Watch Paparazzi

Singer The Weeknd spotted wearing Rolex

Abel Tesfaye — The Weeknd — was recently spotted on the wrist game radar wearing a Rolex Day-Date 40 reference 228235 in 18kt Everose gold, the dial set with a full run of baguette-cut diamonds. For a singer whose aesthetic swings between old-Hollywood noir and futurist excess, the choice lands exactly where you'd expect.

The Day-Date 40 ref. 228235 sits at the top of Rolex's precious-metal hierarchy. The 40mm Everose gold case — Rolex's proprietary rose-gold alloy formulated to resist fading — houses calibre 3255, the movement Rolex introduced in 2015 and which remains among the most refined self-winding movements in production. It delivers a 70-hour power reserve, a Chronergy escapement that improves efficiency by roughly 15 percent over its predecessor, and a Syloxi silicon hairspring immune to magnetic interference. Fourteen patents are incorporated into the movement alone.

The baguette diamond dial elevates the ref. 228235 well beyond the standard fluted or smooth gold options. Each rectangular baguette stone is individually hand-set into a grain-set mount, a process that can take a skilled setter several hours per dial. The result is a mosaic of light that reads differently in every environment — stark and architectural under daylight, warm and saturated under stage or studio lighting. Among Day-Date collectors, a full-baguette dial is regarded as both the most visually arresting and the most difficult to source. These configurations sell quickly and command a premium even within the Rolex ecosystem.

The Weeknd's relationship with luxury timepieces is well documented, and the Day-Date is a historically loaded choice. Since its 1956 debut, the model has appeared on the wrists of heads of state, entertainers, and executives — Rolex has never been subtle about positioning it as the 'Presidents' watch'. For an artist of Tesfaye's commercial stature, the symbolism is deliberate.

On the current market, the 228235 with a baguette diamond dial trades well above its already elevated retail price. UK list sits around £30,950, translating to approximately $39,000 USD at standard retail. On the grey market, authenticated examples with diamond dials routinely clear $55,000 to $65,000 depending on dial configuration and condition — demand for jewellery-set Day-Dates has remained resilient even as the broader Rolex secondary market cooled from its 2021–2022 peak.