Footballer Mario Balotelli spotted wearing a Audemars Piguet

Mario Balotelli was spotted wearing an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph reference 26400SO.OO.A002CA.01 — a watch whose personality matches the striker's own: large, technically serious, and impossible to ignore.

The 26400SO.OO.A002CA.01 sits within the second generation of the Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph, a line Gerald Genta's successors expanded significantly after its debut in 1993. This specific reference distinguishes itself through its use of orange ceramic for both the 44mm bezel and the crown — a material choice that required AP to develop dedicated sintering and machining processes to achieve the level of surface finish the maison demands. The case itself is stainless steel, with the Offshore's signature octagonal bezel secured by eight visible hex screws — a design language originally considered too industrial for fine watchmaking, now a benchmark of it.

Inside runs the Calibre 3126/3840, a column-wheel chronograph movement with an integrated architecture rather than a simple base movement with a bolted-on chrono module. It beats at 21,600 vph, offers 60 hours of power reserve, and is finished to a standard that goes largely unseen beneath the solid case back. The black rubber strap with anthracite topstitching references the original Offshore's sporty brief while keeping the wrist presence manageable for a 44mm proposition.

Among collectors, the orange ceramic Offshore occupies an interesting position. It is emphatically not a subtle piece, which means it polarises opinion sharply. Those who appreciate it point to the genuine material difficulty involved and the coherence of the design language — every orange element serves a functional component, bezel and crown, rather than decorative surface treatment. It has held secondary-market value with reasonable consistency as a result.

Balotelli has long been associated with high-visibility luxury watches, and the Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph ref. 26400SO.OO.A002CA.01 sits comfortably within that pattern. Listed at approximately £20,000 in the UK market at time of sighting, grey-market pricing has tracked close to retail given sustained demand for ceramic-bezel Offshore references.