Key Witness (1997)

J. F. Freedman's 1997 novel puts corporate lawyer Wyatt Matthews in a public defender's office, defending a young Black man accused of a string of murders. The teenage dealer Dexter, who moves through the case, is defined by his Rolex. (Open Library)

Watches

Rolex (unidentified model): Dexter, a buttoned-down eighteen-year-old drug dealer, wears a real Rolex he bought for $3,500 in cash, which the novel calls "the Navigator model", understated chrome and good to fifty fathoms. Rolex has never sold a model by that name, so the watch resolves only to the brand. He later brags about it and asks Wyatt to show him his own Rolex.

Source text: Rolex on his wrist, a real one, not one of those jive knockoffs. The Navigator model, understated chrome, good down to fifty fathoms. (J. F. Freedman, Key Witness, scan cataloged as Signet, 1998, pp. 19, 109, 222; Internet Archive scan OCR)

Rolex (unidentified model): Wyatt's own Rolex shows under his cuff when Dexter shakes his hand and asks to see it, and he later covers embarrassment by making a show of checking the time on it. No model is named.

Source text: "Hey, can I see that Rolex watch you're wearing?" he asked as he caught a glimpse of Wyatt's watch under his left cuff. (J. F. Freedman, Key Witness, scan cataloged as Signet, 1998, pp. 222, 270; Internet Archive scan OCR)