Hawkeye: That mysterious Rolex watch could belong to a surprising main character

Jeremy Renner in Hawkeye
(Image credit: Disney/Marvel)

A Marvel theory about the Hawkeye Rolex watch suggests a surprising main character might be its owner. Spoilers ahead!

The mysterious watch was first seen at the auction of items from the Avengers Compound in Hawkeye episode 1, where it was stolen by the Tracksuit Mafia, and popped up again in episode 4 when Kate found it in Echo's home. In the most recent episode, Laura Barton, Clint's wife, got involved in the case of the stolen timepiece, switching to German to ask her husband if anything else vanished from the compound.

A fan theory speculates about just why Laura might be so concerned: she is the owner of the Rolex.

"My favorite theory that #Hawkeye's wife is a former SHIELD agent and that the Rolex is connected to her past somehow,” writes one Twitter user, while another guesses: "I bet the Rolex in #Hawkeye is Laura's. She is going to be a retired agent."  

Another viewer speculates: "Hear me out – the Rolex isn't Clint's. Kate's aware of his Ronin identity, why hide it? Laura brought up the Rolex first, & Clint says "a former colleague's" identity is attached to it. I think that it's Laura's & she's either a former SHIELD agent or maybe Mockingbird" In Marvel comics, Mockingbird is a SHIELD agent who was once married to Clint. She was portrayed by Adrianne Palicki in the Agents of SHIELD TV series.

"So.... Laura Barton was DEFINITELY a SHIELD agent at some point, right? Like, why else was she able to look into Sloan LTD so easily and needed them to get the Rolex back? It was definitely her cover that needed to be kept intact," another fan thinks, and another guesses: "Friendly reminder that Hawkeye is traditionally married to Mockingbird in the comics, so Laura's SHIELD savvy and acute knowledge of things going on might mean the Rolex is linked to her being Mockingbird for SHIELD and Hawkeye's original partner." 

We probably won't have long to wait until the mysterious case of the Hawkeye Rolex is cracked. The series drops a new episode each week, and you can check out our Hawkeye release schedule to find out exactly when episode 5 arrives in your time zone.

In the meantime, check out our complete guide to Marvel Phase 4 for everything else the MCU has in store for us.

Molly Edwards
Entertainment Writer

I'm an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.