Passing the Reins (2025)

Passing the Reins key art

Passing the Reins (ザ・ロイヤルファミリー, domestically billed as The Royal Family) is a 2025 Japanese television drama that aired in TBS's Sunday Theater (日曜劇場) slot from October 12 to December 14, 2025, across ten episodes, adapted from Kazumasa Hayami's award-winning 2019 novel of the same Japanese title. Satoshi Tsumabuki stars as Eiji Kurisu, a tax accountant whose career stalls until racehorse-owning company founder Kozo Sanno (Koichi Sato) hires him as personal secretary to his firm's horse-racing division; the twenty-year story follows Kurisu's rise inside the Sanno family's world and his rekindled relationship with former lover Kanako Nozaki (Wakana Matsumoto), now a horse breeder, alongside Ren Meguro as Sanno's grandson Koichi Nakajo. Netflix distributes the series internationally under the title Passing the Reins. (IMDb; Wikipedia)

Watches

Rolex Datejust 36 116231

Worn by Satoshi Tsumabuki as Eiji Kurisu. Two independent Japanese watch-spotting blogs, Arekiru (drama-tv-fashion.com) and Goldenfishz (goldenfishz.com), identify Kurisu's watch as a Rolex Datejust 36, Ref. 116231, in pink Rolesor. Both sources introduce it in episode 2, in a scene where Kurisu looks over the watch after receiving it from Kozo Sanno as a congratulations gift on joining the firm, and both trace it recurring through episodes 3 to 7; Goldenfishz additionally documents it again in the series finale, episode 10. (Arekiru; Goldenfishz)

© TBS Television

Citizen NB1050-59A

Worn by Satoshi Tsumabuki as Eiji Kurisu. Japanese drama-fashion site Arekiru identifies a Citizen NB1050-59A as the watch Satoshi Tsumabuki wears as Eiji Kurisu in office and suit scenes across episodes 6 through 8, distinct from the recurring Rolex he wears elsewhere in the series. A second, independent drama-fashion site, Goldenfishz, separately identifies the same reference in the same episode range, corroborating the brand, model, and reference. (Arekiru; Goldenfishz)

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Grand Seiko Elegance SBGM221

Worn by Satoshi Tsumabuki as Eiji Kurisu. The same two sources identify a second Kurisu watch, a Grand Seiko Elegance Collection Ref. SBGM221 GMT, worn across the final three episodes (8-10) as the character's styling shifts toward the story's close. Goldenfishz pins it specifically to episode 9's scene in which Kanako Nozaki tells Kurisu she wants to marry him and the two embrace. (Arekiru; Goldenfishz)

© TBS Sparkle/TBS

Breitling Chronomat 32

Worn by Mikako Ichikawa as Yuki Sawatari. In a guest role in episode 9, Yuki Sawatari wears a small steel bracelet watch with her white coat. Arekiru identifies it as a Breitling Chronomat 32 without a reference; Konta Watch Blog names the same model and suggests reference A77310101A3A1. Neither source establishes the dial execution. (Arekiru; Konta Watch Blog)

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