Jason Statham shows that action heroes still wear Panerai

Nick Kenyon

While Panerai was founded way back in 1860, its rise to prominence came on the back of a very specific type of celebrity: the action hero. It was thanks to the likes of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger that brand awareness soared following wrist-bound cameos in films like Daylight, Eraser, Rambo IV and The Expendables franchise. In 2021, Panerai continue to be the brand worn by action heroes with Jason Statham confirmed as wearing two of their pieces while shooting the new spy film Five Eyes, which began filming in January this year.

Directed by Guy Ritchie, famous for helming Lock, Stock Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch and more recently The Gentleman, it’s the fourth time that Statham and Ritchie have worked together on different films. Five Eyes also features another alumnus from Richie’s past work in the form of another Panerai fanatic, Hugh Grant. Grant has admitted that his love for Panerai stems from the fact that he’s a bit short-sighted and he appreciates their easy legibility.

In the film, it has been revealed that Statham will be wearing two different Panerai pieces in the Submersible Goldtech 42mm (PAM1164) and the Submersible Carbotech 47mm (PAM1616), both of which were provided by the brand. They are two pretty bad-ass watches with the golden-cased PAM1164 a very masculine, precious-metal watch and the carbon PAM1616 offering a highly durable timepiece designed for action.

Statham will be playing an MI6 agent in the film, which is being shot across Turkey and Qatar, and is billed as an action-packed thriller. There’s no word yet on when the film will be released yet, but we’ll be keeping our eyes open for further details and, more specifically, watch appearances.