Watch Paparazzi

Cricketer Virat Kohli spotted wearing Rolex

When Virat Kohli — one of the most marketable athletes on the planet — commissions a watch, the brief is always uncompromising: unique, personal, and impossible to replicate. French customisation house Skeleton Concept delivered exactly that with its eponymous 'Virat Kohli Concept Rolex', a fully skeletonised re-interpretation of the Rolex Daytona Cosmograph that reportedly consumed more than 18 months of design and execution time before it reached the cricketer's wrist.

The donor watch is a modern Rolex Daytona, almost certainly based on the reference 116500LN or its successor 126500LN — identified by the ceramic tachymetre bezel, three-register chronograph dial layout, and oyster-adjacent bracelet architecture visible in the image. Skeleton Concept's craftsmen have gutted the original dial entirely, exposing the movement in a dramatic open-worked display. The baseplate and bridges are rendered in electric midnight blue, referencing the colour deeply associated with India's national cricket team, while 24-karat rose gold accents are applied with surgical precision to the indices and — most personally — to the numerals 1 and 8, Kohli's career lucky numbers that mirror his iconic shirt number 18.

From a horological standpoint, skeletonising a Rolex movement is no trivial exercise. Rolex calibres are not designed with exhibition in mind; removing material while preserving structural integrity and regulation accuracy demands expert hand-finishing and significant recalibration. The blue PVD treatment on the bridges adds another layer of complexity, as thermal processes must be controlled to prevent warping.

For collectors, this piece sits in a singular category: it is not a limited edition but a genuine one-of-one commission. Skeleton Concept has built its reputation on exactly these ultra-personalised projects, and the Kohli Daytona represents the studio's craft at its most ambitious. No two Skeleton Concept pieces share an identical specification, which makes resale valuation essentially theoretical — though commissions at this level routinely exceed six figures.

Kohli's watch collection is well-documented and spans Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Hublot. This custom Daytona, however, is categorically different — less a purchase than a collaboration, and arguably the most intimate timepiece he owns.