Mikal Bridges Gave His Knicks Teammates 17 Rolexes: The "Bruce Wayne" GMT-Master II Explained
Last updated: June 2026
Mikal Bridges bought all 17 of his New York Knicks teammates a Rolex for Christmas. The watch was the Rolex GMT-Master II "Bruce Wayne," reference 126710GRNR, the steel GMT with the black-and-grey Cerachrom bezel. Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart confirmed the gift on their Roommates Show podcast, and at secondary-market prices the bill runs comfortably north of $400,000. As watch dealers, the detail we keep coming back to is not the price tag. It is that you cannot walk into a Rolex dealer and buy 17 of the same sport model at retail. That part is worth explaining.
The gift came with a backstory. According to Hart, the Knicks run an unwritten locker-room tradition: any player making $20 million a year or more is on the hook to buy every teammate a gift. Bridges signed a four-year, $150 million extension last summer that pays him $25.4 million this season, which put him over the line. He answered with 17 Rolexes. Brunson, watching the bar get set, summed up where that leaves him: "Yeah, so next year I have to do something."
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What Happened: 17 Rolexes for Christmas
The story came out on the Roommates Show, the podcast Brunson and Hart have run together since their Villanova days. Hart told it as a reveal: the team had spent the season giving Bridges grief about being tight with money, and then the holiday gifts landed. "Everybody got Rolexes for Christmas," Hart said. He had not seen it coming. He spotted a London jeweller bag and figured it might be a pendant or something small. Then he opened a watch box. "Ooh, we up."
Seventeen players, seventeen Rolexes, all the same reference. Getting that done is harder than it sounds, and not because of the money. We will get to why in a minute. First, the watch.
The Watch: Rolex GMT-Master II "Bruce Wayne" 126710GRNR
Both Brunson and Hart got the Rolex GMT-Master II reference 126710GRNR, the steel model collectors call the "Bruce Wayne." The nickname comes from the bezel: a black-and-grey Cerachrom insert that reads as understated next to Rolex's louder two-tone GMT bezels like the blue-and-red "Pepsi" or the black-and-blue "Batman." Black and grey, Bruce Wayne, the quiet one. Watch media including Professional Watches confirmed the reference from Brunson's own footage, identifying it as the 126710GRNR on the Oyster bracelet.
This is the modern GMT-Master II in 40mm Oystersteel: the in-house 3285 movement, a 24-hour bezel, and the independent local-hour hand that made the GMT a pilot's and traveler's watch in the first place. It is a genuine tool watch that happens to be one of the hardest steel Rolexes to actually buy. The "GRNR" in the reference is Rolex's code for the grey-and-black bezel, and it comes two ways: the Oyster bracelet (the version the Knicks got) and the dressier Jubilee.
The Rolex GMT-Master II "Bruce Wayne" 126710GRNR on Oyster, the exact reference and bracelet the Knicks received. In stock at Watches Off 5th.
The Rolex GMT-Master II "Bruce Wayne" 126710GRNR up close, the same reference the Knicks received.
Rolex's list price on the 126710GRNR sits around $11,000 to $12,000 depending on the bracelet. You will almost never pay that, and that gap is the whole point of this story. On the secondary market the Oyster "Bruce Wayne" trades roughly in the $19,000 to $20,000 range, with the Jubilee a notch higher, according to WatchCharts. It corrected down from a 2024 peak above $30,000, but it still sells fast and still trades well over retail. We have the Oyster version in stock at $23,800.
The NBA's $20 Million Gift Rule
The part that turned this into a league-wide talking point is the rule Hart described. There is no official policy anywhere, but inside the Knicks locker room the understanding is simple: cross $20 million in annual salary and you are expected to buy a gift for everyone on the team. It is a veteran's tax, the price of admission to the top of the pay scale.
Bridges qualified the moment his extension kicked in. So instead of the usual hoodies or sneakers, he set a new high-water mark with 17 GMT-Master IIs. That is why Brunson, himself a max-contract player and Finals MVP, did the math out loud and landed on "next year I have to do something." When the reigning Finals MVP is sweating the gift budget, you know the bar moved. For the record, Brunson has his own deep collection, which we broke down separately in our guide to Jalen Brunson's watches.
Why You Can't Just Buy 17 Rolexes
Here is the part the sports coverage skips. Walking into a Rolex authorized dealer and buying 17 GMT-Master IIs is not a thing that happens. Steel sport Rolexes like this one are allocated, not stocked. Authorized dealers receive a trickle of them, sell them to established clients, and run waitlists that stretch for years on the popular references. Nobody is handing one person 17 of the same hot model off the shelf in time for Christmas.
So Bridges did what anyone needing real watches on a real deadline does: he went to the secondary market. That is the market we work in every day. When you need 17 of one reference to show up before the holidays, they come from dealers holding actual inventory, not from a dealer counter with a clipboard. And the premium over retail, that jump from roughly $11,000 to around $20,000, is not a markup for its own sake. It is the cost of getting the watch now instead of getting on a list. Demand outruns what Rolex makes, and the secondary price is where supply and demand actually meet.
