Watch Paparazzi

Musician DJ Khaled spotted wearing Rolex

Photographed with his wrist raised and the dial unmistakably visible, DJ Khaled is wearing one of the most exotic production Daytonas Rolex has ever released: the Cosmograph Daytona 'Leopard' reference 116598SACO in 18k yellow gold. The sighting places one of the rarest catalogue references from Geneva's most recognised manufacture squarely in the spotlight.

The 116598SACO was introduced as part of Rolex's broader push into exotic-dial territory during the mid-2000s. The 40mm 18k yellow gold case houses the calibre 4130, Rolex's in-house automatic chronograph movement featuring a column wheel, vertical clutch, and a 72-hour power reserve — still considered one of the most reliable and industrially refined chronograph ebauches in series production. The bezel is set with baguette-cut orange sapphires, flanked by rows of round brilliant diamonds on the lugs, while the dial itself reproduces a genuine leopard-skin pattern with gold-tone subdials and diamond-set indices at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 positions.

For serious Rolex collectors, the 'Leopard' sits in a rarefied tier alongside the 'Beach' and 'Panda' exotic-dial Daytonas. Its production numbers were intentionally constrained, and examples seldom surface through authorised dealers. The combination of coloured sapphire bezel, animal-print dial, and matching exotic strap represents a convergence of complications that Rolex almost never repeats — adding to its long-term desirability among completist Daytona collectors.

DJ Khaled has built one of the most documented personal watch collections in music, regularly featuring Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Richard Mille references on social media. His choice of the 'Leopard' Daytona is consistent with a taste for pieces that are simultaneously canonical — this is still, fundamentally, a Daytona — and sufficiently rare to communicate connoisseurship beyond mere spending power.

At original retail the 116598SACO carried a list price in the region of $155,000 USD, though grey-market transactions for clean examples with original strap and box-papers routinely exceed that figure. Current secondary-market estimates place well-preserved examples between $175,000 and $220,000 USD depending on condition and provenance, reflecting sustained collector demand for exotic-dial Daytonas with no signs of softening.