The Meaning Behind Brando's Rolex GMT - Apocalypse Now 

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Apocalypse Now featured TWO iconic watches. The Rolex as mentioned here and a Seiko diver worn by Martin Sheen’s Character. Captain Willard

Wow. Film reviewer has now been added to your list of talents. Great episode IDGuy, once again thought provoking 👍🏻

Brando was known for adding simple props which added depth beyond the given script. This analysis matches his process. I'm reminded of the cat in the opening scene of Godfather 1. Brando asked for the cat in order to occupy his hands yet convey care and control. Bravo IDGuy.

Might I posit another theory? Brando's character, Col. Kurtz had "gone native." He no longer walked in two worlds, he was fully committed to only one. Thus, he didn't need to know, or care about, the time in his previous "home" time zone, because he was home. Thus, he removed the GMT bezel as a symbol of his prior duality, and fully committed to living in the present.

To anyone who hasn't read Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", on which the movie is loosely based, I can recommend it strongly. Beautifully written, with some haunting, painterly descriptions, it really is worth putting aside a few hours to savour it.

What an absolutely brilliant video ID Guy! This might just be your best video to date! Your channel has become a "Must Watch" for the watch community here on RU-vid. Bravo!

I agree with the earlier comments. Quite brilliant, the analogy between the GMT and Brando's character is profound.

You have brought nothing less than poetry to a watch review. Well done! And you've enlightened me (like a diamond bullet through the forehead....) on an aspect of a film about which I thought I knew nearly everything. I would add that Brando's choice of watch (let alone his poetic modifications) is very much like the story he relates to CPT Willard about the Special Forces team going into the village to inoculate the children for polio: a spot-on accurate detail which implies great fluency with Green Beret missions and team culture. My friend's dad was a first-generation Green Beret and wore a Rolex GMT 1675 which he said was a "team watch," i.e. he and his SF teammates all bought one (probably in Saigon) and wore them in the field. He subsequently gave the watch to his son (my friend) when we were juniors in college. My pal's 1675 inspired me to acquire a Rolex that summer; I bought a secondhand Submariner 5513 at Tourneau Jewelers in Manhattan (for $650!) and wore it all through my career as a US Army infantry officer.

That silent final moment of the video where Brando just floats in front of us is absolutely epic.

If you're looking for another perfect casting, look no further than Willard's 6105. A tough, purpose driven dive watch (common for soldiers to buy in the PX) that hadn't yet fallen into a shell of it's original condition...like Willard himself.

Up, up, and away! You hit it out of the park with this one!

Great video! Having grown up in the Vietnam era and having a new Rolex Pepsi it now takes on a new meaning.

Well said; I'm still wearing the one I bought as an Army Officer for the war. Held up to helicopter vibrations very well - and everything else.

This may very well be your best video yet brother! Just when I wonder how many more watches IDGuy can break down with such thought and expertise, you come with this truely unique take. The emotions of the movie came out in your discussion of the film and the watch. It was an amazing vid my friend!

That's an interesting read into the watch. One of the best things about art is how everyone can take a different meaning or feeling from the same work. 👍

May this video personify why we collect watches. They truly are the shackle that bind our body and mind.

Man this is quality content.

Just now getting into watches, but been a movie fan for years. The reason why both characters have watches is because both are the same character. Kurtz was sent on the same mission Willard was, that's why there's so many parallels, the watches being one of them

excellent analysis into the character/watch study

Your best video ever (though I am completely biased, as Marlon Brando is my favorite actor, the GMT is my favorite compilation, and “Apocalypse Now” is my favorite Coppola movie)!

I was ready to hate on this video, but just couldn't bring myself to do it. Great video. I love genuine watch interpretation.

I saw the film when it first came out in 1979 after having read Heart of Darkness....I watched it really stoned.

Just came across this video after a while... great video.

