John Mayer Just Wore the Rolex He Made Famous

Skip to main contentA green-dialed Cosmograph Daytona has become deeply associated with the singer-songwriter-guitarist.Getty Images; GQImagine being so far down the Rolex rabbit hole, so heavily Crowned, that you have your own Daytona named after you.Or, at least nicknamed after you, like you’re a modern-day Paul Newman. That’s precisely what happened to John Mayer when he talked up this then-overlooked yellow-gold version of the Daytona with a green dial known as the ref. 116508 back on an episode of Hodinkee’s Talking Watches in 2019. In the video, Mayer called it a sleeper hit but that description wouldn’t be accurate much longer.The singer’s ref. 116508 retailed for $34,650 back in 2016 the “John Mayer” Daytona quickly took off into the stratosphere after the famed singer-songwriter-guitarist name-checked it. Suddenly, secondary-market prices were hitting $70-$100K depending upon condition, the presence of box and papers, etc. The “Mayer Effect,” it would seem, was clearly real.Mayer brought the watch back out this week during his live performance for SiriusXM at The Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, New York. Measuring 40mm in yellow gold, the six-digit 116508 debuted at Baselworld 2016. Though it’s spottable from a mile away with its matching yellow gold Oyster bracelet, tachymeter bezel, and bright green sunray dial with tone-on-tone totalizers, collectors at the time were too focused on the steel-and-ceramic ref. 116500LN that came out the same year to care.Then, in 2023, Rolex discontinued the ref. 116508, replacing it with its successor the ref. 126508. Though similarly fitted with a green dial, the new version boasts contrasting gold subdials, changing its look somewhat from St. Patty’s Day party wear to something slightly more refined. There are other changes, too, though they’re more subtle: while the original’s dial featured a sunray effect, the “John Mayer 2.0” is lacquered to reduce glare.Getty (l.), RolexRoger Federer’s Rolex Oyster Perpetual “Jubilee”Stepping out onto the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium for a practice sesh with Italian sensation Lorenzo Musetti, Roger Federer wore the Oyster Perpetual 41 with “Jubilee” dial, one of the most talked-about releases from this year’s Watches and Wonders. Also available in 36mm and 31mm sizes, it’s done up in 10 bright colors with the letters of “ROLEX” spelled out in contrasting hues, forming a sort of semaphoric grid pattern. Undeniably cheery, it picks up where the “Celebration” dial—the one with the colorful “bubbles” set against a turquoise background—left off. Love it or hate it, it’s a piece of wearable mechanical pop art that’s captured an inordinate amount of horological mindshare…including, evidently, Federer’s.Getty (l.), CartierKaia Gerber’s Panthère de CartierOn Kaia Gerber’s wrist during the US Open was one of “It” watches of—well—all time, the Panthère de Cartier. Worn by the likes of Princess Diana, Madonna—and, these days, by David Jonsson and Taylor Swift—the Panthère is a slightly more industrial alternative to the minimalist Tank. Take Geber’s Mini model, for example: measuring a dainty 25.15 mm x 18.51 mm in a square case, it features a smooth bezel with visible screws; long, curved lugs; a blue cabochon held within a hexagonal crown; and a silver dial with black Arabic indices and blued steel sword hands. A 1980s classic, it’s since made a resurgence on both ladies’ and men’s wrists, where its comfortable bracelet makes it into a particularly comfortable dress watch.Courtesy of Hublot50 Cent’s Hublot Big Bang UnicoRapper 50 Cent is so enamored with Hublot that he wore the same watch to two different events during the same week: appearing at an event at Planet Hollywood in New York, he rocked the Big Bang Unico King Gold 44mm, a sporty precious-metal chronograph with a polished and satin-finished case, a skeletonized dial, and the in-house movement. But a watch this good deserves repeat wears and he put it on again at an Apple Music event in LA. Somehow, despite its gargantuan case proportions, Fiddy manages to make the Big Bang Unico King Gold 44mm look positively dainty.Courtesy of OmegaNicole Kidman’s Omega ConstellationAppearing at the European premiere of her film Practical Magic 2, longtime Omega ambassador Nicole Kidman wore a rare 24mm Constellation in white gold set with a mind-boggling 1,762 diamonds. Every surface of this quartz-powered beauty is set with precious stones, from the bezel to the matching bracelet. The dial, however, is the standout feature: executed with white mother-of-pearl, it features a supernova pattern, with diamonds radiating outward from its center and terminating in diamond-set indices. (Did we mention this thing has lots of diamonds on it?) Measuring 24mm and somehow featuring 100m of water resistance, it’s the perfect watch to take to an underwater gala.Oren Hartov is a GQ contributor covering all things horological. He’s written extensively about celebrity watch culture, waxed poetic about the GMT complication, and railed against case sizes larger than 40mm. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music and a military veteran, he can be found playing the guitar, ... Read More