Watch Paparazzi

Football manager Marcello Lippi spotted wearing Rolex

Marcello Lippi, the Italian football manager whose tactical discipline and leadership brought Italy its fourth FIFA World Cup title in Germany in 2006, was photographed wearing a stainless steel Rolex Submariner Date 50th Anniversary, reference 16610LV — a watch the collector community knows universally as the 'Kermit.' The birthday-occasion snapshot offers a rare personal glimpse of a figure who has long maintained a low public profile outside of football.

The Rolex Submariner Date 16610LV was introduced in 2003 to commemorate five decades of the Submariner lineage, one of the most consequential dive watches in horological history. The reference builds on the long-running 16610 platform — a 40mm Oyster case in 904L stainless steel, rated water-resistant to 300 metres — but distinguishes itself with an anodized green aluminum bezel insert, a first for any steel Submariner. Beneath the case sits the calibre 3135 automatic movement, featuring a paramagnetic blue Parachrom hairspring and a 48-hour power reserve, widely regarded as one of the most robust and reliable manufacture movements Rolex has ever produced.

The 16610LV was manufactured only during 2003 and 2004 before production returned to the standard black-bezel 16610, giving it an inherently limited production window. That scarcity, combined with its anniversary significance and the novelty of the green bezel — which Rolex would not revisit on a steel Submariner until the ceramic-bezel 116610LV of 2010 — has made the reference a cornerstone of any serious modern Rolex collection. Early 'flat four' dial examples command particular premiums among specialists.

Lippi's affinity for the Kermit is fitting. Like the watch itself, his career is defined by a single, defining moment of peak performance — the 2006 World Cup — built on years of methodical, disciplined work at Juventus and beyond. The Submariner's utilitarian heritage and quiet authority mirror the manager's own public persona.

On the secondary market, clean examples of the Rolex Submariner Date 16610LV with original bracelet and box and papers trade firmly above retail, reflecting sustained collector demand that has only intensified since the model's discontinuation. It remains one of the more liquid and recognizable references for anyone entering the vintage-to-modern Rolex space.