Watches · Red Meat & Cigar Club editorial · October 23, 2026

Ryan Reynolds’ Independent Watch Collection

Deadpool has taste. The man behind the mask has spent 2026 wearing watches most collectors only see behind glass.

Ryan Reynolds speaking at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con — Ryan Reynolds at San Diego Comic-Con, July 2024. Photo: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Plenty of Hollywood leading men wear a big watch. Fewer wear the right one. For years Ryan Reynolds was, as British GQ put it, mostly a gold Omega Speedmaster guy — a fine choice, not a revelation. Then 2026 happened. Red carpets, Wrexham matches, a Hot Ones appearance and a collectors’ panel in New York, and the watch spotters noticed the same thing: the man has gone deep into independent watchmaking, the small workshops where a few people make a few watches a year by hand.

A post from Big Moe Watches in Dubai summed it up — Reynolds may have one of Hollywood’s most impressive independent collections. We pulled the receipts. Here’s what’s been documented, and what’s only been reported. Pour something brown, cut a cigar, and settle in.

Roger W. Smith Series II

Start with the gentleman’s choice. Roger W. Smith runs a small workshop on the Isle of Man and trained under George Daniels, the master who championed making a watch almost entirely by hand. British GQ reports that Smith’s shop makes all but a handful of its components in-house, hand-assembles each watch over as long as six months, and carries a waiting list of around seven years.

Reynolds has been photographed in the Series II, which GQ describes as a yellow-gold watch with a hand-guilloché dial, subsidiary seconds, an offset power-reserve indicator and black Roman numerals, driven by a caliber designed and made by Smith himself. It is the classical side of independent watchmaking, and it is about as understated as a seven-year wait gets. Watch-spotting site Watch Paparazzi also reports Reynolds wearing a skeletonized Roger W. Smith Series 5; we haven’t seen that one confirmed by a major outlet, so treat it as reported.

A 2008 Roger W. Smith Series 2 with an open dial on display — A 2008 Roger W. Smith Series 2 with an open dial — the same model line, not Reynolds’ own watch. Photo: Geni / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Kari Voutilainen 28 Inversé in tantalum

Finnish watchmaker Kari Voutilainen is one of the most respected names in the independent world, and the watch Reynolds wore on Hot Ones this September shows why. According to GQ, his 28 Inversé is one of just 10 pieces made in tantalum, a dense, dark, notoriously difficult metal to machine. “Inversé” means the movement is flipped so the mechanics normally hidden at the back are on display through the dial.

GQ puts the retail price at CHF 118,000 and notes the model sold for roughly double that at a Christie’s auction in 2023. While the man was eating hot wings, the watch on his wrist was the hottest thing on the set.

Simon Brette Chronomètre Artisans “Battle”

If Smith is old money, Simon Brette is the new heat. The young French watchmaker’s pieces, GQ says, sell out before they’re announced, and one example has fetched more than half a million at Sotheby’s. GQ calls the Brette one of the crown jewels of Reynolds’ collection: a rose-gold Chronomètre Artisans “Battle,” a 50-piece limited edition with a three-dimensional mosaic relief dial, a 39mm case and a hand-wound movement with rose-gold plates and bridges finished by in-house artisans.

We couldn’t find a freely licensed photo of this watch, so you’ll have to picture it. Think a carved battle scene on a dial, in gold, worn by Deadpool.

MB&F Legacy Machine 101 EVO (reported)

Last weekend Reynolds sat on the “Why We Collect” panel at WatchTime New York with MB&F founder Maximilian Büsser, moderated by actor and watchmaker Aldis Hodge, according to WatchTime’s own recap. Watch Paparazzi reports he wore an MB&F Legacy Machine 101 EVO in titanium with a salmon dial plate. We haven’t seen that confirmed elsewhere, so we’re calling it reported.

It would fit. MB&F says the LM101 EVO was built to mark the brand’s 20th anniversary in 2025: a 40mm titanium case, a 14mm balance wheel floating above the movement, 80 meters of water resistance, a 60-hour power reserve, and movement finishing specified by none other than Kari Voutilainen. In other words, an independent tying the whole collection together.

An MB&F Legacy Machine 101 in platinum, showing the floating balance wheel. This is the original LM101, not the EVO version reported on Reynolds. Photo: MB&F / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The rest of the watch box

The independents get the headlines, but the bench is deep. British GQ has spotted him in an A. Lange & Söhne Datograph Up/Down Lumen, an F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance, and an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in Sand Gold. GQ adds a “Paul Newman” Rolex Daytona worn to Disney’s Emmy season toast, and the green-dial Omega Speedmaster in Moonshine Gold he wore while co-chairing the 2022 Met Gala. That’s a collection that can hold its own at any table in the house.

The verdict

Anybody with a movie-star paycheck can buy a gold Rolex. Hunting down a tantalum Voutilainen, a Simon Brette and a Roger Smith takes patience, relationships and actual taste. It’s the watch equivalent of skipping the chain steakhouse for the butcher who dry-ages his own beef. Reynolds went to the butcher.

So which one would you wear to the cigar lounge — the Smith, the Voutilainen, the Brette or the MB&F? Tell us your favorite.

Sources

Photos are freely licensed images from Wikimedia Commons, credited above; they show the models discussed, not Reynolds’ own watches unless stated. Affiliate disclosure: Red Meat & Cigar Club may earn a commission from some links on this site at no extra cost to you. Learn more.