“When You’re Making $50M–$60M a Year…”: Carmelo Anthony Reflects on the Importance of Watches After Building a Multi-Million Collection

‘Horophile’ is the word used to describe those who have a special interest in watches. Many NBA stars, with net worths running into the hundreds of millions, find great pleasure in buying expensive watches. Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Karl-Anthony Towns, and more own stellar collections of timepieces. But Carmelo Anthony is possibly the GOAT of NBA horophiles.

Melo is philosophical while describing watches and their importance in a man’s life. “It’s like sneakers and watches are to men like perfume and handbags are to women. It’s part of who we are as men. It’s part of our lifestyle,” Melo said in an interview with the New York Post a decade ago.

Anthony boasts a Patek Philippe Nautilus, Rolex Day-Date, Richard Mille RM 035, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Richard Mille RM 011, and more in his collection. Their prices, needless to say, are astronomical. Most of the watches in his collection cost $100k or more.

The Patek Philippe Nautilus alone can go upwards of a million dollars, starting at around $70,000. The Richard Mille RM 035, on the other hand, costs nearly half a million dollars, starting at $400,000. The NBA legend holds some watches close to his heart thanks to their historical significance and backstory.

The Audemars Piguet x LeBron James or the watch signed by Muhammad Ali are two of the most coveted pieces in Melo’s collection. “I know the history for each brand and [I like] sharing that knowledge with everybody else. I would rather meet the watchmakers than the watch [company] CEOs,” he said.

While describing his passion in a recent interview, Anthony spoke about how easy it is for NBA stars to pick up some of the most exquisite pieces out there. “I mean, when you’re making 50 million a year and 60 million a year, everybody is a watch collector at that point,” said Anthony.

For Melo, however, simply collecting the watches won’t suffice. “I always wanted to curate what was in my watch case. I’m a student too, I still like to learn about it, I still like to see what people wear. It’s a conversational piece,” he added.

Comparing watches to wine, the former Knick shared how he can learn a lot about a person from what’s on their wrist. “It says something without me even saying anything. It already sets the tone of kind of your aura, where you at, what you’re doing,” said Melo.

“I cannot even talk to you or speak to you, and I can look at your wrist and understand what type of energy that you actually have, depending on the timepiece that’s on your wrist,” added Anthony.

Melo just can’t step outside without one of his special watches on his wrist. “I feel bad when I don’t wear a watch. Sometimes, I just be like I don’t wanna wear a watch and I get out and I’m like, damn, it’s a little light over here [on his wrist],” he described.

With such a deep-rooted love and understanding for watches, Melo has built a million-dollar watch collection with some of the finest timepieces of all time (pun intended).