Profiles In Coolness: James Coburn

...Profiles In Coolness...

James Coburn

Pepsi GMT-Master

Who is the coolest, most exuberantly charismatic dude to ever wear a Rolex? This is a fascinating question if you think about it since there have been so many. The top of this list would include Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Miles Davis, Robert Redford, and even Pablo Picasso. This being said, there is another person to add to this list that could arguably top the list, and that is actor, James Coburn. Nick Gould the amazing horological journalist discovered the photo of James Coburn rocking his Pepsi Rolex GMT-Master in 1968.

So what makes a dude cool? I would argue coolness is a combination of being handsome, masculine, charismatic, stylish, confident, competent, with and a relative degree of nonchalance and je ne sais quoi—all of which James Coburn possessed in spades.

A Man For All Four Seasons

James Coburn was an unusually charismatic, handsome actor. During his acting career which made up the better part of a half-century he appeared in over 80 movies and 100 TV shows including Bonanza and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. James played many different roles in his career, and in 1998 won the Academy Award for his supporting role in the movie "Affliction." 

The Magnificent Seven

James Coburn co-starred in The Magnificent Seven alongside other famous tough-guy actors including Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner and Charles Bronson.

The Great Escape

In 1963 James Coburn co-starred in the great escape alongside James Garner, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson. We see the three of them together pictured below in 1963. Speaking of Rolex and The Great Escape, our Captain Danny wrote and amazing story on this subject, which I highly recommend checking out!!!

Our Man Flint

James Coburn made a series of two movies which debuted in 1966 and 1968 named Our Man Flint, and In Like Flint in which he played a James Bond like character.

Duffy

James Coburn starred in a movie in 1968 named Duffy, where he wore his Pepsi Rolex GMT-Master as seen below. 

Rolex Coolness: Michael Caine...

Academy Award Winning Actor

...Rolex Coolness...

Sir Michael Caine

Rolex Day-Date

Michael Caine is and Academy Award winning actor who has enjoyed an incredible career. He is pictured below sporting his Rolex Day-Date.

...My Name Is Michael Caine...

Michael Caine was unique in the sense that he was the first "Cockney" Hearthrob. In other words, he was the first major movie star/hunk with a Cockney (East London) accent. In many ways his appeal was based upon his "I'm every man" persona, coupled with the fact that he also had a rugged and regal way about him.

1969 Movie

The Italian Job

Below is the opening credit section of the 1969 cult classic which Michael Caine starred it named The Italian Job. It features a 1969 Lamborghini P400S Mura V12 driving through the Italian Alps, while Matt Monroe sings his classic song "On Days Like These." You can learn much more about the 1969 Lamborghini Miura on Jake's Car World from Jerry Seinfeld. 

1971 Movie
Get Carter

Micheal Caine starred in Get Carter in 1971, which was a huge it in the U.K., so much so it was declared to be the best U.K. film ever made.

1984 Madness Song

My Name Is Michael Caine

Madness is one of my favorite bands of all time, and I remember this song from when I was in high school, titled, My Name Is Michael Caine.

1988 Movie

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Michael Caine wore a yellow gold Rolex Oyster-Quartz, Day-Date (Reference 19018) in the 1988 movie named Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which co-starred Steve Martin. 

Alec Baldwin: Glengarry Glen Ross-Yellow Gold Rolex Day-Date

Alec Baldwin

Glengarry Glen Ross

1992

Yellow Gold Rolex Day-Date

Alec Baldwin is one of the most successful and accomplished actors of his generation, and he was married to Kim Basinger, back in the day. He has starred in all kinds of highly iconic movies including Beetlejuice, The Hunt for Red October, The Marrying Man, The Shadow, The Aviator, The Departed and The Cooler, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination.

One of the most iconic Rolex related moments in film history is from Alec Baldwin's command performance in the beginning of Glengarry Glen Ross in the early 1990s, where he gives his Always Be Closing (ABC) speech. I saw this movie 22 years ago, back in 1992 and have not seen it since, but remember how powerful his performance was, and he uses his Rolex Day-Date as a powerful tool to communicate his strong perception of success.

This scene is up there with Michael Douglas' "Greed Is Good" speech from Wall Street, and it is similar to Leonardo DiCaprio's speech in The Wolf of Wall Street which is in theaters now.

Warning NSFW: Alec Baldwin plays a hardcore Alpha male in this performance and the video below contains a lot of powerful language and gratuitous profanity.

The photo below shows Alec Baldwin in a recent photo, two decades later, wearing a Rolex.

Al Pacino

Glengarry Glen Ross

1992

Two-Tone Rolex Datejust

I remember seeing Glengarry Glen Ross, back when it debuted in theaters, and I have not seen it since, so I thought I would check it out, and it was a really intense movie. I also noticed Al Pacino was wearing a two-tone Rolex Datejust.

In the image below from Glengarry Glen Ross, we see Al Pacino sitting next to actor Jack Lemmon, who was amazing in the movie. Jack Lemmon is one of the great actors in history, as is Al Pacino. 

Actually not that I think about it, Glengarry Glen Ross had an amazing all star cast, many of which are Academy Award winning actors, including Kevin Spacey, Jonathan Pryce, Alan Arkin, Jude Ciccolella, and Ed Harris. Speaking of Kevin Spacey, I have not seen it yet, but everybody keeps telling me he has a great show on House Of Card, which is exclusively on Netflix.