Musician Dave Navarro spotted wearing a Rolex

Dave Navarro, best known as the incendiary lead guitarist of Jane's Addiction and a veteran of Red Hot Chili Peppers, was photographed wearing the then-newly released Rolex Cosmograph Daytona reference 116500LN — a watch that had just reshaped collector expectations for the entire chronograph category when it debuted at Baselworld 2016.

The 116500LN is housed in Rolex's proprietary Oystersteel, measuring 40mm and water-resistant to 100 metres. Its defining feature is the black Cerachrom ceramic bezel, machined from a single piece of virtually scratch-proof zirconium oxide and fitted with a tachymetric scale filled with PVD-deposited platinum. The dial on Navarro's piece appears to be the black-on-black configuration, pairing a gloss black dial with contrasting black subdials — one of the two launch variants alongside the white panda dial. Beneath the caseback sits Calibre 4130, Rolex's entirely in-house chronograph movement featuring a column-wheel mechanism, vertical clutch for clean starts and stops, and a 72-hour power reserve. It replaced the previously used modified Zenith El Primero ebauche and represented Rolex's full assertion of manufacture independence in the chronograph space.

From a collector standpoint, the 116500LN achieved something rare: it eclipsed its predecessor, the reference 116520, almost instantly. The ceramic bezel addressed longtime criticisms about aluminium fading, while Calibre 4130's in-house provenance silenced purists. Waiting lists at authorised dealers stretched to five or more years in most markets, and grey-market premiums ballooned well beyond twice retail — a dynamic that has partially moderated but never fully corrected.

Navarro's affinity for bold, high-specification watches tracks logically with his persona — tattooed, precise, unapologetically rock — and the 116500LN's combination of technical rigour and visual aggression suits his aesthetic without any strain.

At launch, UK list price sat at £8,250, translating to roughly $13,000 USD at period exchange rates. On the secondary market, even as supply has gradually improved through subsequent years, the reference 116500LN in steel continues to command meaningful premiums, particularly in the black-dial configuration, reflecting its status as one of the defining sports watches of the modern Rolex era.