Samuel L. Jackson wears a Piaget Polo

Nick Fury runs a global intelligence agency on a government salary, which makes the Piaget Polo Chronograph on Samuel L. Jackson's wrist in The Avengers (2012) either a continuity error or the most interesting thing about the character's backstory. Joss Whedon wrote and directed this first team-up of the MCU, assembling Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, and Jeremy Renner against Tom Hiddleston's Loki.

Piaget introduced the Polo in 1979, and it has always been a jewelry-house watch: thin, refined, and priced for people who consider Rolex pedestrian. The specific reference on Fury's wrist is G0A32038, the chronograph variant in 18-karat white gold on a black alligator strap, with a dual-time complication suitable for a director monitoring threats across multiple time zones. Retail is around thirty-five thousand dollars. On a character who wears a leather trenchcoat and commands a flying aircraft carrier, the Piaget is a strange fit, but Jackson has always worn expensive watches on screen and the Polo Chronograph at least looks authoritative. Fury is the kind of character who needs people to take him seriously the moment he walks into a room, and a five-figure Swiss chronograph does that job, government salary or not.