79th Cannes Film Festival 2026
Eight extraordinary timepieces. One red carpet. Every watch verified, identified and contextualised.
Every May, the world's most powerful people descend on the French Riviera — and the cameras don't just watch the films. The 79th Cannes Film Festival was, as ever, a masterclass in dressed-up wealth. Audemars Piguet dominated the wrist game, appearing on three separate celebrities. Cartier, Rolex and Girard-Perregaux all made their presence felt. And in among the jewellery and the fashion, eight genuinely significant timepieces appeared that will be talked about long after the Palme d'Or is handed out. Here is every verified watch we spotted on the Croisette — and what each one says about the person wearing it.
"The Croisette doesn't just show you what celebrities wear. It shows you what they choose when the whole world is watching."
Diesel wore the AP CODE 11.59 Starwheel to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Fast and the Furious at a special Cannes screening — one of the most technically spectacular pieces on the carpet all week. The Starwheel puts a contemporary spin on the wandering hours complication AP first debuted in 1991. A 41mm white-gold case, black ceramic mid-case, and a mesmerising aventurine dial topped with three black opaline hour discs that wander across the face rather than point to it. Price: approximately $65,700. Diesel choosing function-forward complications over a conventional Royal Oak tells you everything about how seriously he takes watchmaking.
Find this watch on our Watch FinderDriver wore the Royal Oak in sand gold — AP's proprietary 18-carat alloy, warmer than rose and rarer in the market. The Royal Oak needs no introduction: Gérald Genta's 1972 design remains the most influential luxury sports watch ever made. In sand gold, it becomes something rarer still — a collector configuration that most people have never seen in person. Driver has consistently proven himself to be a genuine watch enthusiast rather than a brand ambassador who wears what he is given. This was a considered personal choice.
Find this watch on our Watch FinderFassbender brought a pop of colour to Cannes doing press for Hope with a blue AP CODE 11.59 Perpetual Calendar on his wrist. Released in 2025 to celebrate AP's 150th anniversary, the two-tone piece features a 41mm white-gold case and a smoked blue embossed dial with four matching subdials. A perpetual calendar is one of the most technically demanding complications in watchmaking — it automatically accounts for the varying lengths of every month and leap years, without manual adjustment until the year 2100. Fassbender wearing one is not a flex. It is a statement of horological understanding.
Find this watch on our Watch FinderMalek chose the Cartier Tortue in gold — a piece that debuted at Watches and Wonders only weeks before Cannes, making this one of the first significant public appearances of the reference. The Tortue's distinctive tonneau case has been in the Cartier catalogue since 1912 and remains one of the most elegant dress watch silhouettes in fine watchmaking. Wearing a brand new reference within weeks of its launch tells you Malek isn't waiting for a piece to become fashionable — he already knows what he wants.
Find this watch on our Watch FinderThe rapper wore a platinum Rolex Daytona with a diamond-set dial — one of the most coveted references in the entire Rolex catalogue. The Ref. 126506 was the first Daytona fitted with a transparent sapphire caseback, revealing the upgraded Caliber 4131 movement within. The blue dial with baguette-cut diamond hour markers and chestnut-brown subdials, set in a platinum case with a brown Cerachrom bezel, is as visually arresting as a watch gets. Price: approximately $91,200. On the Croisette, among all the established film stars and racing drivers, Gunna wore the most expensive watch of the week.
Find this watch on our Watch FinderMelton wore an iced-out Chopard L.U.C. XP to the screening of Her Private Hell at Cannes. The L.U.C. XP is Chopard's ultra-thin manufacture movement in a 40mm white gold case measuring just 7.2mm thick — meaning it slides effortlessly under a formal cuff. The diamond setting transforms an already refined dress watch into something more theatrical. At a festival where restraint and spectacle compete for attention, Melton found a watch that managed both.
Wood stepped out in a Chopard L.U.C Quattro — one of the brand's most mechanically ambitious pieces, housing four mainspring barrels that provide an extraordinary 9-day power reserve. The Quattro sits at the top of Chopard's manufacture hierarchy and is rarely seen on red carpets precisely because it is not a fashionable watch. It is a horologist's watch. Wood wearing it at Cannes is the equivalent of showing up to a film premiere with a first edition — it means something to those who know, and goes completely unnoticed by everyone else.
The Ferrari F1 driver brought the most technically spectacular independent piece of the festival — a Girard-Perregaux tourbillon, a watch built around one of the most visually arresting movements in Swiss watchmaking. For Sainz, it is a fitting choice — a man who spends his professional life at the intersection of precision machinery and spectacle. Most celebrities at Cannes reach for the obvious brands. Sainz reached for something a serious collector would immediately recognise and respect.
Brand Count — Cannes 2026
Audemars Piguet appeared on three wrists at Cannes 2026 — more than any other brand. But the story isn't just AP's dominance. It's how AP appeared: not just Royal Oaks, but CODE 11.59 complications and Sand Gold configurations. The brand's depth is being explored, not just its flagship. The other defining story was Gunna's Rolex — in a week of serious collector pieces from film and racing royalty, a rapper walked the Croisette with the most expensive watch of the festival on his wrist. And Carlos Sainz's Girard-Perregaux tourbillon was the most technically extraordinary independent piece of the week — a reminder that outside the big three, exceptional watchmaking is very much alive and being noticed.
Inspired by something you saw on the Croisette? Our Watch Finder covers 50 verified sources across 24 countries — authorised dealers, grey market specialists and auction houses for every brand spotted at Cannes.
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