Rapper Drake spotted wearing a Rolex

Drake, the Toronto-born rapper and cultural tastemaker behind the OVO empire, was recently spotted wearing a Rolex Day-Date 36 in 18K yellow gold with a champagne diamond-set dial — reference 118348 — a watch that quietly communicates old-money gravitas in an industry that rarely does anything quietly.

The Rolex Day-Date ref. 118348 sits within the 36mm generation of the Day-Date family, powered by the Rolex Calibre 3155 — a self-winding movement with a 48-hour power reserve, Parachrom hairspring, and Rolex's proprietary Paraflex shock absorbers. The movement beats at 28,800 vph and carries full COSC chronometer certification. Exclusively produced in 18K gold or platinum since its 1956 debut, the Day-Date has never been made in steel, a deliberate policy that preserves the model's prestige positioning within the Rolex catalogue.

The champagne diamond-set dial on this reference is where the 118348 earns its collector attention. Rolex sources and sets the diamonds in-house at their Geneva atelier, selecting stones for colour, clarity, and brilliance under strict internal standards. The result is a dial that catches light without resorting to vulgarity — a distinction that separates genuine Rolex gem-setting from aftermarket modifications that flood the grey market. The President bracelet, standard on Day-Date references, features the iconic semi-circular three-piece links that have defined the model since the 1950s and remain one of the most recognisable bracelet designs in horology.

For Drake, this is consistent territory. The 6 God has built one of hip-hop's most documented watch collections, encompassing Patek Philippe complications, Richard Mille carbon cases, and multiple Rolex references. The Day-Date 118348 reads as the more classicist corner of that collection — a nod to the Presidential watch's decades-long association with power and achievement, worn by figures from Lyndon B. Johnson to Dwight Eisenhower.

On the secondary market, the Day-Date 36 in yellow gold with diamond dials has held its value steadily, buoyed by consistent demand from collectors who prize the model's historical significance over its flashier successors. The 118348 has since been superseded by the Day-Date 36 ref. 128348RBR in the current catalogue, making surviving pre-owned examples increasingly attractive to buyers seeking a purist expression of the Presidential watch at a relative value.