There were a lot of goat emojis flying around the internet this past weekend. “When GOAT meets GOAT,” Twitter users posted incessantly, as Tom Brady took to the French Open stands to watch Novak Djokovic win his record-breaking 23rd major title in Paris.
Djoker Nole dispatched with Casper Ruud in typically devastating fashion, but Brady managed to turn plenty of heads at Roland-Garros himself—thanks in large part to the rare Rolex Day-Date on his wrist.
From a distance, TB12’s new watch—with its platinum case and olive green dial—is already plenty handsome. But seeing the Rolex up close truly sent online horologists into a tizzy: the Eastern Arabic numerals on its face identify this particular Day-Date as Ref. 228206, a special makeup launched in 2021, available exclusively to select dealers in the Middle East.
Beginning in the 1950s, Rolex began producing 40mm Day-Dates with Arabic dials, by special request only, to meet the demand of the exorbitantly wealthy Gulf elite—kings, sultans, oil barons. Production on those Arabic watches ceased in the 1970s, until rising demand among watch lovers finally saw Rolex revive the dial in 2016 at Baselworld with the launch of an ice-blue dial, followed five years later by the viridescent version on Brady’s wrist. That regional exclusivity—and accompanying price tag (similar Arabic Day-Dates often sell for upwards of $100,000)—is a testimony to the quarterback’s exquisite taste in timepieces.
Brady’s rare Rolex is just one small part of his increasingly grail-worthy collection. He originally signed as a brand ambassador for TAG Heuer back in 2015, earning his own signature model, before signing with IWC Schaffhausen four years later and donning a steady stream of Big Pilots and Top Gun Chronographs.
In retirement, though, Brady has been rocking a variety of other luxury watchmakers. Where there’s an athlete, there’s usually an Audemars Piguet—and the seven-time Super Bowl winner actually owns two, a Royal Oak Rubber Clad and a Royal Oak Gold. That’s to say nothing of the Richard Mille RM11-03 he wore with Travis Scott last month in LA.
All that said: given its scarcity and killer details, Brady’s Rolex Day-Date might eventually prove to be the real MVP of his watch rotation. The rest of the world might still be wondering if Brady’s football days are, in fact, actually over, but it feels like his career as an A-list watch collector is just getting started.
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