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Stuff / News / Forget luxury watches – England World Cup star spotted wearing a $20 watch icon

Forget luxury watches – England World Cup star spotted wearing a $20 watch icon

Ahead of England's biggest game in years, Eberechi Eze swapped diamonds for a digital classic – and it's not even the first time

Eze training
Image credit: Richard Pelham / Stringer

This World Cup, just like Wimbledon, has been an absolute goldmine for watch spotting. Lionel Messi has been photographed wearing Rolex Daytona, Harry Kane showed off Patek Philippe’s newest Nautilus, Saka has been wearing a white gold meteorite-dial Rolex GMT, and Jude Bellingham has rotated between Patek Philippe and Rolex watches throughout the tournament.

One England star, Eberechi Eze, doesn’t do flash, though, not even before a heartbreaking World Cup semi-final.

The Arsenal midfielder was spotted training with England ahead of their huge clash with Argentina in Atlanta. And on his wrist? A Casio W-59 (not the more common F-91W). It’s about as far from footballer bling as you can get.

The W-59 is a proper budget classic. You get a simple digital display, resin strap, alarm and stopwatch functions. You can pick one up for around $20 in the US or £18 in the UK.

Casio W-59-1V on white background

Eze has stuck with the same understated look through the biggest week of his career so far. It certainly says something about the player, while some players turn up dripping in diamonds, Eze is a lot more practical and down to earth.

Should you need to take your watch off, you can quickly stuff a W-59 in a kit bag without worrying it’s going to get damaged or taken.

Best of all, this isn’t the first time Eze has been spotted wearing a budget wristwatch either.

Back in August, when Eze was unveiled as an Arsenal player, he wore a green Casio MQ-24. That watch retails for around US$30/£25.

Fans noticed straight away, and it became a bit of a moment online, with people praising him for keeping things real.

Eze training
Image credit: Richard Pelham / Stringer

I think it’s genuinely refreshing, and it also fits the story England are telling right now, with Thomas Tuchel building a balanced team, rather than picking the most talented individual players.

You can pick up Eze’s watch below, but don’t expect it to make you play like him.

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About

As Buying Guide Editor, Spencer is responsible for all e-commerce content on Stuff, overseeing buying guides as well as covering deals and new product launches. Spencer has been writing about consumer tech for over eight years. He has worked on some of the biggest publications in the UK, where he covered everything from the emergence of smartwatches to the arrival of self-driving cars. During this time, Spencer has become a seasoned traveller, racking up air miles while travelling around the world reviewing cars, attending product launches, and covering every trade show known to man, from Baselworld and Geneva Motor Show to CES and MWC. While tech remains one of his biggest passions, Spencer also enjoys getting hands-on with the latest luxury watches, trying out new grooming kit, and road-testing all kinds of vehicles, from electric scooters to supercars.

Areas of expertise

Watches, travel, grooming, transport, tech