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Footballer Jermaine Defoe spotted wearing Rolex

Jermaine Defoe, the England international and Sunderland AFC forward, was photographed wearing a Rolex Day-Date 40 in Everose gold with a green dial, reference 228235 — a combination that carries more horological weight than its clean aesthetic might initially suggest.

The Day-Date 40 ref. 228235 was introduced at Baselworld 2015 as the first significant redesign of the Day-Date in decades. The case grew from 36mm to 40mm, and Rolex engineered it around the brand-new Calibre 3255 — a movement featuring 14 patents, a Chronergy escapement offering 15% greater efficiency than its predecessor, and a 70-hour power reserve. The green sunburst dial on this specific example was produced to commemorate the Day-Date's 60th anniversary, first unveiled in 1956 as the world's first wristwatch to display both the date and the full day of the week spelled out. Green has been Rolex's symbolic color since the brand's early marketing campaigns, and deploying it on the anniversary dial was a deliberate, layered statement.

Among collectors, the 228235 in Everose gold occupies a particularly interesting position. Everose is Rolex's proprietary 18k rose gold alloy, developed in-house and patented to resist fading over time — a real engineering consideration, not a marketing claim. The green anniversary dial variants generated immediate interest at launch and have held collector attention steadily, avoiding the speculative bubble that plagued steel sport references while retaining genuine desirability.

Defoe is no casual watch wearer. The striker has been spotted across multiple references over the years, demonstrating a considered taste for high-end Swiss pieces. The Day-Date — long nicknamed the "President" for its association with heads of state and high achievers — maps naturally onto professional football culture, where it functions as both reward and marker of status earned on merit.

At UK list price the 228235 sits at approximately £27,650. On the grey market, Everose Day-Date 40 references with desirable dials trade at modest premiums over retail, reflecting healthy but measured demand — a more stable proposition than the volatility seen elsewhere in the Rolex catalogue.