Watch Paparazzi

Basketball player Anthony Davis spotted wearing Rolex

Anthony Davis arrived at a recent Los Angeles Lakers game wearing a Rolex Oyster Perpetual ref. 124300 with a striking yellow lacquer dial on an Oyster bracelet — a low-key flex that nonetheless stopped watch-spotters in their tracks. The choice of the entry-level Rolex over something far flashier from his likely collection says something about the ref. 124300's quiet cultural authority right now.

Rolex introduced the Oyster Perpetual ref. 124300 in 2020, upgrading the case diameter to 41mm and pairing it with a caliber 3230 movement — the same generation of Rolex's Syloxi hairspring-equipped, Perpetual rotor automatic used across the brand's core sport and dress lines. The movement delivers a 70-hour power reserve, 4Hz beat rate, and Rolex's Chronergy escapement, all certified as a Superlative Chronometer to ±2 seconds per day. Crucially, the ref. 124300 dropped the date complication entirely, embracing the clean, uninterrupted dial that defines the original Oyster Perpetual ethos.

The yellow dial is the piece's headline feature. Rolex drew direct inspiration from the Stella dials produced for the Day-Date between the late 1970s and early 1980s — those lacquered, luminous-colored dials that now command eye-watering prices at auction. The 2020 palette of five colors (turquoise blue, candy pink, yellow, coral red, and green) was an immediate sensation. The yellow variant in particular became the hardest to source, with authorized dealers placing waiting lists that stretched years and grey-market premiums ballooning almost immediately after launch.

For collectors, the ref. 124300 occupies a fascinating position: it is technically Rolex's most accessible steel sports-adjacent reference, yet the colored-dial versions trade at three to four times retail on the secondary market. That inversion of the usual watch-collecting hierarchy — where complications command premiums — speaks to the power of Rolex's dial design and the enduring obsession with Stella-inspired colorways.

At 6-foot-10 and with wrists to match, Davis wears the 41mm Oyster Perpetual ref. 124300 with easy proportion. The Lakers big man has shown a measured taste in watches, and the yellow OP reads as a deliberate, considered choice rather than a statement piece — which, paradoxically, makes it a stronger statement. Official retail sits at $6,150, while grey-market examples in yellow currently trade around $21,000.