Link copied
Trust us Luke, we've been there.
One thing we've always loved about Luke Combs is the way that he has always stayed unwaveringly, unapologetically true to himself.
The Luke that first started appearing on our playlists with ‘I Know She Ain't Ready’ in 2014 is the same Luke that now charges onto the stage at some of the biggest stadiums in North America.
As HARDY explained last year, Luke ushered in the end of the Bro-Country era by rejecting the muscled-up, cookie-cutter and overly polished image that was popular at the time.
But sadly, while Luke's refusal to adhere to outdated expectations of what country stars should look like is something to be celebrated, his appearance has not always been met with this same level of respect. During an interview with Club Rolex, the North Carolina native recalls how, when trying to purchase his first Rolex in New York, the shop assistant almost turned him away because of how he looked.
Combs reflects, “I walked into the store and I just asked the person behind the counter, I was like...‘I'm looking for a Yacht-Master II Stainless Steel’, and they were like, ‘Well you can't just get those’. I remember they said that, ‘You can't just get those’”.
The Yacht-Master II is worth tens of thousands of pounds, and was once one of the most coveted Rolex models. Combs has always been a watch connoisseur, with the ’Hurricane’ hitmaker regularly showcasing his impressive collection while performing.
He goes on, “And I'm like, ‘Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but we're in the store that would f***ing sell them, in my opinion. Where the hell else am I gonna get it?’...Like, they're not selling them at the grocery store. So, she's like, ‘Oh, well you can't just get those’. And I'm like, ‘What do you mean?...It sounds like you can't get those’”.
This was back in 2018, when Combs had already amassed a rapidly burgeoning collection of hits, with both his debut album This One's For You and the deluxe out in the world. He had cemented himself as one of the next big stars in the country music world, and was in the middle of a blockbuster tour supporting Jason Aldean.
When the ‘Beautiful Crazy’ crooner went into the Rolex store, later that night, he would be stepping onto the stage at New York's Madison Square Garden for the first time.
Combs recounts how, as he was preparing to leave the store and disapproving shop assistant behind, he casually mentioned that he'd been hoping to wear his expensive new watch on-stage at the iconic venue in front of thousands of fans that evening.
This changed the assistant's demeanour, “I remember saying, I was like, ‘Well, that's too bad’...And I was probably wearing something similar to this, but probably with like gym shorts - like athletic shorts - and probably sandals...I was like, ‘Aw, that's too bad, because I'm playing Madison Square Garden tonight, so I'm going to wear it on stage’. And they're like, ‘Well, we may have one laying around...’”
Then, according to Combs, the shop assistant made up a flimsy excuse as to why they didn't initially think they had a watch to sell him, “And they were like, ’You know what, we got one that's on hold for a guy, let me call him and see if it's okay if I sell it to you’. So they went in the back for five minutes, pretended to call somebody, and they came back out and told me it was okay. That the guy said, ‘Yeah, go ahead and sell this guy my watch that I don't know’. That never happened”.
Unfortunately, being the kind-hearted, good-natured dude we all know him to be, Combs didn't opt for Julia Roberts’ Pretty Woman approach of walking out of the store, before storming back in with a multitude of bags, and declaring, “You work on commission, right?... Big mistake. Big. Huge. I have to go shopping now”.
Instead, Combs bought the Rolex. While it sounds like the shop assistant didn't deserve the commission that day for being judgemental when he first walked in, we're glad he ended up with the watch he really wanted, because it held a special meaning.
In a separate interview, Combs emphasised how buying his first Rolex was a long-time objective of his, and was inspired by his grandfather's own love for the watch brand.
The ‘Beer Never Broke My Heart’ singer-songwriter muses, “My grandfather had one, and he started out working in the mill and eventually became the GM of the mill, and was very proud of achieving that, that was his goal. So he felt like he could afford one and went and got one…so I kind of wanted to do the same thing”.
Now that Combs has continued that trajectory from 2018 and established himself as one of the biggest artists on the planet - of any genre - he hopefully doesn't have any trouble when he walks into a Rolex store, looking to add to his expansive collection.
But at the end of the day, you shouldn't have to be famous to be treated with respect, and this timepiece tale goes to show that you should never judge a book by its cover.
As the Club Rolex interviewer, Nico Leonard, highlights to Combs during their chat, this air of superiority and exclusivity is a toxic attitude stores of this ilk have historically exuded. However, he underlines that things have gotten better in the last five years.
With Combs embarking on his momentous My Kinda Saturday Night Tour throughout 2026, involving dates in London, France, The Netherlands and more, it looks like he'll be getting the chance to test out a host of new Rolex stores across Europe.
For more on Luke Combs, see below:
