Watch Paparazzi

Footballer Alvaro Morata spotted wearing Rolex

Álvaro Morata was recently photographed wearing one of the most quietly exceptional references in Rolex's current lineup — the GMT-Master II ref. 126719BLRO in 18k white gold, fitted with a meteorite dial. The sighting adds another serious horological choice to a sporting career that has taken Morata from Juventus and Chelsea to the Spanish national team captaincy.

The Rolex GMT-Master II 126719BLRO sits at the absolute top of the GMT family hierarchy. Its 40mm white gold Oyster case houses the in-house calibre 3285, a movement built around a Chronergy escapement, a paramagnetic blue Parachrom hairspring, and a 70-hour power reserve — a significant technical upgrade over the older calibre 3186 it replaced. The bidirectional GMT hand allows independent setting of a second time zone, a function born from Rolex's 1954 collaboration with Pan American Airways. The two-tone red-and-blue 'Pepsi' Cerachrom bezel, reintroduced in ceramic at Baselworld 2018 after years of steel-only production, gives the reference its collector nickname and its visual anchor.

What separates the 126719BLRO from every other GMT-Master II is the meteorite dial. Rolex sources iron-nickel meteorite — most likely from the Gibeon meteorite field in Namibia — and cuts it into wafer-thin slices, each revealing a one-of-a-kind Widmanstätten crystalline matrix formed across billions of years of slow cosmic cooling. Production volumes are necessarily constrained by the finite, non-renewable nature of the raw material, making this configuration genuinely scarcer than standard gilt or black dial references.

Morata has long demonstrated a preference for substantial, statement-level watches, and the 126719BLRO fits that profile precisely. The white gold case against the meteorite dial reads as understated luxury rather than overt flash — an important distinction for a player who has spent significant time in fashion-conscious environments in Madrid, London, and Turin.

On the secondary market, the 126719BLRO commands a meaningful premium over its already steep list price. Retail sits at $46,550 USD, but grey-market activity consistently pushes transacted prices north of that figure, reflecting both the white gold premium and the ongoing difficulty of sourcing meteorite-dial examples through authorised dealers. For collectors, this is a reference that justifies its position at the top of the GMT food chain.