Stefano Pessina — watch collection

About Stefano Pessina’s watch collection

Stefano Pessina is one of the most consequential figures in global healthcare retail. Born in Pescara, Italy, in 1941, he studied nuclear engineering before pivoting to business, eventually transforming a modest Italian pharmaceutical distribution company inherited from his father into Alliance Boots, one of Europe's largest pharmacy chains. His deal-making career culminated in the 2014–2015 merger with Walgreens, creating Walgreens Boots Alliance — a company with revenues exceeding $130 billion. Based in Monaco, Pessina served as CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance before transitioning to executive chairman. His net worth has been estimated at over $10 billion, placing him firmly among Europe's wealthiest entrepreneurs.

The Stefano Pessina watch collection, as far as public sightings reveal, reflects the preferences of a man who spent decades operating in boardrooms rather than in front of cameras. He gravitates toward German precision watchmaking, specifically A. Lange & Söhne, the Glashütte manufacture that rebuilt itself from scratch after German reunification in 1990. Pessina has been spotted wearing a honey gold A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Time Zone, reference 116.032 — a piece in 18-karat honey gold housing a manually wound caliber L031.1 with an asymmetric dial layout, an outsize date, and a dedicated second time zone subdial. It is a watch built for someone who moves regularly between continents and time zones, and who reads a dial rather than glances at it.

The Lange 1 Time Zone reference 116.032 is a relatively low-production variant in a colorway that Lange has used selectively. Honey gold, an 18-karat alloy developed in-house by Lange, carries a warmer tone than standard yellow gold and ages differently. For a pharmaceutical entrepreneur who has negotiated across multiple continents, the functional second time zone complication carries obvious practical logic. More broadly, the choice of Lange over more immediately recognizable luxury brands suggests a collector who prioritizes mechanical substance and restraint over visibility.