Basketball player Dirk Nowitzki spotted wearing a Rolex

At the 2020 Laureus World Sports Awards in Berlin, Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki collected his trophy in a classic black tuxedo — and on his wrist, sharp-eyed observers caught the unmistakable silhouette of a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona 116500LN. The stainless Oyster bracelet and high-contrast white dial with black sub-registers — the so-called 'panda' configuration — were clearly visible as he held the award, making this one of the cleaner celebrity Daytona sightings in recent memory.

The reference 116500LN, launched at Baselworld 2016, represents a watershed moment for the Daytona lineage. Rolex replaced the long-running aluminum tachymeter bezel insert with a black Cerachrom ceramic unit — scratch-resistant, UV-stable, and vastly more durable than its predecessor. The case measures 40mm in Oystersteel and houses the in-house Calibre 4130 automatic movement, a column-wheel, vertical-clutch chronograph engine beating at 28,800 vph with a 72-hour power reserve. Its architecture is cleaner and more reliable than the earlier Zenith-based Cal. 4030, and the absence of a horizontal clutch eliminates the 'jump' at chronograph start — a subtle but meaningful refinement collectors appreciate.

From a collector standpoint, the 116500LN white-dial variant occupies a near-mythological position in the market. It is the watch that fundamentally broke the relationship between retail price and real-world availability. Authorized dealer allocations remain vanishingly rare, and the grey market has sustained a premium of roughly 60–80% above retail for years. The panda dial, referencing the original 6263 and 6265 references of the 1970s, carries enormous historical resonance and visual immediacy.

Nowitzki, a 21-season NBA veteran and 2011 Finals MVP, is known for his disciplined, low-key approach both on and off the court. Choosing the 116500LN — a watch that signals taste and substance without ostentation — reads as entirely consistent with his public persona. He wore it with quiet confidence, the watch doing exactly what a great timepiece should: complementing the moment without dominating it.

At an official Rolex retail price of $13,750, the 116500LN sits at an increasingly difficult-to-justify discount to its street value. Grey-market examples currently trade around $22,500–$24,000 depending on condition and provenance, with full-set, unworn examples pushing higher. For a watch still in active production, that premium is a remarkable testament to sustained global demand.