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Hunter S. Thompson’s most regularly worn Rolex was reportedly a GMT-Master ref. 16700 with a red-and-black bezel—the “Coke” bezel. That identification comes from Luke Benedictus’s August 8, 2020 article for Time+Tide Watches, which makes Thompson an unlikely Rolex wearer in light of his countercultural public image. It is a reported identification, not documented provenance for a particular surviving watch.
Which Rolex did Hunter S. Thompson wear?
Benedictus identifies the Rolex GMT-Master ref. 16700 as the model Thompson wore most regularly. The article dates the reference’s release to 1989. That model-history detail does not establish when Thompson acquired or wore a particular example.
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The “Coke” nickname refers to the bezel’s red-and-black coloring. Benedictus also mentions blue-and-red “Pepsi” and all-black bezel versions; the distinction here is color, not a reported difference in performance.
| Variant named by Benedictus | Bezel colors |
|---|---|
| “Coke” | Red and black |
| “Pepsi” | Blue and red |
| All-black | Black |
Why the Rolex identification is plausible—but not conclusive
Benedictus supports the broader picture of Thompson as a Rolex wearer with passages from his writing. In Generation of Swine, Thompson recounts striking a man with a stainless-steel Rolex: “I bashed him away with a shot in the cheekbone with the edge of my stainless steel Rolex and we roared off toward the Alvarado Freeway …” The passage establishes that he wrote about using a Rolex; it does not identify the watch as a ref. 16700.
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The article also points to a passage in Fear and Loathing in America in which Thompson trades another Rolex in Saigon to pay his tailor. That anecdote likewise does not establish the reference of the watch he wore most regularly.
Benedictus describes a photograph in which Thompson appears to wear two watches. The second is identified in the article as a TAG Heuer Super Professional Divers, based on a reader’s observation.
Why would an unconventional writer wear a Rolex?
Benedictus offers several possible explanations, while treating them as speculation rather than established motives:
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- Practicality: a robust watch may have suited a demanding life and work.
- Hemingway: the article raises the possibility that Hemingway influenced Thompson’s choice.
- Color associations: Benedictus speculates about whether the bezel colors might have carried political meaning to Thompson; the article does not establish that they did.
- A second time zone: the GMT function may have been useful to a writer dealing with different time zones.
None of these possibilities should be mistaken for Thompson’s confirmed reason. His reported choice of a conventional luxury brand sits intriguingly against his public image, but the available account does not prove that he intended the watch to express a particular belief or aspect of his personality.
What the reporting does—and does not—establish
The identification rests on Benedictus’s secondary watch-journalism account, which combines references to Thompson’s writing and a described photograph. It does not provide primary documentation establishing the exact reference or the provenance of a specific watch. A watch offered for sale as a ref. 16700—or described as a “Coke”—should not be represented as Thompson’s without separate evidence connecting that individual watch to him.
Thompson once said, as quoted by Benedictus: “I have a theory,” he once said. “That the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours.” The line suits the mythology around him, but it does not explain his watch choice. For readers looking for the model, the relevant search terms are “Rolex GMT-Master ref. 16700” and “Rolex GMT-Master Coke”; they identify a model, not a verified Thompson-owned example.
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