Watch Paparazzi

Wrestler John Cena spotted wearing Rolex

John Cena made his appearance at the Hulu Vacation Friends premiere looking sharp in a navy-and-pink plaid three-piece suit — and on his wrist, a Rolex Explorer II ref. 226570 in white dial configuration. The sighting is consistent with Cena's well-documented taste for robust, technically credible sport watches that read effortlessly in any social context, formal or otherwise.

The Rolex Explorer II 226570, launched at Watches & Wonders 2021, replaced the long-running 216570 with meaningful upgrades across the board. The 42mm Oystersteel case remains, but the new generation gains the calibre 3285 — a movement featuring the Chronergy escapement, a paramagnetic blue Parachrom hairspring, and a 70-hour power reserve that betters the outgoing Cal. 3187 by roughly 20 hours. The fixed 24-hour graduated bezel in Oystersteel, combined with the distinctive orange 24-hour hand, allows the wearer to distinguish AM from PM in a second time zone — the watch's founding raison d'être since 1971. The white lacquer dial carries applied hour markers with black surrounds and luminescent fill, a date window at 3 o'clock, and the Chromalight lume that glows blue in darkness for up to eight hours.

Collector sentiment around the 226570 white dial has shifted markedly since launch. Early resistance to the slightly larger case proportions has given way to broad appreciation of the cleaner dial architecture and the mechanical gains of Cal. 3285. Among two-time-zone tool watches, the Explorer II occupies a unique position: it lacks the complexity of a true GMT complication but delivers unambiguous readability and near-indestructible construction, which for many serious wearers is the point.

Cena, a known automotive and watch collector, gravitates toward pieces with clear provenance and technical pedigree rather than purely decorative luxury. The Explorer II — a descendant of watches worn by the British Trans-Antarctica Expedition — fits that ethos precisely. At a Rolex event context, the choice reads as deliberate understatement against what could have been a far flashier selection from his reported collection.

At an official retail price of $15,500, the Explorer II 226570 white dial sits at the more accessible end of the Rolex sport-watch spectrum, yet secondary market demand remains firm. Grey-market values have settled in the $17,000–$19,000 range as availability improves incrementally through authorised dealers, making it one of the more attainable references for collectors who find themselves on waiting lists for the more aggressively allocated Submariner or GMT-Master II.