Watch Paparazzi

Entrepreneur Marco Tronchetti Provera spotted wearing Rolex

Marco Tronchetti Provera, CEO and chairman of the Pirelli Group, was spotted wearing a white gold Rolex Cosmograph Daytona reference 116509 featuring the coveted 'Racing' dial configuration — a detail that immediately elevates this sighting beyond a routine executive watch appearance.

The Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ref. 116509 sits at the top tier of the modern Daytona family. Cased in 18k white gold measuring 40mm, the reference was introduced in the early 2000s as part of Rolex's broader transition of the Daytona line away from the Zenith El Primero-based movement. It houses the in-house Calibre 4130, a column-wheel chronograph movement with a vertical clutch, offering approximately 72 hours of power reserve and a beat rate of 28,800 vph. The movement is widely regarded as one of the most technically refined and reliable chronograph calibres in serial production.

The 'Racing' dial variant — featuring Arabic numerals at the quarter-hour positions and, critically, red lacquer on the chronograph hands and subsidiary seconds hand — was produced in limited numbers and has since been discontinued. The contrast between the silver dial, white gold case, and those red hands gives the watch an immediate visual identity that plain-index versions simply cannot match. Among Daytona collectors, the Racing dial configuration on a precious-metal ref. 116509 is considered a genuinely desirable combination, occupying a different stratum from the standard white gold execution.

Tronchetti Provera is one of Italy's most prominent industrialists, having steered Pirelli through restructurings and international partnerships across decades at the helm. His taste for understated, technically serious horology fits the profile: the Daytona ref. 116509 Racing dial is not a flashy novelty but a discontinued, substantive reference that rewards knowledge.

On the secondary market, the white gold Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ref. 116509 with Racing dial trades at a meaningful premium over its original retail price, reflecting both the discontinuation of the reference and the scarcity of the specific dial variant. Collectors seeking this combination must rely entirely on the grey market, auctions, or private sales — official Rolex boutiques can no longer supply it.