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Ronaldo’s Rolex GMT-Master II Ice: What It Is and What “Most Expensive” Means

Ronaldo’s reported Rolex was the GMT-Master II Ice, ref. 116769TBR. Here’s how the diamond description and historical price claim differ from auction results and current value.
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Cristiano Ronaldo was reported wearing a diamond-set Rolex GMT-Master II Ice, reference 116769TBR, at a Dubai sports conference in late 2019. The headline description “most expensive Rolex ever made” needs qualification: it refers to a historical public retail offering, not a confirmed record auction price or the watch’s current value.

Which Rolex did Ronaldo wear?

Time+Tide reported on 6 January 2020 that Ronaldo wore the Rolex GMT-Master II Ice, reference 116769TBR, at the 14th Dubai International Sports Conference in late 2019. The report describes the watch as made of 18k white gold and set with 30 carats of diamonds. Those details, including the diamond total, are the publication’s account rather than a Rolex specification cited here. Time+Tide’s report documents the sighting.

What does “the most expensive Rolex ever made” mean?

In the Time+Tide article, the superlative refers to the most expensive watch Rolex had offered to the public. It is a historical retail or public-offering claim, not proof that this reference holds the record for the highest Rolex auction result. It also does not establish a current retail or resale price.

A separate, dated data point is Sotheby’s New York Watch Auction XVIII: the auction house records a result of $444,500 for a GMT-Master II reference 116769TBR in June 2023. That is the result for one auction lot, not a present-day valuation or evidence of what Ronaldo paid. Sotheby’s lot listing provides the transaction record.

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How to distinguish it from Rolex’s ice-blue Daytona

The GMT-Master II Ice in the Ronaldo report is reference 116769TBR. It is not the platinum Cosmograph Daytona reference 116506, a different Rolex model associated with an ice-blue dial. A shared “ice” description is not enough to identify the watch; the model name and reference number are the clearer distinction. Phillips’ catalogue entry for the Daytona 116506 identifies that separate model.

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What is known about its current value?

The available figures answer different questions: Time+Tide’s article supplies a historical public-offering description, while Sotheby’s gives a realized auction result for one lot in June 2023. Neither establishes today’s asking price, a current market range, or the value of Ronaldo’s individual watch. No current listing or verified sale for his watch is established by these sources.

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