Artist Rawan Bin Hussain spotted wearing a Rolex

Rawan Bin Hussain, the Kuwaiti artist and influencer known for her bold aesthetic sensibility, was recently seen wearing one of Rolex's most architecturally striking dress watches — the Day-Date 40 reference 228348RBR in 18ct yellow gold, a piece that retails at the $100,000 mark and sits near the apex of the Geneva manufacture's commercial lineup.

The Rolex Day-Date 40 ref. 228348RBR is built around a 40mm Oyster case crafted entirely in 18ct yellow gold, water-resistant to 100 metres. The black dial is punctuated by 10 baguette-cut diamond hour markers, delivering a high-contrast graphic tension that the gold case amplifies rather than softens. The bezel is set with brilliant-cut diamonds, a factory configuration that Rolex executes with its characteristically tight, consistent stone placement. Powering the watch is the in-house calibre 3255, a movement Rolex introduced in 2015 featuring a Chronergy escapement, 70-hour power reserve, and a 14-patent architecture that represents the brand's most significant movement engineering leap in decades.

The Day-Date lineage begins in 1956, when Rolex debuted the model as the first watch in history to display the full day of the week spelled out — not abbreviated — alongside the date, each in its own aperture at 12 and 3 o'clock respectively. Exclusive to precious metal cases from its very first generation, the Day-Date has never been offered in steel, a deliberate positioning that has kept its cultural weight intact across nearly seven decades. Reference 228348RBR belongs to the current 40mm generation introduced in 2015, replacing the long-running 36mm ref. 118388.

For collectors, the diamond-set variants of the Day-Date 40 occupy a specific niche: they are rarely the entry point into Rolex collecting, but they represent a confident, fully-committed statement for buyers who view the Day-Date as both a horological artifact and a wearable luxury object. The combination of baguette markers and a diamond bezel on ref. 228348RBR is among the more requested factory configurations.

Rawan Bin Hussain's choice of the Day-Date 40 ref. 228348RBR is consistent with her public profile — visually deliberate, unambiguously luxurious. On the grey market, heavily set Rolex Day-Date 40 references in yellow gold with diamond bezels have traded at or above retail, reflecting consistent demand for factory-set Rolex precious metal pieces.