Footballer Lisandro Martínez spotted wearing a Rolex

When Lisandro Martínez put pen to paper at Manchester United, the cameras captured more than just a footballer's signature — on his wrist sat one of the most recognisable and hardest-to-buy watches in the world: the stainless steel Rolex Daytona 116500LN with black ceramic bezel and white 'Panda' dial.

Introduced at Baselworld 2016, the Rolex Daytona reference 116500LN marked a watershed moment for the Daytona lineage. For the first time, Rolex fitted the iconic chronograph with a Cerachrom ceramic bezel — scratch-resistant, UV-stable, and far more durable than the aluminium inserts used on earlier references. The case measures 40mm in Oystersteel and houses the Calibre 4130, Rolex's column-wheel, vertical-clutch manufacture movement beating at 28,800vph with a 72-hour power reserve. The 'Panda' dial variant — white lacquer base with contrasting black registers at 3, 6, and 9 o'clock — references the aesthetic of the original 6263 and 6265 models beloved by collectors for decades.

From a collector's standpoint, the 116500LN 'Panda' occupies rare territory: a watch that is simultaneously a mainstream status symbol and a genuinely accomplished piece of engineering. Waiting lists at authorised dealers can stretch years, and grey-market premiums have held stubbornly above 100% of retail since launch. The reference earned renewed attention when Paul Newman-era Daytonas broke auction records, drawing a new generation of buyers to the chronograph's history and cementing the 116500LN as the accessible — if rarely accessible in practice — heir to that legacy.

Martínez, the Argentine defender who established himself as one of Europe's most tenacious centre-backs at Ajax before his high-profile move to Old Trafford, has demonstrated consistent taste for serious horological hardware. Choosing the Daytona 116500LN 'Panda' at a career-defining moment is a statement that resonates beyond footballers' standard luxury signalling — this is a watch that serious collectors actively chase.

At an official list price of $14,550, the Rolex Daytona 116500LN 'Panda' trades on the grey market at approximately $36,500 — a premium that has proved remarkably resilient through broader market corrections. For buyers unable to secure an allocation through a boutique, that delta is simply the cost of immediacy on one of modern watchmaking's benchmark references.