Actor, Comedian, Voice Artist & Co-Host — SmartLess Podcast
Will Arnett's Rolex Submariner: The Voice Behind Gob, BoJack, and Batman Wears the Watch That Doesn't Need to Explain Itself
Gob Bluth in Arrested Development. BoJack Horseman in the Netflix animated series that became one of the most critically celebrated shows of its decade. Batman in The Lego Movie franchise. Seven Emmy nominations. Co-host of SmartLess with Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes. Will Arnett has spent thirty years making iconic things feel effortless. On his wrist: a Rolex Submariner — the watch that operates on exactly the same principle.
| Will Arnett — Rolex Submariner on wrist. Source: YouTube |
Rolex Submariner — unidirectional bezel, luminous markers, Oyster case |
▶ Source: YouTube
William Emerson Arnett was born May 4, 1970, in Toronto, Ontario, and is Canadian-American. He broke through in 2003 with the role of George Oscar "Gob" Bluth II in Fox's Arrested Development — a self-deluding, perpetually failing magician who is simultaneously the funniest and most tragic figure in the ensemble. The performance earned him his first Emmy nomination and established Arnett as a specific kind of comedian: one who plays characters of grandiose self-image and catastrophic self-awareness simultaneously. He returned for the Netflix revival seasons in 2013 and 2018–19. He also earned Emmy nominations for his recurring role as Devon Banks in 30 Rock (2007–2013), a recurring villain whose menace is rendered entirely through deadpan corporate cold-bloodedness.
From 2014 to 2020, Arnett voiced BoJack Horseman in the Netflix animated series of the same name — a depressed, self-destructive former television star who happens to be a horse, living in a world where humans and anthropomorphic animals coexist. The role earned him three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance and is widely regarded as among the finest voice acting performances in the medium's history. He voiced Batman in The Lego Movie (2014) and its spinoff The Lego Batman Movie (2017), a version of the character played entirely for comedic self-seriousness that became a cultural phenomenon in its own right. His voice — a deep, distinctive baritone that manages to be simultaneously imposing and ridiculous — is one of the most recognisable in the business.
Since 2020, Arnett has co-hosted SmartLess with Arrested Development castmate Jason Bateman and Will & Grace's Sean Hayes — a podcast whose format places one host's mystery guest in front of two cohosts who know nothing about who is coming, forcing rapid improvised response to whoever walks through the door. The show went on a live tour, produced a docuseries on Max, and became one of the most listened-to podcasts in the world. His most recent film, Is This Thing On? (2025), which he co-wrote with Mark Chappell, is directed by longtime friend Bradley Cooper and represents a turn toward dramatic material — a man navigating divorce and middle age who finds refuge in stand-up comedy. Cooper also co-stars.
"From playing Gob Bluth, a failed magician, in Arrested Development to voicing the title character in BoJack Horseman — his career is usually about making people laugh." — W Magazine, on Will Arnett, January 2026
Timepiece
Rolex Submariner
Introduced in 1953 as the first wristwatch rated waterproof to 100 metres — subsequently raised to 300 metres (1,000 feet) — the Rolex Submariner has become, across seven decades, the most recognised sports watch ever made. The current generation, reference 126610, features a 41mm Oystersteel case, a unidirectional rotating bezel with black Cerachrom ceramic insert (impervious to scratching and UV fading), large Chromalight luminescent hour markers and hands optimised for low-light legibility, and Rolex's calibre 3235 or 3230 movement — certified to ±2 seconds per day with a 70-hour power reserve. The Oyster bracelet with Glidelock clasp allows fine wrist adjustment without tools.
The Submariner's particular genius is its ability to function in contradictory contexts without effort. It was designed as a professional tool for deep-sea divers. It became the definitive luxury sports watch. It works with a wetsuit, a suit, a T-shirt, and a tuxedo, and it looks correct in each of those contexts not by adapting to them but by being itself in all of them. This is, in horological terms, an unusual achievement. Most watches perform in one register. The Submariner performs in all of them. Will Arnett has spent thirty years doing the same thing in his career — playing failed magicians, depressed horses, and Lego Batmen with the same instrument, and making each of them resonate in ways nobody predicted.
| Reference | 126610LN — Submariner Date, black dial & bezel |
| Case | 41mm Oystersteel |
| Bezel | Unidirectional rotatable, black Cerachrom ceramic — scratchproof, UV stable |
| Movement | Calibre 3230/3235 — automatic, 70-hour power reserve, ±2 sec/day certified |
| Water resistance | 300 metres / 1,000 feet |
| Bracelet | Oyster with Glidelock extension clasp — tool-free micro-adjustment |
| Market price | ~$10,100 retail / $14,000–$16,000 secondary market (2025) |
The Instrument and the Performance
Will Arnett's most discussed professional asset is his voice — a deep baritone that has been described as simultaneously authoritative and absurd, capable of lending gravitas to a Lego superhero and tragedy to a fictional horse in the same register. The voice is the same instrument across all these roles. What changes is the context, and what is remarkable is that the instrument holds across all of them — comic, dramatic, animated, live-action — without the audience ever losing the sense that this is Will Arnett, being entirely himself, inside whatever character the production has placed him.
The Rolex Submariner is, in its own category, exactly that kind of instrument. The design is the same design it has been since 1953 — modified in detail, improved in movement and materials, but recognisable as itself across every decade of production. It functions in every context without adapting to any of them. It is itself in a boardroom, on a yacht, at a comedy podcast recording, and on a film set, and it is never wrong in any of those places. The Submariner on Arnett's wrist is not chosen to complement a particular outfit or occasion. It is there because it is always correct. He operates on the same principle.
The Watch for Someone Who Has Voiced Batman
There is something appropriate about Will Arnett — who has voiced Batman in three films and a video game, and whose interpretation of the character became a cultural meme — wearing a Rolex Submariner. Batman, in Arnett's version, wore his watch of cultural authority while being comically oblivious to his own self-importance. The Submariner is the watch that carries decades of cinematic authority — it is the watch associated with competence, capability, and quiet confidence — and it sits on Arnett's wrist with the same effortlessness he brought to making a Lego caped crusader one of the most beloved versions of the character in recent memory. The watch doesn't need to announce itself. Neither does he.
More Rolex Submariner Spots on Spot.Watch
- Jeff Saturday (ESPN Get Up) — Rolex Submariner
- Jack Selby — Rolex Submariner
- Brian Simpson — Rolex Submariner
- Jerome Powell — Rolex Submariner
- Shane Gillis — Rolex Submariner
- Ryan Clark (Monday Night Football) — Rolex Submariner
- Henry Cejudo — Rolex Submariner
- Mark Consuelos — Rolex Submariner
- Adam Devine — Rolex Submariner
- Will Arnett (Agree to Disagree) — Rolex Submariner
- Graham Stephan — Rolex Datejust & Submariner Date
And at Spot.Watch — that's always worth noticing.
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