The Watches the World Cup 2026 Players Are Actually Wearing

The World Cup is the only event on the planet where you can see a Patek Nautilus next to a Hublot Big Bang next to a Rolex Daytona Rainbow in the same airport arrivals hall. Players land in Toronto, New York, and Mexico City all week, and the watch spotting has been better than usual.

One quiet news story before we get into the wrists. Hublot, official FIFA timekeeper since 2010, is not the official timekeeper for this World Cup. The 16-year deal ended in December 2025. The new official-licensed slot is held by a New York-based Swiss-made microbrand called Axia Time. Most players obviously don't care about that and showed up in whatever they actually wear, which is the fun part.

Here's the full wrist check, by squad.

France

The deepest watch bench at the tournament by a clear margin.

Kylian Mbappé arrived in a Hublot Big Bang Integrated King Gold (ref. 451.OX.1180.OX). He's a long-time Hublot ambassador and was always going to wear the brand to a tournament this size. King Gold is Hublot's proprietary rose-gold alloy with more copper for a redder tone, and the integrated bracelet version is the closest the Big Bang has come to a luxury-sport silhouette.

Ousmane Dembélé went with a Richard Mille RM 72-01 Automatic Lifestyle Flyback Chronograph. Dembélé just had the best season of his career at PSG, and the RM 72-01 is honestly one of the easiest RM references to wear. Not skeletonised like the louder pieces, integrated bracelet, sub-12mm thick. A proper daily Richard Mille.

Désiré Doué, the 21-year-old who is probably France's next decade, wore a Rolex Day-Date 40 (ref. 228235-0003) with a full set of baguette-cut diamond hour markers. Massive watch for a young player, but Doué can carry it.

Ibrahima Konaté showed up in the Patek Nautilus Moon Phases 5712/1A. The 5712/1A is steel, blue dial, with the small seconds and moon phase sub-dial at 7 o'clock. It's the connoisseur Nautilus because the layout is more horologically interesting than the 5711, and it's notably less hyped on Instagram. Konaté quietly has good taste.

Portugal

Cristiano Ronaldo, of course, brought a Rolex Daytona "Rainbow" (ref. 116598RBOW). Yellow gold case, sapphire-set rainbow bezel, baguette-cut diamond markers. There's a roughly €600,000 watch on his wrist, depending on which secondary-market data you trust this week. Ronaldo's watch box is one of the most-photographed of any active athlete, and the Rainbow Daytona has been his signature grail for years.

Rúben Dias, the Manchester City defender, went the opposite direction. Richard Mille RM 67-01 Automatic Extra Flat, one of the slimmest RMs ever made at 7.75mm thick. The 67-01 is the RM you wear when you want the engineering credit without the visual noise. Reads as quiet for a Richard Mille, which is the whole point.

England

Harry Kane brought what is probably the most-talked-about watch of the tournament so far: a Rolex Day-Date 36 "Puzzle" (ref. 128239-0056). The Puzzle is the 2024-launched dial with applied emoji-style indices in the shape of a jigsaw, hearts, peace signs, smileys. It splits the room hard. Kane on the wrist somehow makes it work better than it has any right to. Yellow gold, 36mm, fluted bezel.

Ollie Watkins chose an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked (ref. 15407ST.OO.1220ST.02). The Double Balance is the 3132 calibre with two superimposed balance wheels on the same axis, openworked so you can see the trick. Steel case, 41mm, on a tapisserie-cut bracelet you can't quite see because the dial is the show.

Brazil

Neymar Jr. wore the white-gold Patek Nautilus Flyback Chronograph (ref. 5980/60G-001) on a blue alligator strap, which is the one most Patek collectors would call the actually-correct sport-Nautilus. Same Cal. CH 28-520 C movement as the steel 5980/1A but in a much rarer case material.

And then the surprise of the tournament: Casemiro turned up in an F.P. Journe Élégante 48mm Titalyt. Casemiro reading F.P. Journe is not a brand most people had on their bingo card. The Élégante is Journe's quartz, which is somehow not a contradiction because the movement runs on a proprietary low-consumption module that sleeps when the watch is still (years of reserve when off-wrist). Titalyt is the surface-treated titanium finish. It is exactly the kind of watch a serious independent-watch person buys when they don't want the obvious flex. We are now obligated to follow Casemiro's wrist all tournament.

Argentina

Lionel Messi brought a Rolex Day-Date 36 in white gold (ref. 128239-0083) with a natural turquoise stone dial and blue sapphire hour markers. The off-catalog turquoise-dial Day-Date is one of the rarest hard-stone configurations Rolex makes, and the white-gold 36 with sapphires is a deeply Messi-coded choice: small case, vivid stone dial, immediate impact without volume. Reportedly built around the 2022 World Cup win and worn now as the going-into-the-last-dance version. It's a great watch.

Enzo Fernández went big-dial-energy with a baguette-set AP Royal Oak Selfwinding (ref. 15510BC.OO.1320BC.01). White gold case, full diamond hour markers. The 41mm sport-luxury baguette market is mostly an Enzo-and-Hakimi affair right now.

Rodrigo De Paul wore a vintage AP "Bamboo", which is the late-70s integrated-bracelet AP that walked so the Royal Oak Offshore could run. Bamboo refers to the bracelet pattern. These are rare, period-correct collector pieces, and the choice tells you De Paul reads watch forums in his spare time.

Germany and Norway

Antonio Rüdiger wore a Richard Mille RM 67-02 Automatic Extra Flat "Italy", which is one of the lightest serially-produced automatic watches in luxury watchmaking, sub-30 grams strap-and-all. The Italy edition was a limited-run colourway tied to a partnership Rüdiger did the year he signed at Madrid.

Florian Wirtz chose a Rolex Daytona 126505 in Everose gold. The understated pick of the Germany squad. Champagne-coloured dial, steel-coloured sub-dials, on the Oysterflex rubber strap.

Erling Haaland wears his signature Breitling Chronomat Automatic GMT 40 "Erling Haaland", the brand collaboration he launched last year. Steel case, meteorite dial, GMT complication. The collab is significant because Haaland was Breitling's biggest signing of the 2024-26 cycle, and the meteorite-dial Chronomat is the brand's quiet hit even outside the football world.

Morocco, Belgium, Switzerland

Achraf Hakimi brought the most colourful watch at the tournament: a Patek Aquanaut Luce "Rainbow" Chronograph (ref. 7968/300R-001). The Luce line is Patek's women's collection but the Rainbow Chronograph is unisex-sized and unisex-priced (low six figures secondary). Rose gold, full rainbow sapphire bezel, on the integrated Aquanaut Tropical rubber strap. Bold, but very deliberately so.

Kevin De Bruyne rolled with a Vacheron Constantin Overseas Tourbillon Skeleton (ref. 6000V/210T-B935). Skeletonised dial, peripheral rotor, tourbillon at 6, integrated bracelet. The technically most impressive watch on this list. De Bruyne has been a quiet Overseas collector for years and the Tourbillon Skeleton is the only Overseas reference that lets you see the calibre work.

Noah Okafor chose another Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked, this time the all-ceramic 15416CE.OO.1225CE.01. Black ceramic case and bracelet, openworked black-tinted dial, the lightest visual identity of any high-end Royal Oak Offshore-adjacent reference.

What the round-up actually shows

Three patterns worth flagging. First, the most-hyped luxury-sport refs (Royal Oak, Nautilus, Daytona) are still the default football pick, even for players who could afford literally anything. Second, the louder pieces (Ronaldo's Rainbow, Hakimi's Aquanaut Rainbow, Doué's diamond Day-Date) cluster around the players whose off-pitch identity is the loudest. No surprise. Third, the actually-interesting picks tend to be from defenders and midfielders: Konaté's 5712, De Bruyne's Overseas Tourbillon Skeleton, Casemiro's Élégante. The strikers buy the brand book. The midfielders buy what the watchmakers themselves would wear.

We'll update the list as the tournament rolls on. If a player turns up in a vintage Heuer or anything from the independent watchmaking corner, we'll cover it.