Cooper DeJean’s wrist is a little bit heavier heading into Super Bowl LIX on Sunday.
The rookie second-round pick acquired his first watch this week, a custom-engraved 1/1 Rolex made by luxury watch marketplace Kettle.
Kettle founder Jordan Heffler has been thinking of collaborating with an athlete for a custom timepiece for a while now, and as an Eagles fan, he figured this would be a perfect time to shoot his shot.
2024 Rolex Sky Dweller 42 STEEL GREEN Engraved "COOPER DEJEAN" • Authenticated by Kettle#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/B6IKADsiqr
— Kettle (@kettle_shop) February 3, 2025
Things came together quickly with Heffler contacting DeJean’s agent just last week, floating the idea of customizing a watch for the Super Bowl. DeJean, as it turns out, had been planning on buying his first watch the following day.
Heffler, who has spent the last year learning the ins and outs of the luxury watch market since founding Kettle, told DeJean’s team, “We can source any watch for him,” but warned that “If he walks into Rolex, there’s a high likelihood they’re not going to have anything in stock for him.”
Even for a Super Bowl-bound athlete, top brands such as Rolex can be tough to find in a pinch due to long waitlists and allocations, which Kettle was able to sidestep thanks to relationships with a network of dealers
The plan fell into place.
By Tuesday evening, DeJean selected a watch of his choice — a Rolex Sky-Dweller with a green dial worth around $30,000 — and the next morning, Kettle had it engraved and drove to DeJean in Philadelphia.
"They wanted to give me a watch with the engraving on the inside which is pretty cool," DeJean told cllct. "I was shocked they wanted to give me one but it's awesome, I love it."
Heffler sees the collaboration as a natural evolution for the company, which has taken inspiration from sports cards, like in its use of condition grading of watches and authenticity guarantees on its platform, as well as a vaulting service similar to those run by PSA or Fanatics.
“Athletes get rings for the Super Bowl,” Heffler said.
But they don’t want to go around wearing them for obvious reasons.
“But a watch is a completely normal thing for an athlete to wear,” Heffler explained. “And [DeJean’s] has its own special engraving on the back … our goal is to sell 52 more to the Eagles when they win the Super Bowl.”
Well aware of the sports memorabilia market, Heffler and the Kettle team are ensuring to verify the watch via their platform, which authenticates watches on the blockchain, to prove it was worn during Super Bowl week, making it a collectible for DeJean to keep or sell if he decides.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.