A tribute to one of the best Cricket players of all time

Presenting the latest masterpiece from Skeleton Concept: the ‘Virat Kohli Concept,’ a tribute to one of the best Cricket players of all time, who asked the French atelier to customize his Rolex Daytona 116520.

A sumptuous navy blue was used as a dominant color, 24k Gold on strategic pieces, as well as to highlight the numbers 1 and 8, dear to his heart.

“Turn this watch into something that I have never seen before,” he said, and it took the watch company 18 months to design this delicate cutting-edge timepiece.

How do you like the result?

Cricket is a less-known activity in the West, but it is incredibly popular and is played by most men and women in India. It has even reached the point where it ranks second among the most famous games worldwide, only after football. 

Virat Kohli, the captain of his club, the Royal Challengers Bangalore, is regarded as among the finest in his game. As a successful cricket player, he has great attributes, including rigor, teamwork, and coordination. He embodies the core ideals of the sport.

The French workshop Skeleton Concept has done it again with a new partnership with this internationally recognized player. It has created a new product soberly dubbed “Virat Kohli Concept,” similar to its earlier models “The Matuidi” and “The Antonio Brown Concept.”

Skeleton Concept wanted to build this design as a true treasure of sophisticated technology architecture, inspired by a Rolex Daytona 116520. It took 18 months of designing to get such an outcome. The professional watchmakers had pulled together all the best personnel of neighboring watchmaking vocations from the first designs to the finishing touches.

The factory enlisted the help of a sapphire cutter to construct a C-shaped sapphire dial. It also received assistance from a team of skilled artisans to create “positive” micro-engravings. This gave the watch lots of texture, perspective, and charisma.

The Virat Kohli Concept’s bezel was likewise made to order. It’s composed of titanium and has been micro-sandblasted, giving it a patterned appearance. As a result, you get an extraordinarily fine finished rendering with astounding aesthetic and tactile harmony between the elements.

The watch’s mechanism is two-tone, with a prominent ‘Watchmaker’s Blue’ that matches the navy blue Kohli requested, as well as a handcrafted 45-degree bevel in a luxurious steel grey. The movement cutaway has been meticulously crafted and carved to enhance the visibility of the piece’s skeleton.

By coloring the crown, balance wheels, and the movement screws with 24-carat gold, the skilled technicians could bring out the blue employed here. To match the look of the underlying mechanism, the original piece’s displays have been substituted with white-colored markers emphasized in navy blue.

The watch’s casing, which has been revamped and reinterpreted, celebrates the Daytona’s historical codes by deleting the crown covers. For ultimate elegance, they hand-polished the caseback and coated the lugs to achieve a “mirror finished” impression. The numerals 1 and 8 have been emphasized in response to Virat Kohli’s desire. In addition, a secondary navy blue rubber band is included with the watch, which complements the hue of the movement nicely.

Photo: Skeleton Concept