Footballer Luka Modric spotted wearing a Rolex

At the Golden Foot awards ceremony — an event reserved for footballers aged 29 and over who have left a defining mark on the game — Luka Modric sat composed in a navy tuxedo, his left wrist carrying what sharp-eyed observers quickly identified as a Rolex Sky-Dweller in steel with a white gold fluted bezel and striking blue dial. The setting suited the watch: formal, prestigious, quietly powerful.

The Rolex Sky-Dweller Reference 326934 pairs a 42mm Oyster case in Oystersteel with an 18ct white gold fluted bezel — one of the brand's signature finishing details — and the instantly recognizable blue 'Azzurro' dial. Introduced at Baselworld 2012, the Sky-Dweller represented Rolex's most ambitious complication launch in decades. Beneath the case sits the Calibre 9001, a proprietary movement with a 72-hour power reserve, featuring a patented annual calendar that distinguishes between 30- and 31-day months automatically, plus an off-centre 24-hour second time zone display. The ring command bezel — used to switch between three setting modes — remains one of the cleverest user interfaces in mainstream watchmaking.

Among collectors, the Sky-Dweller occupies a respected but nuanced position. It is Rolex's most complex watch yet sits beneath the Daytona and GMT-Master II in secondary market heat. The blue dial steel/white gold configuration is considered the most versatile and desirable of the steel references, attracting both serious collectors and style-conscious professionals who want genuine horological substance without overt sportiness.

Modric, a Real Madrid and Croatia talisman, 2018 Ballon d'Or winner, and now Golden Foot laureate, has long demonstrated refined off-pitch taste. The Sky-Dweller's dual-time functionality is practically appropriate for a player who has spent his career crossing time zones between Madrid, international duty, and his Croatian homeland.

At retail, the Rolex Sky-Dweller Ref. 326934 in steel with white gold bezel and blue dial lists at approximately $16,100 USD. On the grey market, demand has kept pricing notably above retail, with current secondary values hovering around $19,500–$21,000 depending on condition and provenance — a testament to sustained collector appetite for this under-appreciated complication from Geneva's most famous house.