Watch Paparazzi

Royal Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar Al-haj spotted wearing Rolex

Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj, the reigning Sultan of Johor and now Yang di-Pertuan Agong XVI — Malaysia's King — was recently photographed wearing a Rolex Yacht-Master 40 in 18k white gold with a fully gem-set multi-color bezel, reference 116695SATS. For a collector of his standing, the choice reads less as indulgence and more as a considered statement about where high horology and regal dress codes intersect.

The 116695SATS sits at the absolute apex of the Yacht-Master family. Rolex introduced the Yacht-Master line in 1992 as a nautically inspired companion to the sports catalog, but this particular reference takes the concept into full jewellery territory. The 40mm Oystersteel-and-white-gold case houses the bi-directional rotatable bezel set with 40 alternating round-cut gemstones — sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and other colored stones — giving the watch its unmistakable rainbow effect. The dial is set with 11 diamond hour markers. Powering the watch is Rolex's Calibre 2135, a self-winding movement with a 48-hour power reserve, Parachrom hairspring, and COSC chronometer certification.

From a collector perspective, the 116695SATS occupies an unusual position. It is not a grail piece in the traditional sports-watch sense — no waiting list drama, no grey-market feeding frenzy — but it commands deep respect as a technical and aesthetic feat. The gem-setting alone requires hundreds of hours of work by Rolex's in-house lapidary atelier, and stones are individually selected for color consistency. Production numbers are extremely limited, and the reference rarely surfaces on the secondary market in unworn condition.

Sultan Ibrahim is no stranger to extraordinary timepieces. The royal family of Johor has long maintained a reputation for serious watch collecting across all the major maisons, and this sighting is consistent with that tradition. The Yacht-Master 40 gem-set, worn in a formal context, signals precisely the kind of versatile grand complication-adjacent dress watch that a head of state reaches for when the occasion demands both propriety and personality.

At a UK list price of approximately £48,100 — translating to roughly $61,000 USD at current exchange — the 116695SATS is among Rolex's most expensive catalog references. Grey-market pricing for this reference, when examples appear, tends to track close to or slightly above retail given the scarcity of available stock, making it one of the few Rolex models where secondary-market premiums remain modest simply because so few owners choose to sell.