Writer Bilal Siddiqi spotted wearing a Rolex

Mumbai's literary and screen worlds occasionally overlap on the wrist, and novelist-screenwriter Bilal Siddiqi was recently photographed wearing the Rolex Air King reference 126900 — a watch that rewards closer inspection far more than its modest price point within the Rolex hierarchy might suggest.

The Rolex Air King ref. 126900, introduced in its current generation in 2022, wears the legacy of one of Rolex's oldest nameplate lineages. First established in the 1940s to honour Royal Air Force pilots, the Air King was revived in 2016 with a polarising new dial and then refined in 2022 with the reference 126900. The 40mm Oystersteel case houses Rolex's Calibre 3230 — a movement featuring the Chronergy escapement, Paraflex shock absorbers, and a 70-hour power reserve. Crucially, the movement is certified anti-magnetic to resist magnetic fields up to 1,500 gauss, a practical specification rooted in the watch's aviation DNA.

The dial is the Air King's most debated feature. The combination of large Arabic numerals at 3, 6, and 9 alongside baton hour markers — rendered in a high-contrast yellow-and-white palette on black — divides opinion sharply in collecting circles. That deliberate instrument-panel aesthetic is, however, exactly what gives the reference 126900 a distinctive identity in a catalogue otherwise dominated by more conventional layouts. The yellow Rolex crown logo and matching second hand add a consistent chromatic thread. The watch wears on a black rubber Oysterflex bracelet, reinforcing its professional tool-watch credentials.

Bilal Siddiqi is no casual figure in Indian creative culture. He published The Bard of Blood, a spy thriller set against the backdrop of Balochistan, at just nineteen years old — and later developed it into a Netflix series produced by Red Chillies Entertainment, serving as both creator and screenwriter. His bibliography also includes The Stardust Affair and the Emraan Hashmi co-authored The Kiss of Life. A writer who works across the disciplined craft of the novel and the collaborative machinery of television production might naturally gravitate toward a Rolex that prizes functional specification over decorative flourish.

At an Indian retail price of approximately ₹6,08,000 (roughly $7,300 USD at current exchange), the Air King ref. 126900 sits at the entry point of the current Rolex sports catalogue — a fact that makes it perpetually available at or near retail on the grey market, unlike its perpetually scarce stablemates.