PSA: Russell Crowe confirms purported ‘Cinderella Man Rolex Submariner’ up for sale is not his watch

Zach Blass

Update #2:The never-ending story goes on… Since publishing this update we have spoken to Fog City Vintage (@fogcityvintage), who removed the Rolex Submariner listing – with an asking price at that time of $22,500USD – and refunded the seller as soon as it came to light that the provenance of the watch was not as originally described. As per the last update, Russell Crowe himself confirmed on Twitter that the watch was gifted by him to a crew member who had worked on Cinderella Man.

Since then, after contacting Time+Tide to seek more information, Russell and Fog City have spoken, and both parties have reached an amicable conclusion of the matter. Fog City has effectively been exonerated of any wrongdoing. Altogether, this tale has all the epic twists and turns of Cinderella Man the movie. One can really only guess if this is the final stanza in the most updated post in our history. 

Before publishing this story about a watch that was purported to be formerly owned by actor Russell Crowe, Andrew from the team reached out to Russell to confirm that the watch mentioned below was actually his. Russell did not reply. Since running the story, Russell has clarified the following in a Tweet: “Fair warning to any potential buyer and to the watch seller, this is not mine, never has been mine. It would have been bought as a gift and given to someone who worked with me on that film set.”

Given this updated information from Russell Crowe, we can now issue a PSA that any future buyer of this watch should take into account this new information. As such, we have removed information about the seller, and any links to the listing.

The Latin phrase on the engraving on the caseback of the Rolex Submariner – now confirmed by Russell Crowe to have been a gift to a crew member – is a stirring paean to self-mastery and translates to “He conquers, who conquers himself”.

For watches that actually were owned by Russell Crowe, you can enjoy this video we produced with Russell to assist him with his ‘Art of Divorce’ auction several years ago.