Watch Paparazzi

Entrepreneur Piero Ferrari spotted wearing Rolex

Piero Ferrari, the low-profile yet enormously influential vice chairman of Ferrari N.V. and son of the legendary Enzo Ferrari, was recently spotted wearing a Rolex Yacht-Master 40 in Rolesium, reference 16622 — a discontinued model that occupies a quietly special corner of the Rolex catalogue.

The Ref. 16622 was produced from 1999 until approximately 2012 and represents Rolex's most distinctive use of mixed precious and base metals on a sports watch. 'Rolesium' is a proprietary Rolex designation applied exclusively to this reference, describing the combination of an Oystersteel (904L stainless steel) case and bracelet with a solid platinum bezel insert and matching platinum dial. The rotatable 60-minute graduated bezel offers the model its nautical utility, while the platinum components give the watch a cool, silvery refinement that sits apart from gold-and-steel pairings like the Rolesor used across other lines. Inside sits the Rolex Calibre 3135, the brand's workhorse self-winding movement featuring a Parachrom hairspring, Paraflex shock absorption, and a 48-hour power reserve — a movement celebrated for reliability and precision in equal measure.

From a collector standpoint, the Yacht-Master 40 Rolesium 16622 occupies an interesting position. It was never the loudest reference in the catalogue, but its material uniqueness makes it genuinely irreplaceable: no current Rolex production reference replicates the Oystersteel-and-platinum formula in the same configuration. That discontinuation, combined with the expense of platinum in manufacture, has driven steady grey-market appreciation.

For Piero Ferrari — a man who has spent his life surrounded by objects where engineering decisions carry aesthetic consequences — the 16622 reads as a considered, knowledgeable choice. It is a watch that rewards recognition rather than demanding it, very much in keeping with his famously reserved public persona despite the enormity of his family legacy and business influence.

On the secondary market, clean examples of the Rolex Yacht-Master 40 Rolesium Ref. 16622 with original bracelet and papers now trade comfortably above their original retail price, reflecting both the platinum content and the model's discontinued status. It is one of those references that collectors who missed it on the primary market are increasingly reluctant to let go.