The most dramatic case: “Rocky” star
Sylvester Stallone. On a visit to Florence, Italy,
in 1995, Stallone stopped in a watch shop in
Florence, Italy and noticed a divers’ watch produced
by a local firm called Officine Panerai.
Stallone learned that for years Panerai had produced
the watch exclusively for an elite group
of Italian Navy frogmen. The watch had only recently
been made available to the Italian public.
The watch was bold, black and, with a 42-
millimeter case, gargantuan. Stallone was entranced.
He delighted at the thought of wearing
the watch in the underwater sequences in
“Daylight,” a film he was making. So smitten
was Stallone that he bought not one but 200.
