Royal Tunku Ismail Ibni Sultan Ibrahim spotted wearing a Rolex

Photographed against a lush fairway backdrop with the sea visible in the distance, Crown Prince of Johor Tunku Ismail Ibni Sultan Ibrahim — widely known as TMJ — wore a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona reference 116508 in 18k yellow gold, featuring the classic champagne dial with black chronograph sub-registers. The combination is instantly recognisable as one of the most historically significant colour pairings in the Daytona family.

The reference 116508 was introduced as part of the 2016 Baselworld refresh and became the standard yellow gold Daytona bearer for the modern era, superseding the earlier 116528. Its 40mm oyster case in 18k yellow gold houses the tachymeter-engraved yellow gold bezel — here in its black-figured variant — and pairs with the integrated Oyster bracelet. The champagne dial with black subsidiary dials echoes the so-called 'Paul Newman' aesthetic that first made full-gold Daytonas collector icons in the 1970s, brought forward in contemporary finish quality. Critically, the 116508 runs on Rolex's in-house Calibre 4130, a column-wheel vertical-clutch movement with 72 hours of power reserve and a COSC-certified 4Hz beat rate — a significant technical leap from the Zenith-based Calibre 3035 and 4030 of predecessor references.

For collectors, the full yellow gold Daytona occupies a particular tier. It requires patience at authorised dealers, where allocation is tightly controlled, yet trades vigorously on the secondary market at multiples above retail. The champagne-and-black dial configuration is considered the more refined of the two standard colour options, carrying stronger resale premiums than the white-dial variant. Provenance matters here too: a royal wearing a reference that is simultaneously a motorsport tool and a status object says something about the Daytona's unique cross-category appeal.

TMJ, the Crown Prince of Johor, is one of Malaysia's most visible royal figures and has a well-documented appreciation for high-specification timepieces and vehicles. His choice of the 116508 in this setting — casual, outdoors, coastal — reinforces that the full-gold Daytona has transcended its motorsport origins to function as an all-occasion anchor piece for serious collectors.

At a list price of approximately $41,800 USD, the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona 116508 commands grey-market premiums that have historically pushed transaction prices well above $60,000 in active markets, though fluctuations in 2023–2024 have moderated some of that heat. It remains, by any measure, one of the benchmark pieces in modern Swiss watchmaking.