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rapper Snoop Dogg spotted wearing a Rolex

Rapper Snoop Dogg spotted wearing Rolex

25/12/2022

Description: Rolex Day-Date II President 218238 41mm 18k Yellow Gold Full Diamond Pave Dial – Snoop Dogg
Brand: Rolex
Ref: unknown
List Price: unknown
Market Price (estimated): $46,000
See this watch: eBay  |  Watch accessories & books: accessories · books

Courtside at an NBA game, Snoop Dogg was photographed holding a bucket of popcorn and, more relevantly to this publication, wearing a Rolex Day-Date II President in 18k yellow gold with a full pavé diamond dial — one of the brand's most recognizable configurations and a fixture in hip-hop's luxury lexicon for decades.

The watch in question is the Day-Date II reference 218238, produced by Rolex between 2008 and 2015 before being superseded by the Day-Date 40. The 41mm case — a deliberate step up from the classic 36mm Day-Date — houses the caliber 3156 automatic movement, featuring a 48-hour power reserve and Rolex's Parachrom hairspring. The President bracelet, with its three-piece semi-circular links, remains exclusive to the Day-Date line and is synonymous with political and entertainment power.

What makes this particular example notable is the execution of the dial. The full pavé configuration covers every square millimeter of the dial surface in brilliant-cut diamonds, with large Roman numeral indices rendered in polished yellow gold providing legibility against the stone-set background. The bezel amplifies the effect further, set with a single row of substantial round diamonds — the combination creates a dial-and-bezel assembly that demands attention without departing from Rolex's precise, conservative architecture.

The Day-Date's collector reputation is stratified. Purists favor the 36mm references; the 218238 attracts buyers who want the larger contemporary proportions without abandoning yellow gold tradition. The diamond dial variants, once considered ostentatious by conservative collectors, have been significantly rehabilitated by a younger generation of enthusiasts influenced precisely by hip-hop culture's long-standing adoption of the model.

Snoop Dogg's relationship with Rolex and high jewelry is well-documented. The rapper has appeared publicly in Presidential Rolexes across multiple decades, making the courtside sighting at once unsurprising and entirely on-brand. The ref. 218238 in this full-diamond configuration carries an official retail value of approximately $46,000 USD, with grey market pricing running notably higher as the model is no longer in production.


watchmaker Jacob Arabo spotted wearing a Jacob & Co

Jacob Arabo wearing Jacob & Co

Jacob & Co Opera Godfather '50th Anniversary' in 18-carat white gold, with an engraved "Godfather 50 years" logo on the case back

Ref. unknown List Price: $500,000

20/07/2023