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singerSpotted May 2023

Singer Maluma spotted wearing a Rolex

singer Maluma spotted wearing a Rolex 218238
Who & what: Rolex Day-Date II 18K Yellow Gold President Roman Numeral Champagne Dial 41mm Ref. 218238

Maluma was recently spotted wearing a Rolex Day-Date II in 18K yellow gold, reference 218238, complete with a champagne dial set with Roman numeral hour markers and the brand's signature President bracelet. For an artist whose aesthetic is built on unapologetic opulence, the choice is entirely coherent — this is perhaps the single most recognizable luxury watch on earth.

The Day-Date II ref. 218238 was introduced in 2008 as a larger, 41mm evolution of the original 39mm Day-Date, addressing a market that had shifted toward bigger case sizes without abandoning the model's core DNA. Powering it is the Rolex calibre 3156, a self-winding movement with a 48-hour power reserve, Parachrom hairspring, and Rolex's own Paraflex shock absorbers — a robust, in-house manufacture movement built to COSC chronometer standards. The case and integrated President bracelet are crafted entirely from 18K yellow gold, a non-negotiable for this reference. Rolex has never made a Day-Date in steel or two-tone; exclusivity is structural, not cosmetic.

The champagne dial with Roman numerals is among the most classically requested configurations in the Day-Date family. Roman numerals carry a strong heritage association — they appear on some of the earliest Day-Date references from the 1950s and 60s — and in combination with the warm tone of the 18K gold case, the result is a dial that reads as simultaneously traditional and dominant. Collectors regard the ref. 218238 as a definitive generation of the Day-Date before Rolex transitioned to the current 40mm Day-Date 40 (ref. 228238) in 2015.

Maluma's watch wardrobe runs predictably heavy, and the Day-Date fits naturally alongside the kind of diamond-set pieces and high-complication sports watches frequently seen on his wrist. The Colombian singer has built a global brand around a lifestyle of visible success, and the President — as the Day-Date is colloquially known — has carried that symbolic weight since it graced the wrists of Lyndon B. Johnson and beyond.

At retail, the Rolex Day-Date II ref. 218238 with Roman numeral champagne dial carries a list price of approximately $34,850. On the secondary market, yellow gold Day-Date IIs in desirable dial configurations trade at or modestly above retail, reflecting steady collector demand and the model's enduring status as the benchmark prestige dress watch in Swiss horology.

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