Lionel Messi is the GOAT on the football pitch and when it comes to watches, he might be one of the beautiful game’s greatest collectors too. In his line-up, you’ll find Rolex Yacht-Masters, Daytonas, and Datejusts; and when he’s not repping the crown, he’s crushing hard on Audemars Piguet Royal Oaks.
Over the years, Messi has been seen wearing the Royal Oak Jumbo and Chronograph, and most recently, we clocked a rare sighting of the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Openworked “Cactus Jack”—the limited-edition Travis Scott-designed timepiece. In a photo shared to 504 million followers on his personal Instagram, Messi posed next to his wife Antonela Roccuzzo, while wearing the hard-to-get RO, which is distinguished by its brown coloring.
Scott knows a thing or two about collabs. In the studio he’s worked with Drake, Beyoncé, 21 Savage, and James Blake. And creatively he’s linked up with Dior, and Nike, too. But last year he ticked off an AP link-up from his bucket list with a run of 200 brown ceramic (a first for the brand) Royal Oaks. These bad boys, nicknamed the “Chocolate AP,” retailed for $201,000, and now go for double that on the secondary market. And Messi’s in good watch nerd company, too, joining Orlando Bloom, Lil Baby, Ed Sheeran, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who all managed to grab the rare release.
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Messi wearing the Travis Scott Royal Oak ties into AP’s whole cultural crossover thing it’s got nailed. Scott’s Royal Oak wasn’t the first time AP has worked with a musician on a limited-edition release. Around 2005, Audemars worked with Jay-Z on a set of 20 Royal Oak Offshores to celebrate the rapper’s 10th year in music. And in 2013, it worked with LeBron James on an Offshore Chronograph.
In terms of Messi’s choice of wearing Scott’s watch, could there be anything else to it? Maybe. Scott released an Argentina-inspired football jersey to promote his Circus Maximus tour, so he clearly gets the country’s football heritage. And in “Meltdown” Scott shouts out the footie legend with the lyric “The boy going Lionel Messi, I go Tom Brady.”
With Scott showing love for the legendary player in his lyrics and merch, Messi wearing the “Cactus Jack” Royal Oak could be him returning the favor. Either way, it’s a good old-fashioned case of real respecting real—which we love to see.
This story originally appeared on British GQ.
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