Why The Rolex GMT-Master Pepsi Is The Perfect Watch For Magnum P.I.

By Danny Milton

In 1980, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were hard at work on casting Raiders of the Lost Ark. At the top of their list for the lead role was actor Tom Selleck, who had consistently outshined all others in auditions. Sporting a brown leather WWII bomber jacket and a tan fedora, Selleck was everything Lucas had envisioned for the swashbuckling Indiana Jones. Everything seemed on track until Spielberg received a call from the President of CBS. The network had Selleck under contract for a new series, and Spielberg couldn’t have him. The series, of course, was Magnum P.I. – and the role of Indiana Jones went to some other guy.

Fitting how fate can intervene. In so many ways, Selleck was born to play the role of Thomas Magnum, the Aloha shirt-wearing private investigator operating out of a lush estate in sunny Oahu. His wavy hair, imposing build, and absolutely unparalleled mustache were pillars of 1980’s style. Selleck remains, in many ways, the poster boy for the era.

Magnum had everything at his disposal, from the lavish pad to the choice ride – that red Ferrari 308 – plus his signature Detroit Tigers baseball cap, and of course, his watch. Thomas Magnum was a watch guy, and his watch was the Rolex Pepsi GMT-Master 16750.

Over time, this has undeniably become the symbolic Magnum watch, but it wasn’t always the one on his wrist. In fact, it didn’t appear until the show’s fourth season. He spent much of the first few seasons wearing a Chronosport Sea Quartz 30, which, as Jason Heaton describes it, is “a burly 42-millimeter dive watch with a bright dial and tropic rubber strap.” For the Seiko heads out there, Magnum even occasionally wore a Seiko SQ Quartz diver with a red and blue bezel – you know, for the times he needed a more dive-ready Pepsi watch.

So why is the GMT-Master the perfect Magnum, P.I. watch? For one, it is a watch that matches capability and rugged charm with a bit of whimsy and color. It’s a 100m water-resistant dual-time watch on a steel bracelet, so it’ll hold up well in the surf spray while …read more