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Footballer Raphael Varane spotted wearing Audemars Piguet

Raphael Varane was photographed in the cabin of what appears to be a team charter ahead of Real Madrid's high-stakes UEFA Champions League encounter with Manchester City. Giving a thumbs-up to the camera, the French centre-back wore a white dress shirt with club tie — and on his left wrist, unmistakably, an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in 18k rose gold with the signature blue dial.

The watch in question is almost certainly reference 26574OR.OO.1220OR.01, introduced by Audemars Piguet in 2016 as a 41mm evolution of the perpetual calendar family. The case is crafted in 18k pink gold and retains the iconic octagonal bezel with eight hexagonal screws, alternating brushed and polished surfaces, and the integrated bracelet with deployant clasp — all hallmarks of Gerald Genta's 1972 Royal Oak design language. The blue 'Grande Tapisserie' dial carries applied pink gold baton hour markers, a day/date/month perpetual calendar display, a leap-year indicator, and a moonphase aperture at 6 o'clock.

Beneath the dial sits calibre 5134, a self-winding movement with a 40-hour power reserve. At just 4.46mm thick, it is one of the slimmest perpetual calendar ebauches ever produced, allowing the entire watch to sit at a wearable 8.1mm — a specification that made the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar a benchmark for integrated-bracelet dress-sport complications when it launched. The movement oscillates at 19,800 vph and requires no manual correction until the year 2100.

Varane has long been associated with refined taste off the pitch. A World Cup winner with France in 2018 and four-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid, his choice of the AP Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar over flashier tourbillon pieces reads as deliberate: it is technically superior without being ostentatious. The rose gold configuration softens the Royal Oak's industrial aesthetic without diluting its authority.

On the secondary market, rose gold examples of ref. 26574OR command sustained premiums. With a retail price of $123,865, grey-market values have historically traded at or above retail given constrained supply and consistent collector demand for perpetual calendar complications in precious metal Royal Oak configurations. This reference remains a serious horological statement — not merely a footballer's accessory.