to the NBA Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2021. The Sky-Dweller, which debuted in 2012, may look straightforward, but the model is actually an innovative annual calendar in which the hour indices function as the month indicator, and a central ring indicates a second time zone.
Urwerk UR-220
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Finally, we have a customized Urwerk UR-220 with red accents and the Roman numeral XXIII etched in gold. As on many Urwerk models, the minutes are read along an elliptical readout at the bottom of the dial, as indicated by one of three “wandering” arms. Within the arm, a small rotating readout shows the appropriate hour.
