Watch Paparazzi

Footballer Yaya Toure spotted wearing Rolex

Yaya Touré, the Ivory Coast midfielder who spent a decade reshaping Premier League midfield play at Manchester City, was spotted wearing a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona in solid platinum — reference 116506 — during an informal gaming session alongside content creator KSI. The candid setting, gaming controller in hand, throws the horological gravity of the watch into sharp relief.

Introduced at Baselworld 2013, the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona 116506 marked the brand's first use of 950 platinum for the Daytona case. The watch is immediately identified by its proprietary ice-blue dial — a colour Rolex achieves exclusively on platinum cases, where the metal's natural properties react with the lacquer to produce the distinctive glacial hue. The chocolate-brown Cerachrom ceramic bezel, contrasting subdials in a deeper espresso tone, and baton hour markers in white gold complete a dial composition of rare coherence. Inside beats the calibre 4130, Rolex's in-house chronograph movement featuring a column wheel, vertical clutch, and approximately 72-hour power reserve — widely regarded as one of the most reliable and serviceable mechanical chronograph movements in production.

From a collector standpoint, the 116506 occupies rarefied territory. Platinum Daytonas are produced in strictly limited numbers and allocated almost exclusively to Rolex's most loyal boutique clients. The waiting list dynamic that plagues the steel 116500LN is exponentially more acute here: many serious collectors never receive an offer. The ice-blue dial and platinum case give the watch an aesthetic restraint that distinguishes it from flashier precious-metal complications — it is understated wealth rather than overt display.

Touré's watch culture credentials are well-documented. Throughout his playing career he was regularly photographed in significant timepieces, and his choice of the 116506 — rather than a more common yellow or white gold variant — signals genuine connoisseurship. The platinum Daytona is a watch that rewards research before purchase, not impulse.

At retail, the 116506 was listed at approximately $75,500 USD. On the secondary market, strong collector demand and severe supply constraints have pushed grey-market premiums considerably higher, with clean examples regularly trading between $90,000 and $110,000 depending on condition and completeness of box and papers.