Watch Paparazzi

Rapper Drake spotted wearing Rolex

Drake was recently spotted wearing the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona in 18-karat yellow gold, Reference 116508, fitted with a mother-of-pearl dial — one of the most optically striking dial options Rolex has offered on the Daytona platform and a configuration that commands serious attention both on the wrist and in the collector market.

The Ref. 116508 sits at the top of Rolex's Daytona catalog as a full precious-metal proposition. Its 40mm yellow gold case houses the manufacture Calibre 4130, a column-wheel, vertical-clutch chronograph movement that Rolex introduced in 2000 to replace the outsourced Zenith El Primero ebauche. The 4130 offers a 72-hour power reserve and is regarded by watchmakers as one of the most robust and serviceable chronograph calibres in production. The mother-of-pearl dial — sourced from natural shell and therefore unique in its exact patterning from piece to piece — sets this reference apart from the more conventional champagne or black dial variants.

The Cosmograph Daytona was born in 1963, originally as a tool watch for professional racing drivers in partnership with the Daytona International Speedway. Decades of scarcity, waitlists, and a Paul Newman auction world record ($17.75 million in 2017) transformed it into modern horology's most culturally loaded reference. The 116508 with mother-of-pearl is particularly sought after because the dial combination reads as both sporty and genuinely luxurious — a tension that few watches resolve as cleanly.

Drake's relationship with high horology is well-established. The Toronto-born artist has been photographed in Audemars Piguet Royal Oaks, Patek Philippe Nautiluses, and a range of diamond-set custom pieces. The Daytona Ref. 116508 represents a more classically oriented choice within his collection — statement enough in yellow gold, but grounded in one of watchmaking's most legitimate sporting chronograph lineages.

On the market, the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Ref. 116508 with mother-of-pearl dial carries an official retail price in the region of $43,000. On the secondary market, strong collector demand and Rolex's perpetual supply constraints push grey-market values considerably higher, with examples trading between $65,000 and $80,000 depending on condition and box-and-papers status.