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basketball playerSpotted June 2023

Basketball player Kyrie Irving spotted wearing a Rolex

basketball player Kyrie Irving spotted wearing a Rolex
Who & what: Rolex Sky-Dweller 18k Yellow Gold White Roman Dial Leather Strap Ref. 326138 — Kyrie Irving

Kyrie Irving was recently photographed sporting a Rolex Sky-Dweller in 18k yellow gold, its substantial 42mm fluted bezel catching light with unmistakable presence. The sighting reinforces Irving's established taste for statement-level horology — this is not a watch worn for discretion.

The Rolex Sky-Dweller Ref. 326138 is the yellow gold configuration fitted with a white dial and Roman numeral hour markers, mounted here on a black crocodile-embossed leather strap rather than the more common Oyster or Jubilee bracelet. That strap choice softens the overall weight of the watch visually while adding a dressier register — a combination that works on the wrist of someone equally comfortable in a locker room or a fashion week front row.

Introduced at Baselworld 2012, the Sky-Dweller was Rolex's first genuinely new complication in decades. The proprietary Calibre 9001 — a 72-hour power reserve, bi-directional self-winding movement — drives both an annual calendar (the Saros system, which correctly accounts for months of 30 and 31 days, requiring manual correction only in February) and an off-center 24-hour disc for a second time zone. The Ring Command bezel, another Rolex patent, lets the wearer switch between adjustment modes by rotating the fluted bezel itself. For a manufacturer known for evolutionary refinement, this was a genuine technical statement.

In collector circles, the 18k yellow gold Sky-Dweller occupies a particular niche: too large for traditional dress watch conventions, too refined for hardcore tool-watch devotees, yet deeply respected by those who appreciate integrated complications. The white Roman dial reference is one of the cleaner executions in the Sky-Dweller lineup, avoiding the more polarizing champagne or meteorite options.

Irving has been seen with high-end Rolex pieces before, and this sighting is consistent with a collector who gravitates toward models with substance beneath the surface. On the grey market, 18k yellow gold Sky-Dweller references with white dials have held strong, typically trading above retail — reflecting both the gold content and the model's broad crossover appeal. Retail on this configuration currently sits north of $47,000, with secondary market premiums keeping values firm.

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