If you’re looking to spot some horological heat, you could do much worse than to simply wait around for Lionel Messi to set foot on a soccer pitch. Time and time again—that’s a watch pun, by the way—the Inter Miami and Argentine national team captain has proven that he’s as serious a collector as any NBA record-setter, and he’s setting the standard again this week.

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This time it was yet another high-caliber watch from Audemars Piguet that caught our attention. Spotted in Miami, Messi wore a Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Tourbillon Chronograph, a limited edition of just 50 pieces. Designed by Emmanuel Gueit, the Offshore was conceptualized as a more brash, masculine version of Gérald Genta’s Royal Oak and debuted in 1993. As the story goes, Genta was appalled rather than flattered by the new design, but sales speak for themselves. Actors (Schwarzenegger, Stallone), musicians (Jay-Z) and athletes (Novak Djokovic) have proudly championed the model. The Offshore’s acclaim has steadily grown alongside that of its cousin (the luxury sports watch OG) the Royal Oak.

Messi’s version is a powerhouse. It comes in a 43-mm black ceramic case with titanium pusher guards and features the Offshore’s signature chunky riff on Genta’s Royal Oak design. The octagonal screw-down bezel is present and accounted for, as is the integrated bracelet style, which takes the form of a rubber strap on Messi’s piece.

The skeletonized dial, meanwhile, is where all the magic happens: A black minute track with white printing surrounds dual chronograph counters in a matching color scheme, and a spinning tourbillon is visible at 6 o’clock. Luminescent white-gold hands provide a legible picture of the time, while the watch’s automatic Calibre 2967 with 526 components is visible beneath artfully arranged bridges.

In 2023, the model turned 30, and the brand celebrated with a slew of funky, new limited-edition versions, including the one seen here on Messi’s wrist. And though this reference isn’t AP’s most complicated—the company makes all sorts of calendar and conceptual models—it’s certainly no slouch either: The Calibre 2967’s chronograph includes flyback capability, which allows the wearer to reset it without first stopping it—and let’s not forget about the tourbillon, a device invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet to compensate for the negative effects of gravity upon a pocket watch’s balance and escapement (its real use today, when people wear their watches on their wrist, is as a technical flex and a dazzling spectacle).

Messi, of course, is no stranger to Audemars Piguet. Back in 2012 he was a brand ambassador, and AP even honored him with a limited-edition Royal Oak in steel, pink gold, and platinum. These days he can certainly be seen in other watches (including the Rolex Daytona, the Louis Vuitton Tambour, and more), but there’s no doubt that La Brassus holds a special place in his heart.

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ASAP Rocky’s Patek Philippe Nautilus ref. 5811/1G

ASAP Rocky was spotted in one of the luxury sports watch OGs, a Patek Philippe Nautilus. His reference 5811/1G, introduced in 2022, is the white-gold spiritual successor to the beloved steel ref. 5711, the time-and-date model discontinued by the brand in 2021. (There’s currently no steel equivalent watch with a blue dial in the Patek catalog—the 5811, while white gold, is visually as close as one can get.) Measuring 41 mm by just 8.1mm tall, it, of course, features the model’s famed integrated bracelet with patented fold-over clasp, porthole-inspired case design, and horizontally embossed dial. Subtle and handsome, the Nautilus three-hander is a classic for a reason. Rocky clearly has a soft spot for the Nautilus. He was recently seen wearing the vintage 3800 reference from the ’80s that was the first to shrink the model’s “Jumbo” proportions.

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Regé-Jean Page’s Breitling Premier

Making the press rounds for his new film, Black Bag, Regé-Jean Page wore a stunning Breitling Premier chronograph that might just have to go on my Hannukah list. Measuring 40 mm in stainless steel, the vintage-inspired reference features an incredible gold-tone dial with an outer tachymeter scale, dual chronograph totalizers, applied Arabic indices, and a luminous syringe handset. Though its larger case size is a giveaway, if you were to view this watch—with its paddle pushers, lack of crown guards, and aforementioned classically styled dial—from afar, you might just think it was a piece from the 1940s. Powered by the automatic Breitling B09 manufacture movement, however, it’s very much a modern creation.

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Dwyane Wade’s Tiffany Eternity 28 MM Cushion-Shaped Watch

Dwyane Wade made an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in full-on Tiffany & Co. regalia. The pièce de résistance, as far as we watch nerds are concerned, was an Eternity 28-mm Cushion-Shaped Watch, a ’60s/’70s-inspired piece with a cushion-shaped white-gold case, a diamond-set bezel and crown, and a handsome black dial with 12 diamond indices in various cuts. (For those keeping score at home, the shapes are: round brilliant, baguette, cushion, Tiffany True, marquise, Asscher, heart, pear, oval, emerald, triangle, and princess) Paired to a calf leather strap, and quartz powered, it’s proof positive that small watches are not going away.