Pep Guardiola’s $1.26m watch makes headlines after Champions League match

By Issy Ronald, CNN

(CNN) — While Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was watching his team play Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday, his watch was making headlines around the world.

Guardiola was wearing an extravagant Richard Mille watch worth £1 million ($1.26 million) on his wrist at Madrid’s Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, according to TNT Sports, which is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent company.

The limited-edition timepiece — one of only 50 ever made — is the lightest mechanical watch ever made, according to the designer, weighing only 18.83 grams including the strap. That’s equivalent to about four sheets of A4 or US letter-size paper.

It was originally designed for 22-time Grand Slam tennis champion Rafael Nadal to wear while playing and so every element was carefully engineered to minimize its weight.

The monobloc back of the watch is made from carbon, making it resistant to shocks and scratches as well as incredibly light, while the titanium baseplate is attached to the case by four steel cables, each just 0.35mm (0.01 inches) in diameter.

Guardiola often wins plaudits for his style on the sidelines, and his love of fashion dates back to early in his footballing career; in 1993, while playing for Barcelona FC he trod the catwalk for Spanish designer Antonio Miró.

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CNN’s Ben Church contributed to this report.