Tom Brady's personal items, including his luxury watch collection, just sold for $9 million at auction. Take a closer look.
Elyse Jankowski/Stringer/FilmMagic/Getty Images
- Tom Brady auctioned 21 pieces from his luxury watch collection at Sotheby's on Tuesday.
- His collection, which fetched $4.6 million, included watches from Rolex and Audemars Piguet.
- Brady's Rolex Daytona Paul Newman 'John Player Special' sold for $1.14 million.
Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady is passionate about more than just football — he also has an extensive luxury watch collection.
Or, he used to.
On December 10, the retired 15-time ProBowler auctioned 21 of his watches at Sotheby's, along with 20 other "treasures" from his football career.
His whole collection brought in more than $9 million, with the watches selling for a total of $4.6 million.
"Watches were really the main story and drew the most value," WatchGuys CEO Robertino Altieri told Business Insider.
The luxury watch industry has experienced major fluctuations in recent years. Following a spike in interest during the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry faced a period of decline.
The overall market index is down 5.1% from 2023, per WatchCharts data from December 9, but the success of Brady's auction should help the industry, Altieri said.
"Seeing Tom Brady attach watches to the sports world as well — it's definitely huge," he added.
Brady's auction also reflects the trend of rebooting the luxury resale market through celebrity partnerships. In June 2024, for example, Sotheby's auctioned 11 watches from Sylvester Stallone's personal collection, including his Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime which sold for $5.4 million.
From a custom Audemars Piguet to the final jersey Brady wore at the University of Michigan, here's a peek at some of the items sold at Sotheby's.
Courtesy of Sotheby's
Brady wore the vintage timepiece to the New England Patriots' 2023 home opener, where team owner Robert Kraft famously announced that he'd be inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame the following June.
According to Sotheby's, the watch was "named after the legendary 1970s Formula 1 livery, because of its black and gold 'Paul Newman' dial" and is "exceedingly rare" due to very small production quantities.
"Beyond its scarcity, the watch radiates an undeniable allure, enhanced by its striking black-and-gold combination and its connection to a golden era of Formula 1," said Richard Lopez, Sotheby's senior specialist for watches.
Courtesy of Sotheby's
This Royal Oak Flying Tourbillon by Audemars Piguet features several nods to Brady, including his name set with calibré-cut and baguette diamonds, the number seven in Roman numerals as a nod to his record Super Bowl wins, and his signature on the rotor, according to Sotheby's.
The watch is made of white gold and also includes "a baguette diamond-set bezel," according to Sotheby's.
Brady wore the watch during his May 2024 Netflix special, "The Greatest Roast of All Time: The Roast of Tom Brady."
Sotheby's previously estimated the watch was worth between $400,000 and $800,000, but Altieri said he'd expected it to exceed $1 million.
"It's not often that brands make a piece unique for someone," he said.
Courtesy of Sotheby's
The IWC Top Gun Edition "SFTI" was estimated by Sotheby's to go for a maximum of $10,000. Instead, it sold for $42,000, more than four times its market value.
"That was a really strong indicator just off the bat that more affordable pieces would go for higher numbers," Altieri said.
"Affordable," in this case, refers to their market value; IWC watches, for example, usually retail for less than $20,000, but significantly exceeded that number at the auction.
Brady famously wore this watch while celebrating at the 2021 Super Bowl boat parade in Tampa Bay after his seventh and final championship win.
Courtesy of Sotheby's
Similar to the IWCs on auction, the Rolex 'Batman' performed well above its market value.
Altieri said the model's market value is $17,000, "but right away the bid went 50, 55, and then it sold for 60."
Courtesy of Sotheby's
This collaboration between Richard Mille and 22-time Grand Slam singles champion Rafael Nadal is best known for its innovative "butterfly rotor."
For those not well-versed in watches, a rotor is a small weight within the watch that swings as the wearer moves, generating energy that winds and powers the watch.
What's different about the "butterfly rotor," according to Richard Mille, is that it "offers the wearer the possibility of varying the rotor geometry by themselves," allowing them to engage in various activities like sports without causing any damage or excessive winding.
Other figures who've worn pieces from Richard Mille and Nadal's collaborations include Jay-Z and Real Madrid's Antonio Rüdiger.
Altieri said the watches that "have a lot of hype in today's market" and "attract a lot of media," like a Richard Mille or an Audemars Piguet, didn't perform as well at the auction as he would've expected.
"You would think because it's Tom Brady's name — just like the IWCs and the Batman — it would at least go for double, but it didn't," he said.
Sotheby's previously estimated the piece would sell for between $300,000 and $500,000.
Courtesy of Sotheby's
Sotheby's estimated that this Patek Philippe pocket watch, retailed by Tiffany & Co., would sell for between $200,000 and $400,000.
It ultimately sold for closer to the lower end of its estimate at $264,000, which surprised Altieri.
"I thought there was some potential of something like this coming back into fashion, but it's really a bigger pocket watch. It didn't hit the expectation that I thought," he said.
Per Sotheby's, the "yellow gold open-faced watch from 1917 is a rare example" of the brand's minute repeater, which was first introduced in 1845.
Courtesy of Sotheby's
In addition to luxury watches, Tom Brady and Sotheby's also auctioned memorable pieces from his playing career.
The best-selling item from his career was the jersey he wore in his final game with the University of Michigan (pictured above), which was estimated to sell for between $300,000 and $500,000, and ultimately sold for $792,000.
Other items included were the Tampa Bay Buccaneers jersey he wore when he broke the NFL's passing yards record, his NFL Combine shirt, and a helmet worn during his last season in the NFL.
"The collection is truly unparalleled; the stories they tell, the authenticity they embody, and their historical significance elevate them beyond mere collectibles," Brahm Wachter, Sotheby's head of modern collectibles, said in October. "These items are genuine pieces of sports history."
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