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Comedian Manu Payet spotted wearing Rolex

French comedian Manu Payet appeared on the cult TV game show Burger Quiz wearing what sharp-eyed viewers quickly identified as a Rolex GMT-Master reference 16700 — a model that rewards exactly this kind of close inspection. The television lighting did the watch no disservice, catching the gloss of the acrylic crystal and the familiar red-and-blue aluminium insert that has defined GMT sports watches since the 1950s.

The GMT-Master ref. 16700 was produced between 1989 and 1999, serving as an entry point into the GMT lineup during an era when Rolex bifurcated the family. While the GMT-Master II ref. 16710 received the more sophisticated calibre 3185 with its independently settable local-time hour hand, the ref. 16700 was powered by the calibre 3175 — a movement derived from the 3035 architecture that allowed only crown-hacked setting of the 24-hour hand in relation to the main time. The 40mm stainless-steel Oyster case, screw-down crown and Jubilee or Oyster bracelet options remained unchanged from earlier references, preserving the original GMT-Master DNA in a late-twentieth-century package.

From a collector standpoint, the ref. 16700 sits in an interesting position. It was long overshadowed by its technically superior sibling, the 16710, and by the romantic allure of earlier references like the 1675 and 16750. That relative neglect has made pristine examples increasingly attractive to buyers who want a full-size Pepsi GMT without the premium attached to vintage pieces. Dials with crisp tritium plots and unpolished cases are the benchmark, and values have moved accordingly over the past five years.

Manu Payet has built a career on sharp observational comedy and mainstream television presence in France, making Burger Quiz — a deliberately irreverent, fast-paced format — a natural habitat. Choosing a ref. 16700 over a more obvious contemporary Rolex reads as the decision of someone who knows watches rather than someone wearing a logo. The piece sits quietly on the wrist without announcing itself to the uninitiated.

On the secondary market, clean examples of the Rolex GMT-Master ref. 16700 with original bracelets and boxes currently trade in the USD 8,000–12,000 range depending on condition, dial originality and whether a full set is present. The ref. 16700 never carried an official retail price in active production today, having been discontinued in 1999 before the current grey-market infrastructure matured, but its market trajectory has been consistently upward as the aluminium-bezel GMT generation receives renewed collector attention.