Welcome to Celebrity Wristcheck — our brand-new series in collaboration with Instagram's @celebwatchspotter! Here, we round up our favourite watches spotted on the wrists of celebrities and notable figures across the globe. We're kicking things off today with our favourite wristwatch sightings from May, featuring Drake, Lebron James, and more...
Drake
“Forty-two millimeter, was made in Geneva” Wants and Needs — Drake (feat. Lil Baby)
With several name-drops and a custom piece courtesy of Off-White and Louis Vuitton’s Virgil Abloh, we can safely assume that Drake (@champagnepapi) is a fan of Patek Philippe. Sitting courtside at an L.A. Lakers game, the rapper was spotted wearing a 40th Anniversary Patek Philippe Nautilus Chronograph in 18-karat white gold, factory set with 9 baguette-cut diamonds and three princess-cut diamonds as hour markers.
Limited to 1300 pieces and released in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Patek Philippe Nautilus in 2016, this 42mm timepiece features diamond indexes and the classic Nautilus horizontal embossing on its dial — with a special "1976-40-2016" etched between 10 and 2 o’clock to mark the 40th year of the icon.
Reference: 5976/1G (Limited to 1300 pieces)
Retail price: USD $107,000 / HKD $830,000
Current market value: USD $425,000 / HKD $3,300,000+
Lebron James
While partying with Drake, basketball player for the L.A. Lakers Lebron James (@kingjames) was spotted with an Openworked Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel in stainless steel on his wrist.
It’s safe to say that this reference is definitely a grail for many at the moment — AP or otherwise. With its gorgeous openworked dial, white gold applied hour-markers and Royal Oak hands with luminescent coating, this piece exudes understated panache — fit for one of the GOATs.
Reference: 15407ST
Retail price: USD $57,900 / HKD $433,000.
Current market value: USD $169,000 / HKD $1,320,000
*Editor's note: after much debate between whether the watch seen on Lebron was the 15407ST or the 15305ST, the team at Wristcheck have decided that it was most likely the 15305ST. Specifications below:
Reference: 15307ST
Retail price: USD $33,000 / HKD $255,000
Current market value: USD $135,000 / HKD $1,050,000
Swizz Beatz
Music producer to the legends — Jay-Z, Nas, DMX to name a few — Swizz Beatz (@therealswizzz) was spotted wearing a De Bethune Kind Of Gold DB28.
A two-tone iteration of the DB28 Kind of Blue, this timepiece features the combination of a pink gold middle case with De Bethune’s trademark mirrored polished blued grade 5 titanium. An extremely rare 10-piece limited edition made exclusively for the U.S. market, this piece measures in at 42.60 mm with a thickness of 9.20 mm. A stunner from the independent brand, and we certainly commend his taste.
Reference: DB28BRUS (Limited to 10 Pieces)
Retail price: USD $133,000 / HKD $1,032,134 (approx.)
Est. Market Value: USD $138,000 / HKD 1,071,000 (approx.)
Neymar Jr.
En route to Manchester for the second leg of the Champions League game with Manchester City, football player for Paris Saint-Germain Neymar Jr. (@neymarjr) was spotted wearing the newly released Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept ‘Black Panther’ Flying Tourbillon made in collaboration with Marvel Entertainment.
Limited to 250 pieces (and causing quite the stir on social media), a white gold unique piece sold for US$5.2 million at auction during AP's launch event, with all proceeds going towards charity. Evoking the sharp lines and unique texture of Black Panther’s suit (the ‘Panther Habit’), this Concept is encased in 42mm of sandblasted titanium: marking the first time AP have ever made a Concept in such a moderate size, with the eponymous collection previously consisting of pieces measuring either 44mm or 38.5mm. As with prior iterations in the Concept family, at the heart of the ‘Black Panther’ sits a high-level execution of the ‘flying’ tourbillon below the dial-spanning depiction of the Black Panther.
Reference: 26620IO (limited to 250 pieces)
Retail price: CHF 120,000 / HKD $1,035,000
Est. market value: USD $480,000 / HKD $3,725,000 (approx.)
Travis Scott
“No small faces, it’s just an AP beamin'” Watch — Travis Scott (feat. Lil Uzi Vert & Kanye West)
Rapper Travis Scott (@travisscott) was spotted wearing an 18K gold openworked Audemars Piguet Royal Oak ‘Double Balance Wheel’ while celebrating his birthday.
A rose gold iteration of the stainless steel variant seen on Lebron James, this 41mm watch is cased in 18-carat pink gold and features a slate grey openworked dial, pink gold applied hour-markers and a matching 18-carat pink gold bracelet. Whilst dressier than its steel sibling, the 15407OR maintains it distinctly contemporary aesthetic and is ideal for any special occasion, as is evident with Travis here.
Reference: 15407OR
Retail price: USD $86,300 / HKD $645,000
Current Market Value: USD $227,000 / HKD $1,762,000
Mezut Özil
Football player for Fenerbahçe Mesut Özil (@m10_official) was seen wearing the newly released Carbon TPT Richard Mille RM65-01 Automatic Winding Split Seconds Chronograph.
This RM 65-01 is the first self-winding split-seconds chronograph from Richard Mille: a furtherance of the brand’s development of extremely technical high-end chronographs, a saga that began with the RM 004 in 2003. This 2020 release is the “most complex timepiece ever to leave the Richard Mille workshops”, according to the brand. The RM 65-01 boasts several additional functions and a full-carbon architecture: the bezel, caseband, and caseback are all forged with Carbon TPT, a material used in the automotive racing and aerospace industries — introduced into the watch industry by RM in 2013.
Reference: RM 65-01
Retail price: USD $310,000 / HKD $2,406,000 (approx.)
Current market value: USD $920,000 / HKD $7,140,000
Will Pan
Taiwanese-American rapper Will Pan (@willpan23) was spotted wearing the Patek Philippe Skymoon Tourbillon 6002G. This elusive beast is one of the hardest Patek Philippe watches to get your hands on, with the Maison only producing a handful annually — not to mention the fact that it's an application piece. The ref. 6002G Sky Moon Tourbillon houses a whopping 12 complications (it's one of Patek’s most complicated timepieces!), with this iteration’s white-gold case entirely hand-engraved with intricate volutes. Its baroque black dial features cloisonné and champlevé enamel motifs, showcasing Patek’s watchmaking artistry and signature quality — both most certainly reflected in the price tag.
Reference: 6002G-010
Est. price: USD $2,750,000 / HKD $ 27,500,000 (approx.)
Dave
"I know people wearing Rollies doing life in can / Isn't that ironic that they couldn't find the time to plan?” Disaster — Dave (feat. J Hus)
British rapper Dave (@santandave) was spotted wearing a stainless steel white-dial Rolex Daytona with a ceramic bezel. This Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona in Oystersteel with a white dial and an Oyster bracelet features a Black Cerachrom bezel with Rolex’s signature tachymetric scale. A perfect all-rounder, this Daytona is effortlessly clean — a fantastic daily wearer suitable for any occasion.
Reference: 116500LN
Retail price: USD $14,870 / HKD $102,400
Current Market Value: USD $38,000 / HKD $295,000
Stay tuned for our June roundup next month in collaboration with @celebwatchspotter!