Youtuber Ninong Ry spotted wearing a Rolex

Filipino chef and YouTube creator Ninong Ry was recently spotted wearing the Rolex DEEPSEA in OysterSteel, reference 116660 — a watch that makes a quietly authoritative statement on the wrist of anyone who understands what it actually is.

The Rolex DEEPSEA ref. 116660 was introduced in 2008 as the production-spec evolution of the experimental Deep Sea Special that accompanied Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 1960. The 116660 measures 44mm in Rolex's proprietary OysterSteel (904L stainless steel), features a unidirectional rotating bezel in Cerachrom ceramic, and houses the Calibre 3135 — a self-winding movement with a Parachrom hairspring and roughly 48 hours of power reserve. The signature D-Blue dial, introduced in 2014, transitions from deep black at the top to ocean blue at the bottom, a gradient Rolex specifically designed to evoke the crushing darkness of the deep sea.

The engineering centerpiece of the ref. 116660 is the Ringlock System: a grade-5 titanium internal frame, an extra-thick sapphire crystal rated to withstand 3 tonnes of pressure, and a helium escape valve, all combining to achieve that 3,900-meter water resistance. No other production Rolex goes deeper. The case is noticeably thick at 17.7mm, but the integrated bracelet and well-considered ergonomics make it wear more comfortably than the spec sheet suggests.

Among collectors, the DEEPSEA 116660 — particularly in the D-Blue configuration — occupies a firm position as a grail-adjacent tool watch. It was discontinued and replaced by the ref. 126660 in 2018, which updated the movement to the Calibre 3235. That transition has pushed 116660 examples into increasingly serious grey-market territory, with clean examples commanding a premium.

Ninong Ry, whose YouTube channel has built a devoted following across Southeast Asia and beyond through precise, unpretentious culinary instruction, wears the Rolex DEEPSEA ref. 116660 in a manner consistent with his on-screen identity: no fuss, genuine quality, chosen with knowledge rather than trend-chasing.