Watch Paparazzi

Politician Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue spotted wearing Rolex

Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, known informally as Teodorin, has long cultivated a public image built around conspicuous luxury — superyachts, private jets, and a watch collection that reads like an auction house catalogue. His latest sighting adds a genuinely rare Rolex to the ledger: the GMT-Master II reference 116758SARU in 18KT yellow gold, its bezel pavé-set with alternating sapphires, rubies and diamonds.

The 116758SARU is Rolex's stone-set riff on the GMT-Master II platform. Underneath the spectacle sits the Calibre 3186, a 28,800 vph movement with a Parachrom hairspring and Rolex's proprietary Paraflex shock absorbers, offering a 48-hour power reserve. The 40mm yellow gold case houses the signature independently adjustable 24-hour hand — the core GMT complication — alongside a bi-directional rotatable bezel that, on standard references, displays a 24-hour scale. Here, that functional bezel is replaced entirely by a gem-set version, sacrificing readability for theatre. The dial is typically set with a diamond hour-marker configuration, completing the all-precious aesthetic.

Among collectors, the 116758SARU occupies an unusual position. Purists largely dismiss stone-set Rolex sport watches as marketing exercises for ultra-high-net-worth buyers with little interest in horology. Yet the reference has genuine scarcity — production volumes are minimal, boutique allocations are tightly controlled, and examples rarely surface on the secondary market. That scarcity, combined with the intrinsic value of the gem-setting and the gold case, gives the piece defensible value regardless of collector sentiment.

Teodorin Nguema Obiang Mangue serves as Second Vice President of Equatorial Guinea, the small oil-rich Central African nation led by his father, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. He has faced significant international legal scrutiny over asset seizures related to alleged corruption, with French and US authorities having pursued cases against him. His taste for ultra-luxury goods has been extensively documented in those proceedings, and watches of this calibre appear regularly in his public appearances.

At a UK list price of approximately £130,000 — translating to roughly $165,000 USD at current rates — the Rolex GMT-Master II 116758SARU sits well above the grey market for standard GMT references. Secondary market transactions are rare enough that pricing is case-by-case, but examples have traded at or above retail given supply constraints.