Carlos Ancelotti or Pep Guardiola – who are you going for a drink with? For watch nerds, it’s Pep no question. Forget asking what Jack Grealish’s calves look like up close, we just want to hear more about his wristwear collection.
After being dumped out of the Champions League by Jude Bellingham et al on pens, the ever-animated Pep Guardiola sang to his knees like Michael Jackson in the Earth Song video. Surrounded by a disconsolate Etihad Stadium, the bleak reality of not winning back-to-back Trebles began to dawn on him and City’s fans. There was some consolation for Guardiola though, in the form of a limited edition Richard Mille RM 61-01.
Earlier in the season, we clocked Guardiola wearing a Breitling Superocean and guessed it was a present from Erling Haaland (a Breitling ambassador) for coaching him into the record books. A very wearable, everyday watch, it was a curious choice for someone with a reputation for wearing killer watches. It’s the kind of piece your accountant picks up at the end of the tax year as a well done to himself.
The same cannot be said for his new toy. Guardiola has a fair few Richard Mille watches but this is his first in Newcastle/Juventus colours (a sign?). At an educated guess, it’s worth over a million pounds because there are only 150 in the world, is made of a mad mixture of TZP ceramic, carbon TPT and grade-5 titanium and weighs less than his City contract extension forms. The model is also being discontinued by Richard Mille, which means demand is likely to ramp up the asking price.
The skeleton dial is a sight to behold but we suspect it’s the two black traversing balance bridges across the dial that attracted Guardiola. Do they remind of the attacking and defensive lines he scribbles on his whiteboard at halftime? His Breitling got the chop after a few defeats so it remains to be seen if Pep keeps faith with this watch for the FA Cup tie against Chelsea.
Elsewhere on the touchline this week, Xabi Alonso (the new Pep?) celebrated Bayern Leverkusen winning their first-ever Bundesliga title by having a lot of steins poured over his head. Probably for the best then that he wasn’t wearing any of his nice IWCs and instead had a Garmin Fēnix 7 on, which as well as being able to measure his step count for the game will also have given him a gentle reminder that it was time for bed.
Leverkusen winning the league – and thus denying Harry Kane silverware – has been a bit of a foregone conclusion for the past few weeks. In the same respect, Scottie Scheffler winning another major in Augusta was the most likely outcome at The Masters this year. Lifting the trophy wearing a Rolex Hulk – an all green Submariner (case and bezel) – shows the American clearly fancied his chances too, because you have to win to be able to match the green jacket with your watch.
Less than a week after unleashing a new set of ‘It boy’ Santos bad boys into the world, every housewife’s guilty pleasure James Norton was seen wearing my favourite one from the collection. The sunburst brown dial was a nice complement to the killer Bottega Veneta suit he rocked at the Olivier Awards.
