If there is a film made in the past 10 years that has marked an era, The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) is surely among the first on the list. It is the true story of New Yorker Jordan Belfort (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) who goes from being an aspiring broker to founding a brokerage firm based on an extensive scam scheme that earns him millions of dollars.
Let’s face it, we’ve all imagined ourselves at least once in Jordan Belfort’s shoes. Well, may be until before the circle of crime and drugs took over, leading to several near-deaths and eventually jail time.
Obviously, when money is an important issue in a film, watches become a key symbolic element to represent its characters, Martin Scorsese knows this well. Precisely for this reason, The Wolf of Wall Street is replete with scenes in which Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his business partner Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill) display watches that are, dare I say it, quite “typical”.
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What clocks can be seen?
Mark Hanna’s Rolex Datejust (Matthew McConaughey)
One of the first watches to make an appearance on the scene is a vintage (not in those years) steel and yellow gold Rolex Datejust. The person wearing it is, none other than, Matthew McConaughey as Mark Hannah, Jordan Belfort’s mentor broker at L.F. Rothschild, the one who initiates him into the unregulated life at the basis of which are drugs and sex (if you remember one of the early scenes in which both of them are sitting at the table on their lunch break).
Jordan Belfort’s Seiko Solar (Leonardo DiCaprio)
At the same lunch where we first see Mark Hanna’s Rolex Datejust, Jordan Belfort wears a Seiko Solar. The choice is completely understandable. At this point in the film, Jordan is only 22 years old and it is his first day on the job. The reliable and not very expensive watch will soon be replaced by a variant much better suited to the character’s evolution.
Jordan Belfort’s Tag Heuer 1000 Professional (Leonardo DiCaprio)
As we know, things change quickly. L.F. Rothschild goes bankrupt and Belfort finds himself out of a job. Urged on by his wife, thanks to the brokerage license he obtained, he begins trading penny stocks independently.
Through his stock manipulation scheme, DiCaprio’s character begins to earn large sums of money. Meanwhile, he meets Dannie Azoff (Jonah Hill) and together they grow the business to establish Stratton Oakmont, a brokerage firm with which Belfort’s scams continue.
Throughout this juncture, having “made his first money,” Jordan Belfort begins to spend it. It is at this stage of the film that we see him with a gold-plated Tag Heuer 1000 Professional. In a very famous scene in the film, DiCaprio’s character shouts from his desk to his partners and employees that he is walking around with a $20,000.00 watch, and yet, this is not the case. When it was launched in the 1980s, the Tag Heuer 1000 Professional cost just $1,000.00.
At this point in the discussion, one would think that, with a salary of millions of dollars a year, Belfort could afford more than a gold-plated watch. Yet, the use of this watch has a highly symbolic value. As the watch is not made of solid gold, Jordan Belfort is a shallow person with no intrinsic value.
Jordan Belfort’s TAG Heuer 2000 WN5141 (Leonardo DiCaprio)
As the film develops, so does the protagonist with him. Again, the change must be evident, as well as through facts, in aesthetics. For this reason, DiCaprio replaces his Tag Heuer 1000 Professional with a Tag Heuer 2000 ref. WN5141. It should come as no surprise that since the Seiko, DiCaprio has used only Tag Heuer. In fact, it is well known that the actor and the company at the time of the film had a strong partnership.
While the first Tag used by Jordan was only plated, this one is 18k solid gold and features a set of baguette diamonds set on the hour markers and bezel, with a blue sapphire detail at 12 o’clock on the bezel. One of the most topical moments in the film where the watch can be seen is during the encounter between Belfort and FBI agent Patrick Denham, when Jordan looks out from his yacht. From here on, as many of you will remember, a downward spiral begins that will lead Belfort to total undoing.
Donnie Azoff’s Prop Rolex Daytona ref. 16508 (Jonah Hill)
Jordan’s inseparable companion, Donnie Azoff also joins the show. Unfortunately, however, in this case the watch worn on the actor’s wrist is not authentic. It was long thought to be a yellow gold Rolex Daytona ref. 16508, and indeed so it would seem. As we know, unfortunately handling luxury goods inside movie sets is a very delicate thing, especially when values start to rise. It is precisely for this reason that the producers of the film opted for a replica of the watch in question, produced and used exclusively for filming the scenes of the movie.
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