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singerSpotted November 2022

Singer Lenny Kravitz spotted wearing a Rolex

singer Lenny Kravitz spotted wearing a Rolex
Who & what: Rolex Cosmograph Daytona 116523 Custom – Les Artisans De Genève x Lenny Kravitz 'Kravitz Design' LK01 (DLC Black / Yellow Gold, Limited to 55 Pieces)

Few celebrity watch collaborations carry genuine creative credibility, but the Les Artisans De Genève x Lenny Kravitz LK01 stands apart. Kravitz — a multi-instrumentalist who personally builds guitars and designs furniture — approached the Geneva customisation specialist with a clear vision: take the iconic Rolex Daytona and strip away its conventional luxury codes, replacing polish with darkness and drama. The result was photographed here on the artist's wrist, worn with the effortless confidence of a man who didn't just buy the watch, but conceived it.

The LK01 is based on the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona reference 116523, the steel and yellow-gold variant housing the in-house Calibre 4130 automatic movement — a column-wheel, vertical-clutch chronograph widely regarded as one of the finest in production watchmaking. The case and black aluminium bezel received a full DLC (diamond-like carbon) coating, eliminating all reflective surfaces except where Kravitz wanted them: the yellow-gold pushers, crown, sub-dial ring accents, and applied hour markers cut through the blackout treatment with deliberate theatricality. The black dial carries the 'Kravitz Design' signature at six o'clock beneath the Daytona name, and the watch sits on a bespoke black leather cuff strap — a detail that amplifies the piece's rock-and-roll character without abandoning its Swiss foundation.

Les Artisans De Genève, founded in Geneva, specialises in legitimate high-complication and aesthetic customisation of existing Swiss references, working on donor watches supplied by or sourced for clients. Their output is small-batch, technically rigorous, and increasingly collected on its own terms — separate from the grey-market ecosystem that governs standard production Rolexes.

For collectors, the LK01 occupies rare territory: a genuine limited edition of just 55 pieces, numbered and designed collaboratively with a culturally significant figure who has a documented history with design across multiple disciplines. It is not a rapper's vanity project or a brand marketing exercise — it is a considered object.

On the secondary market, examples of the LK01 surface infrequently. Given the 55-piece edition size, the Daytona 116523 donor value (itself trading above retail), and the provenance of the collaboration, acquisition today requires patience and the right connections. Retail at launch was approximately £34,000 — a figure that now reads conservative.

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