The Night Manager (2016)

This is the 2016 miniseries. For the 2025 continuation, see The Night Manager.

The Night Manager

Susanne Bier directed this six-part adaptation of John le Carré's 1993 novel for the BBC and AMC, David Farr adapting. Former British soldier Tom Hiddleston's Jonathan Pine, night manager of a Cairo hotel, is recruited by intelligence officer Angela Burr (Olivia Colman) to infiltrate the inner circle of arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie), posing as a criminal to reach Roper's operation through his girlfriend Jed Marshall (Elizabeth Debicki) and lieutenant Sandy Langbourne (Tom Hollander). The series premiered on BBC One on 21 February 2016 and won Laurie a Golden Globe and Hollander a BAFTA. (IMDb; Wikipedia)

Watches

IWC Spitfire Chronograph IW387803

Worn by Hugh Laurie as Richard Roper. Roper wears a rose-gold IWC Pilot's Watch Spitfire Chronograph on a brown alligator strap throughout the series, most clearly in a poolside phone-call shot where the gold case, slate dial and strap all read plainly against his blue shirt. A personal essay on the character (prose.davekov.com) names the exact reference, IW387803, calling the gilded military-derived case "a microcosm of his character" as an arms dealer trading on inherited martial prestige; Vintage & Prestige's contemporaneous coverage of the series independently describes "a rose gold IWC Spitfire" on Roper's wrist. The Ardoise-dial rose-gold execution has been sold since the Calibre 89365 Spitfire Chronograph line launched in 2012, so the placement predates the show comfortably. (prose.davekov.com; Vintage & Prestige; Montres de Luxe)

© BBC/AMC