The watch most closely tied to Succession’s 2023 series finale is Tom Wambsgans’s Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding Chronograph. But the original “finale” watch story appeared in a 2021 article about the season-three finale, more than a year before the series ended. Those two endings feature different watches—and together they show how the show used timepieces to mark status, taste and vulnerability.
Which finale does the original watch story cover?
Time+Tide’s December 15, 2021 article about the “Succession finale” covers the end of season three, not the end of the series. It spotlights Greg’s apparent Rolex Submariner, Kendall’s Vacheron Constantin Harmony Mono-Pusher Chronograph and Shiv’s Cartier Panthère. The series finale arrived in 2023; in British GQ’s account of that episode, Tom’s Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding Chronograph is the standout watch.
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Keeping the dates straight matters: the watches belong to different episodes and different moments in the characters’ arcs.
Tom Wambsgans: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak
British GQ identifies Tom’s season-four watch as an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding Chronograph. He wears it throughout the season, including in the series finale. The contrast with his earlier Cartier Santos makes the change especially visible: Tom has moved from a watch associated with his previous place in the family orbit to a conspicuous luxury sports watch.
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GQ reads the upgrade as a sign of Tom’s changed status in the Waystar hierarchy. That is the publication’s interpretation of the styling, not a meaning confirmed by the show’s writers. GQ singles out the penultimate scene, when Shiv places her hand on Tom’s, as a particularly telling appearance of the watch.
Greg Hirsch: a broken Submariner and a later GMT
The season-three Submariner story
In the season-three storyline covered by Time+Tide, Greg seeks Kendall’s help to buy a “very expensive” Rolex as a gift. The watch appears to be a Submariner. Greg is promised help, but later discovers that the watch he bought does not work. The episode turns a luxury purchase into a story about social pressure and status anxiety—and about Greg’s vulnerability to being exploited.
Time+Tide reported a dealer asking price of $40,000 and compared it with a lower figure in its 2021 article. Those are historical, article-era claims, not current market guidance; the coverage does not establish a present-day value for the watch.
The season-four GMT-Master II
Greg’s season-four watch is a separate choice. Hodinkee’s Danny Milton says he proposed a modern Rolex GMT-Master II with a Pepsi bezel and Jubilee bracelet for Greg, and the production team selected it. It should not be confused with the apparent Submariner in Greg’s earlier failed-purchase story.
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Kendall Roy: Vacheron Constantin and Richard Mille
Harmony Mono-Pusher Chronograph
Time+Tide identifies Kendall’s watch in the season-three-era story as a Vacheron Constantin Harmony Mono-Pusher Chronograph. Its 2021 report describes the model as a 260-piece limited edition, with a manually wound in-house caliber 3300 and a 42 mm cushion-shaped case. The article associates the watch with awkward or humiliating moments, including the season-three finale; that connection is an editorial reading of the scenes.
Richard Mille in season four
For season four, coverage identifies Kendall with a Richard Mille. Jeremy Strong told GQ that Amanda Mille, the company’s brand and partnerships director, gave him a watch to wear for the character. Strong also described other pieces made or supplied for Kendall, including a one-of-one Loro Piana jacket and Jerome Mage sunglasses.
This account shows that watch sourcing varied across the cast. It does not establish that every watch was donated, supplied by a brand or placed in the show as advertising.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Shiv Roy: Cartier Panthère
Time+Tide identifies Shiv wearing Cartier Panthère watches in both steel and yellow gold across the first three seasons, and describes the watch as quartz-driven. GQ also describes her broader use of Cartier, while noting Zenith and Chopard watches in later seasons.
The Panthère’s polished, recognizable look can support readings of Shiv’s image and changing loyalties, but those are interpretations rather than confirmed statements from the production team.
How the watches were chosen—and what they can tell us
GQ reports that prop master Monica Jacobs worked with the costume director and actors on watch selections. For season four, Hodinkee managing editor Danny Milton advised the production, using character notes and lists of possible watches. This supports treating the watches as considered costume and prop choices, while leaving room for ambiguity about what any one detail means.
The show itself makes the link between a watch and status explicit in Tom’s dialogue in the pilot. As quoted by Hodinkee, he describes Logan’s Patek Philippe gift this way: “it’s incredibly accurate; every time you look at it, it tells you how rich you are”.
For identifying an on-screen watch, distinguish a publication’s visual identification from a detail explicitly attributed to production or a cast member. Even a well-supported model identification does not verify a current listing, the precise reference of a watch for sale, or that an item is the screen-used prop.
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