Hi IDG, great, great review! I very much like your connecting the watch to the Kurtz character and the story. You made me really think, and inspired by your observations I’d like to expand on your analysis. First off I don’t think it’s an accident that the watch would be symbolic of the character. Costume is very much a part of an actors tool kit and inspires the actor to inhabit the character. We who love watches all know how watches can transform us by changing our mood and our mood may make us select our watches. A great actor like Brando is more so connected to his watch and when he sacrifices it by removing its bezel it’s because he would sacrifice himself for a role too. So it’s natural that the form of the change would directly relate to his state of mind. The state of mind of the character he was inhabiting. The character is bald, exposed, naked if you will. And it is the head where ones thought, beliefs and dreams live. How appropriate that his head should be freed of its cover and in so being, symbolically bared of the falsehood of its conceptions. So too he made his watch bald and naked. The bezel with its two colors are there to distinguish day from night. Without the distinction of day and night, there is no metaphor for change (e.g the saying that it’s always darkest before dawn) and all Kurtz is left with is the bare sameness of time itself. Without daytime and nighttime there are no days, weeks months or years. So too Kurtz is laid bare and now stuck in the endless time of his bared conscience. Even the GMT functions attempt at showing a difference between time in two places can without the bezel no longer support his illusion of being both a man and self-imagined god. With no bezel to turn he too has nowhere to turn. And so, is living in an endless period with no beginning or end in sight, until Willard shows up. Sensing an end, Kurtz actually welcomes it. Thanks again for the thought provoking video, keep them coming!

What a perfect blend of watch talk, film analysis and philosophy! So glad to have found your channel.

Considering Kurtz was a blue blood officer and a gentleman him wearing a Rolex GMT makes perfect sense, just as the Seiko watch Willard wears suits his character.

Legendary. Your content quality is thorough the roof! Keep it up!

I like the fact he engraved it "M Brando". Just in case it was lost and found, he wouldn't be confused with a different Brando ;)

Absolutley Amazed at the analitical approach you've implied. BRAVO. Keep them coming

Excellent video, Thank you

Excellent Analysis!

Awesome review.

Epic film👍🏼

Wow! I thought I was watching a masterclass on filmmaking. Very poetic!

You got a lot more mileage out of this than I thought possible. Very well done!

Both Kurtz's watch and Willards watch are classic timepieces

...nice analysis, at times overinterpreted but nice....

Why don't Rolex make 200 meters water resistant as a standard feature for all their sport watch models? Since they shared similar construction

Great analysis!

I have a sterile sea dweller homage with a horrendous loose dive time bezel, but otherwise very good for the price. Though it is not a GMT, it is very similar looking. After reading the Hodinkee article and watching this video, and re-watching the movie, I popped off the bezel and engraved my first initial and last name on the back and put it on a black NATO strap. I feel like if NATO straps were around in the 60's, Kurtz/Brando would have used one instead of the rubber strap to keep from losing his watch in the jungle. Now I have an homage to the film and an homage to the watch, as well as an homage to M. Brando. The horror. The horror!

Great analysis on a superb movie. My interpretation is that the strap represents practicality of a soldier, Kurtz probably began as wearing the watch on a strap because it made more sense. Then later on he discarded the bezel because it represented a different reality of "home". When I travel, I set the GMT hand to home time, and adjust the hour hand to local time. The bezel was a reminder and a connection to his family, Western civilization, and his old life. With the bezel removed the GMT hand can't point to reality anymore. It's his way of rejecting the old world, knowing he would never return to that life. Pure conjecture on my part, but that's the fun of it!

Basically, the bezel was removed to make it look like a military watch. Job done

I teally enjoyed this..

Brilliant video, IDGuy. Brando was certainly a method actor, so this may very well be the first instance of a Rolex method acting for a movie.

Brando was both mad and brilliant. Very few people could get into his head. My guess the man loved Rolex watches. Perhaps, glaring at his watch, as so often watch lovers do, had the exact same analogy as described in the video.

Excellent.

Today, I stood on the platform at Luzern Station, a single tear rolled down my cheek- as I did not know the history and design culture of the Mondaine clock before me. The horror...the horror.

Quite an unusual move, trying to interpret character and watch in relation. Im not convinced by your argument but intrigued by the approach. Interesting thought.

