On the Wrist · 2026
India’s most famous sportsman has quietly built one of the most serious watch collections in the country — Patek, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, several of them worth more than a house. Here’s what he wears, and what it costs.
Every watch and figure here is drawn from published reports and identified references — reported estimates, checked and dated, never bought.
When Royal Challengers Bengaluru lifted a second IPL title in 2026, the cameras caught Virat Kohli mid-celebration — and the watch world caught something else. On his wrist, through the confetti and the dancing, was a Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time 5164G, a white-gold piece reported at around ₹1.6 crore (Free Press Journal). For most people that is a house. For Kohli, it is one watch in a collection that quietly ranks among the most serious in Indian sport.
Virat Kohli on his verified Instagram (@virat.kohli) — a watch a quiet constant on his wrist, on the field and off it.
A white-gold Patek, hiding in plain sight through the celebrations.
The watch eagle-eyed fans identified on Kohli’s wrist during RCB’s 2026 title celebration was the Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time 5164G — a dual-time-zone Aquanaut in white gold, with the signature embossed dial in blue-grey, a 40.8mm case and a matching composite strap. Indian coverage reported its value at around ₹1.6 crore (Free Press Journal).
What makes the choice telling is how understated it is. White gold reads, from a distance, like steel — so unless you know the reference, you miss it entirely. That is the collector’s version of flexing: a watch that says everything to the handful of people who recognise it, and nothing to everyone else. It is also squarely in Patek territory, the maison whose steel and precious-metal sports watches have led the modern market.
Patek, Rolex and Audemars Piguet — several of them grails in their own right.
The Aquanaut is not an outlier. Over the years, Kohli has been photographed in and reported to own a run of watches that most serious collectors spend a lifetime chasing — and the spread tells you he (or whoever advises him) actually knows watches. The headline piece is a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona “Rainbow” in Everose gold, its bezel set with sapphires in a graduated spectrum, reported at around ₹4.6 crore (India.com). It is one of the most coveted — and allocation-only — watches Rolex makes; we told the story of what a Rainbow Daytona commands at auction when one set a national record earlier this year.
| Watch | Reported value | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Rolex Daytona “Rainbow” (Everose) | ~₹4.6 crore | Sapphire-set bezel, diamond accents — allocation-only grail |
| Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar | ~₹1.84 crore | Perpetual calendar, striking green dial |
| Patek Aquanaut Travel Time 5164G | ~₹1.6 crore | White gold, dual time zone — the IPL-celebration watch |
| Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar | ~₹1.2 crore | Steel and platinum, Gérald Genta’s octagon |
| Patek Philippe Nautilus | ~₹85 lakh | The steel icon that defined the genre |
| Rolex Daytona “Panda” (116500LN) | ~₹35 lakh | Steel, white dial — worn at Mumbai airport |
Values are reported estimates compiled by Indian outlets (Free Press Journal, India.com) and vary between sources; we cite them as reported, not as valuations of his personal pieces. For what these references actually trade at, start with our Fair Value tool.
Anyone can buy an expensive watch. Buying a white-gold Aquanaut that reads like steel — and wearing it to a title party — is the move of someone who collects for himself, not the cameras.
The most-watched man in the country is also one of its most serious collectors.
Kohli is, by most measures, India’s most valuable celebrity — so what he wears sets a reference point. A decade ago, the aspirational Indian watch was a steel Rolex. Today the country’s biggest sportsman is in white-gold Pateks and a Rainbow Daytona, and millions notice. That is the same current we keep tracking: a Lord Shiva grail built for the Indian market, watchmaking’s Oscars touring Mumbai, and India being taken seriously as a watch culture rather than just a place that buys watches.
It also quietly moves markets. When a reference lands on the right wrist, demand follows — and the pieces Kohli favours (independent-adjacent Pateks, allocation-only Rolexes) are exactly the ones that already hold or gain value in the 2026 market.
You don’t need Kohli’s budget to buy well — you need the honest read before you spend.
Most of Kohli’s collection sits in grail territory, but the instinct behind it travels down the price ladder: buy the reference you actually love, from a source you can trust, at a number that makes sense. A white-gold Aquanaut is a fantasy for most — but the steel Patek Nautilus, a Royal Oak from our Royal Oak price guide, or a steel Daytona are all gettable with the right approach.
That is where we come in. Before you chase any of them, we give you the honest read: what the exact reference trades at today, whether it’s realistically available now, and the smartest route — retail, pre-owned, grey market or auction. If you’re buying from India, our guide to where luxury watches are cheaper in 2026 is the place to start.
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Behind the curtain
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