It is the same reason we stay stocked on the references people actually want. The "Bruce Wayne" is one of them. We keep the 126710GRNR in both bracelets, the Oyster that the Knicks got and the Jubilee, ready to ship today.
And if you are the one playing Mikal Bridges, needing a dozen or more matching watches by a real date, that is corporate gifting, and it is a service we run. Our corporate gifting program supplies Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet in bulk for team gifts, year-end bonuses, and milestone awards, matching sets or a mix, with an upfront quote on pricing and timeline before you commit. Whether it is one Bruce Wayne or seventeen, we can put the watches in hand. That is the kind of order an authorized dealer simply cannot fill, and it is one we do.
SHOP THE GMT-MASTER II COLLECTION BULK & CORPORATE GIFTING
The Receipts: What 17 Bruce Waynes Cost
Run the numbers at secondary-market prices and the headline figure holds up. Even assuming a volume discount on a buy that size, 17 examples of a reference trading above $20,000 lands north of $400,000. The exact total depends on the bracelet mix and the deal Bridges cut, and nobody has put a hard receipt on it, so treat the figure as an informed estimate rather than a confirmed number.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Watch | Rolex GMT-Master II "Bruce Wayne" 126710GRNR (Oyster) |
| Recipients | 17 Knicks teammates |
| Rolex retail | ~$11,000–$12,000 each |
| Secondary market | ~$23,000 each (WatchCharts, June 2026) |
| Estimated total | $400,000+ at secondary prices |
| The reason for it | Unwritten Knicks rule: $20M+ salary buys the team a gift |
However Bridges sourced them, the move worked. A guy his teammates had spent a season calling cheap bought all 17 of them the same Rolex collectors wait years to get from an authorized dealer. That is the kind of gift that ends the joke.
Sources: The Roommates Show podcast (Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart) for the gift reveal, the "everybody got Rolexes for Christmas" account, and the $20 million team-gift tradition, as reported by Basketball Network and Yahoo Sports. Professional Watches for independent identification of the Rolex GMT-Master II "Bruce Wayne" reference 126710GRNR from Brunson's footage. WatchCharts (June 2026) for secondary-market pricing on the 126710GRNR. Contract figures (four-year, $150 million extension; $25.4 million for the 2025-26 season) via standard NBA salary reporting. Retail figures reflect brand or media-reported pricing; secondary-market pricing varies by condition, year, and dealer. The total-spend figure is an informed estimate, not a confirmed receipt. Any value commentary reflects our experience in the trade and is not financial advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Rolex did Mikal Bridges give his Knicks teammates?
The Rolex GMT-Master II "Bruce Wayne," reference 126710GRNR, in steel with the black-and-grey Cerachrom bezel. Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart confirmed on their Roommates Show podcast that all 17 teammates received one, and watch media identified the reference on the Oyster bracelet.
How much did 17 Rolexes cost Mikal Bridges?
At secondary-market prices, where the 126710GRNR trades around $19,000 to $20,000, 17 examples land north of $400,000 even with a likely volume discount. The watch's Rolex retail is only about $11,000 to $12,000, but these trade well above list. No hard receipt has been confirmed, so the total is an informed estimate.
Why is it called the "Bruce Wayne" Rolex?
It is a collector nickname for the GMT-Master II 126710GRNR, named for its black-and-grey bezel, the quiet, understated colorway compared to Rolex's "Pepsi" (blue and red) and "Batman" (black and blue) GMTs. Black and grey reads as Bruce Wayne, the low-key version.
What is the NBA's $20 million gift rule?
It is an unwritten Knicks locker-room tradition, described by Josh Hart, where any player earning $20 million or more a year is expected to buy a gift for every teammate. Mikal Bridges crossed that threshold with his new contract and answered with 17 Rolexes, which is why Brunson joked he now has to top it next year.
Can you actually buy 17 Rolexes at once?
Not from a Rolex authorized dealer. Steel sport models like the GMT-Master II are allocated in small numbers and sold to established clients off long waitlists, so no one buys 17 of the same reference off the shelf. The realistic way to get them, especially on a deadline, is the secondary market, which is where the over-retail premium comes from.
Where can I buy the Rolex GMT-Master II "Bruce Wayne"?
Watches Off 5th keeps the 126710GRNR in stock in both the Oyster bracelet (the version the Knicks received) and the Jubilee, ready to ship. Because these trade above retail and rarely sit at an authorized dealer, buying pre-owned or grey-market is the practical route. Browse our GMT-Master II collection or reach out for current pricing.
Can a company order matching watches in bulk like Mikal Bridges did?
Yes. Watches Off 5th runs a corporate gifting program that supplies Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet in volume for team gifts, year-end bonuses, and milestone awards, in matching sets or a mix. You get an upfront quote on pricing and timeline before committing. It is the realistic way to source a dozen or more of one reference, which an authorized dealer cannot do.