Do you love Succession enough to buy a fake Panerai, or overpay for a Shinola?
Jamie WeissHBO’s dark comedy-drama series Succession, which aired its final fourth season in 2023, is memorable for many reasons: its scathing satire of America’s 1% and insular media culture; the endlessly snappy quotes and painful moments; but also for its fashion. The Roy family and associates’ sartorial choices on the show are the epitome of “stealth wealth” – but they also wear a bunch of interesting watches. Succession is a watch spotter’s paradise, with characters rocking everything from Cartiers and Rolexes to Richard Milles and Audemars Piguets.
That’s why we (and I’m sure more than a few watch fans) were excited to hear that Heritage Auctions would be auctioning off a collection of props from Succession’s 5-year, 4-season run. Surely there’d be some cool watches up for grabs? Sadly, there’s no high-end pieces to be found among the lots… Well, at least no real high-end pieces, that is.
Spoilers ahead, by the way.
Only two watches are included in the auction. The first is a Shinola Runwell 41mm worn by “Cousin” Greg Hirsch (played by Nicholas Braun) in Season 2, Episode 10: “This Is Not for Tears”. Greg wore this piece while he was on the Roy family yacht when Logan Roy (Brian Cox) was deciding who would take the blame for the Waystar cruise line scandal.
A quartz model with a PVD gold case and date window at 3 o’clock, this version of Shinola’s flagship watch is now discontinued but you can pick one up for around US$600 – however, Cousin Greg’s Shinola is sitting at US$875 bid (at the time of publishing). It’ll likely sell for over US$1,000 at this rate, which is a lot of money to pay for a quartz Shinola. At least it’s not US$40,000 like the fake Rolex that Greg bought in the show…
Speaking of fakes, the other watch in the auction is a replica Panerai worn by Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) in Season 1, Episode 1: “Celebration”. It’s meant to resemble a Panerai Luminor Power Reserve ref. 00090 and is seen on Tom’s wrist as he gifts a Patek Philippe to Logan for his birthday while the family is playing softball. It’s one of the most iconic watch moments in Succession, where Tom blesses us with the cringeworthy line “it’s incredibly accurate – every time you look at it, it tells you exactly how rich you are”.
While the watch itself is a fake, it’s a pretty good fake and is a much more iconic watch from the show – which might explain why it’s currently sitting at US$1,900 bid, even if that’s a lot of money to spend on a fake. It’s common practice for TV shows and movies to use replica watches like this: virtually all of the high-end watches seen in Succession are replicas, with the Richard Mille RM 67-01 worn by Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) in Season 4 of the show a notable exception, Strong having personally chosen to wear the watch after a Richard Mille exec sent it to him.
Sadly, that RM is not part of the auction, just the Shinola and fake Panerai. There are a few other cool lots up for grabs, like a “ludicrously capacious” Burberry bag, Kendall’s credit cards, Waystar RoyCo swipe passes and a selection of outfits from the show, including more than a few power suits. The auction ends in 9 days and you can peruse the lots here.