Watch Paparazzi

Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo spotted wearing Rolex

Cristiano Ronaldo was photographed during his time at Juventus wearing a Rolex Yacht-Master II in 18K white gold, reference 116689 — a watch that sits at the technical and material apex of Rolex's sport watch lineup. For a player whose wrist has hosted everything from Richard Mille skeletons to bejeweled Pateks, the choice of the Yacht-Master II signals a deliberate appreciation for mechanical substance over pure spectacle.

The Rolex Yacht-Master II ref. 116689 is a 44mm full 18K white gold piece powered by the caliber 4161, an in-house movement Rolex spent the better part of a decade engineering. Its defining feature is the mechanical memory regatta countdown — a programmable flyback mechanism allowing the wearer to synchronize the watch with a race committee's starting sequence between one and ten minutes. The ring command bezel, integrated with the movement via a pusher at 10 o'clock, is a genuine functional complication, not decoration. The white dial version presents indexes in white gold with Chromalight luminescence, lending the watch a clean, almost monochromatic coherence on the wrist.

The Yacht-Master II launched in 2007 as a bold assertion that Rolex could build complicated sport watches without outsourcing to third-party movement suppliers. Reference 116689 — the white gold variant — immediately became the collector's choice within the line, combining precious metal construction with a complication that most wearers will never actually use in a racing context. That contradiction is part of the appeal.

Ronaldo has long used watches as a primary luxury signifier, and the 116689 fits that profile precisely. It reads as understated to the uninitiated — no diamonds, no exposed movement — but anyone in the know recognizes the six-figure price tag and the engineering behind the bezel. Wearing it during the Juventus years, when Ronaldo was at the commercial peak of his European club career, was entirely consistent with his brand.

The Rolex Yacht-Master II 116689 carries a UK list price of approximately £38,650, translating to roughly $47,000–$48,000 USD at prevailing rates. On the grey market, white gold examples trade modestly above retail given the model's niche but loyal following, with transaction prices typically ranging from $50,000 to $58,000 USD depending on condition and box-and-papers status.