Very interesting.

this is quite deep to me, without knowledge of the history of the war, but thanks ID.

I now want a GMT!😢

Wow. Incredible video. Thanks for this, so well done.

Brando swung both ways...

Epic vid I.D. Agree with B.S. Buddah - your vids are now must see. I'd love a 1655 btw.

Nice video mate.

Interesting and impressive analysis Mr. IDGuy! Bravo!

Incredible, bravo.

Very curious that it appears Brando used a leather strap? Could be rubber, ought to be rubber or nylon, but a leather strap would have lasted a few weeks in the humidity of Vietnam, methinks. Excellent, insightful video. What did Brando's choice of band mean?

Outstanding!!!

There's definitely a bezel on the Brando watch which makes sense, because it compromises the integrity of the crystal for the watch to go bezeless.

That looks nice 😊

This Rolex is rare indeed. Forget about Paul Newman, Mario Brando is the man.

Unfortunately I have not seen the movie but I looking at the watch I have a feeling that this is Rolex's one of finest looking watch. Well maybe because of you are right about the mentality towards Rolex but then again you really can't deny my liking towards one of the most finest looking Rolex until now. Perhaps the role didn't approve a Rolex in the wrist.

Excellent video, great film too! Thank you 👍👍

After this video, I’ve decided to wear my gmt bezel-less

Thank you !

Nice

Awesome vid! Thanks man.

Great show!

Interesting .

Very Impressive! I really enjoyed the video.

It's been 15 Years since we lost Marlon Brando.

Bravo !!!

This movie had tons of cool watches. Even on the minor characters.

You should read the source material for the film, Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”.

well said.

Great video

A little deep don't you think. Sometimes a watch without a bezel is just a broken watch. I loved the story however. A little Shakespeare poking through this time. Cheers

Good review but are you sure about Kurtz wanting Willard to take over his position? Didn't Kurtz leave a note for Willard to "drop the bomb, exterminate them all" ?

I like your interpretation. Very deep, very perceptive. But, as you say, a detail most likely lost on the principal creatives.

No. In Vietnam watches were stripped of metal to avoid sniper fire . Rolex told Brando to do nothing . Brando was a giant. He desired authenticity. You think a mad man in the jungle needs to know what time it was back home? He was home

An interesting analogy that the lack of the bezel and strap strips away some of his humanity is very interesting! Design or pschoanalyis on this piece ; )

I never seen a Rolex so broken

Boy I would have trouble reading GMT time without the bezel

Frankly, I think you are reading too much into a watch. Rolex watches were readily available at PXs, so many officers would have owned one. The bracelets often broke under the rigors of field service, necessitating local replacement. There are many stories from WWII or Kerea of guys getting the battalion tailor at base to stitch-up a temporary replacement. Similarly bezels do come off and get lost -happened to me a couple of times. Given his supposed location in Cambodia, it would be unlikely that a replacement bezel would be easily found, so he just wore the watch without one. That he wore the watch the way he did is every bit as likely to be about authenticity, as some deep meaning.

You're really good at B.S.ing...

your definitely over thinking it , but its a great video about an interesting watch.

You do realise that you are going to be responsible for many ‘Pepsi’ owners ripping the bezels from their watches now don’t you! ✊

Two words.. Anthropomorphic horology. You can determine the measure of someone by the watch they wear and by the wear in their watch.

Explorer is best fit for Don Draper? Any plan to create vedio for this topic?

Joseph Conrad Pierre Schoendoerffer Henry Morton Stanley John Milius 4 writers who are the DNA of Apocalypse Now

how did you mod the steinhart bezel from uni to bidirectional?

So what are you saying that Seiko is the new Rolex

Because there is a meaning haha

I'm looking at a bezel on this watch, but a plain one, not GMT original.

U do know it's The 40TH Anniversary Of Apocalypse Now.

Thank you for another great video. I think the Kurtz character shaved his head for the same reasons you attributed to his missing bezel. The horror.

Hmm probably over thought.......he was probably trying to make it look like a field watch

"Branded" LOL