Watch Paparazzi

Television presenter Trevor Noah spotted wearing Rolex

Trevor Noah was photographed wearing the Rolex GMT-Master II reference 126719BLRO, the white gold Pepsi variant unveiled at Baselworld 2019 — one of the most talked-about debut pieces of that edition. Noah's choice stands out even within the crowded GMT-Master II family: this is a reference that combines cosmic raw material with Rolex's most technically advanced GMT movement to date.

The 126719BLRO is built on a 40mm Oyster case in 18kt white gold, a noble metal that Rolex reserves for its top-tier sport watches. The defining feature is the dial, cut from genuine Widmanstätten-patterned meteorite — iron-nickel alloy that crystallised over millions of years in the vacuum of space. No two slices are identical, so every 126719BLRO dial is literally unique. The bidirectional Pepsi bezel insert is rendered in two-colour ceramic (red and blue Cerachrom), a first for white gold GMT-Master II production. Inside sits the Calibre 3285, Rolex's proprietary movement featuring a Chronergy escapement, 70-hour power reserve, and a GMT hand that jumps independently in one-hour increments.

From a collector's perspective, the 126719BLRO occupies a rarefied tier. Meteorite dials have long carried a premium across the Rolex catalogue — from the Day-Date to the Daytona — and the combination with white gold and the Pepsi bezel makes this one of the more complex productions in current GMT-Master II output. It is not a watch that appears frequently in the secondary market, and when it does, condition and box-and-papers provenance drive meaningful price variation.

Trevor Noah, born in Johannesburg and globally recognised as the longtime host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, has demonstrated consistent taste for references with technical substance rather than novelty. The 126719BLRO fits that profile: it reads as a sport watch on the wrist but carries the price point and material specification of a grand complication house's dress piece.

At UK list the reference was priced at £29,550 on release. In the United States grey market, examples in unworn condition with full set regularly trade above the $60,000 mark, reflecting both the precious metal content and the persistent demand for meteorite-dialled Rolex references across all collector segments.