Federica Pellegrini — watch collection

About Federica Pellegrini’s watch collection

Federica Pellegrini is one of the most decorated swimmers in the history of the sport. Born in 1988 in Mirano, Italy, she dominated the 200-metre freestyle event for over a decade, claiming Olympic gold at the 2008 Beijing Games and becoming the first woman to break the 1:54 barrier in the event. She won multiple World Championship titles and represented Italy across five consecutive Olympic Games — Athens 2004 through Tokyo 2020 — a run that cemented her reputation as the defining figure of Italian competitive swimming. Since retiring from competition in 2022, Pellegrini has remained a prominent public figure in Italy, active in sports media, ambassadorial roles, and advocacy for athlete welfare.

The Federica Pellegrini watch collection, as documented through public appearances, shows a preference for the understated end of the Rolex catalogue. She has been spotted wearing a stainless steel Rolex Datejust reference 116200 — a 36mm model from the mid-2000s production era featuring a smooth bezel, Oyster bracelet, and a blue sunburst dial with applied Roman numeral indices. That particular dial configuration has since been discontinued by Rolex and is no longer available through authorised dealers, making it a secondary-market-only piece today. The watch is powered by the in-house calibre 3135, a self-winding movement running at 28,800 vph with roughly 48 hours of power reserve — a movement widely regarded as one of the more reliable and well-finished in Rolex's history.

Choosing a 36mm Datejust in steel rather than a larger or more ostentatious reference says something about how Pellegrini approaches personal style away from competition — measured and without obvious showmanship. The 116200 with Roman numerals on a sunburst blue dial is a specific, considered configuration, and the fact that it represents a discontinued production variant adds a degree of collector awareness to the choice, whether intentional or not.