Come on, be honest. You’ve missed the sight of a Roger Federer backhand in full flow MUCH more than you realized, right? Same! The air, the grace, the rhythm, the flight, the levitation, the whip—all make me forget the world for a second in a moment of admiration, the kind of awe more commonly experienced at your own wedding or at the birth of your first kid. This week, Federer is celebrating being inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in style, by returning to Arthur Ashe Stadium as part of a Legends Series ahead of the US Open in Flushing Meadows.
Whipping up his signature moves against old foe Andy Roddick, other tennis greats like John McEnroe and Andre Agassi were rolled out in front of a very entertained, very packed stadium. And while we’re practicing full honesty, any sight of Fed still tends to do weird things to people—such is his aura. Sometimes it’s an appreciation of his Wimbledon fit, and his wrist is one that watch spotters always have on red alert.
And this week, they’ll be happy customers because nearly five months after Rolex released its new watches for 2026, we finally get to see one on the ultimate watch-wearer. Last year, we were spoiled when he teased the brand-new Land-Dweller ahead of its official release. The new Oyster Perpetual with a “Jubilee” dial is one of the most out there Rolex has dropped in a while.
The monogrammed and infinitely colourful Oyster Perpetual
The monogrammed and infinitely colourful Oyster Perpetual is reminiscent of the bubbly “Celebration” piece from a few years back. The jury was out when this watch first dropped, but it has very quickly become the poster boy of Rolex’s 100th anniversary for the Oyster. From Federer’s perspective, it is a bit of a surprise flex. In more recent years, he’s opted for more adventurous watches, like an off-catalog Daytona with a heavy dose of sapphires.
Before that, you could almost always predict he’d opt for demure and lowkey luxury over anything too showy. But this watch is there to be seen, and couldn’t be more expressive. Perhaps Federer has been reading up on the fact that 36mm is now the new size for men (Leo Messi agrees), and that a steel everydayer is what was missing in his collection. If you can get hold of one, it’s actually quite affordable too (for a Rolex).
$6,750 isn’t bad value, is it? Regardless of his reasoning for picking this one, wearing it while firing those backhands down the line is a sight to behold. This story originally appeared on British GQ.
Source: www.gq.com
