Richard Branson — watch collection

About Richard Branson’s watch collection

Sir Richard Branson is one of the most recognisable entrepreneurs in the world. As the founder of the Virgin Group, he has built a sprawling business empire that spans commercial aviation (Virgin Atlantic), space tourism (Virgin Galactic), telecommunications, music, and beyond. Born in 1950 in Surrey, England, Branson left school at 16 and launched his first venture, a student magazine, before founding Virgin Records in 1972. Decades of high-profile risk-taking — including record-breaking transatlantic balloon and boat crossings — have made him as famous for personal adventure as for business. He was knighted in 1999.

The Richard Branson watch collection, based on what photographers and the press have documented, is notably understated for a billionaire. Branson has been spotted wearing the Torgoen T16 Chronograph, reference T16202 — a 45mm stainless steel pilot's chronograph with a UK retail price of around £377. Torgoen is a Chicago-founded brand built entirely around aviation tool watches, and its design language borrows directly from cockpit instrumentation: high-contrast dials, bold Arabic numerals, and functional subdials with no decorative flourishes. For a man who founded an airline and has personally piloted spacecraft into suborbital flight, reaching for a pilot's chronograph makes straightforward sense.

What makes the Torgoen sighting genuinely interesting is the price. Branson could wear anything, yet he has been photographed with a watch that most working professionals could afford. It fits a pattern that runs through his public image — the open-collar shirts, the refusal of corporate formality — but it also raises the question of whether the choice is deliberate or simply reflects a practical preference for a watch that suits his aviation-adjacent lifestyle without drawing attention away from the work itself. Either way, it is a more considered choice than it first appears.