Watch Paparazzi

Footballer Bastian Schweisteiger spotted wearing Rolex

Bastian Schweinsteiger arrived at Manchester United in the summer of 2015 carrying one of the most decorated CVs in European football, and apparently a well-considered watch collection to match. Photographed around the time of his Old Trafford signing, the German midfielder was spotted wearing a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona reference 116520 in stainless steel with a black dial — a combination that sits at the very top of the reference's desirability ladder.

The 116520 was introduced in 2000 as the first Daytona to house a fully in-house Rolex movement, the self-winding Calibre 4130. That column-wheel chronograph mechanism, built on 44 jewels with a 72-hour power reserve, represented a landmark moment for the brand — Rolex had previously relied on modified Zenith ébauches for the automatic Daytona since 1988. The case measures 40mm in Oyster steel, fitted with a tachymetre bezel and the signature three-register chronograph dial. The black dial version pairs lacquered sub-dials with applied hour markers, giving it a sharper, more purposeful appearance than its white-dial counterpart.

From a collector standpoint, the 116520 occupies near-mythical status. Rolex quietly retired the reference in 2016 when it introduced the updated 116500LN with a ceramic bezel. That discontinuation immediately crystallised demand for the steel-bezel original. Black-dial examples in particular carry a consistent premium on the secondary market, driven by lower production numbers relative to the white variant and persistent collector preference. Unworn examples with box and papers regularly trade well above retail.

Schweinsteiger's choice reflects a sensibility common among elite European footballers of his generation — the steel sports Rolex as a wearable, understated marker of success rather than a flashy complication. A World Cup winner in 2014 and a Bayern Munich institution for over a decade, Schweinsteiger has the kind of career that warrants understated confidence, and the 116520 delivers exactly that.

At original UK retail the 116520 listed around £7,950, a figure that now reads almost quaint. On today's grey market, clean examples with documentation trade significantly higher, underscoring just how well-timed any purchase of this reference at retail would have been.