The Rolex Cosmograph Daytona with Tahitian Mother of pearl dial 116509
There’s a lot of chat in the Rolex world about “Sleeper Hits” so I’m adapting this review slightly and adopting the term “Sleeper Bargain” and to illustrate the phrase perfectly, this is the Daytona 116509 in full 18 carat white gold with a spectacular Mother Of pearl Roman dial.
Price-wise it’s the same ballpark as current white gold models on Oysterflex which are good, but are they full gold with a dial straight from nature good for a similar emptying of the wallet?
I’ll leave that one for you to decide, but for me - this one takes the prize.
Stats-wise it is 40mm diameter, 12.5mm thick and 47.5mm lug to lug which keeps things wonderfully well proportioned and suitable for both male and female wrists.
As this is a precious metal piece it has more heft, but also greater warmth and a little more character than its steel counterparts.
The dial is the piece de resistance on this one, as if 18 carat gold wasn’t enough.
It’s a Tahitian mother of pearl dial so you would expect to see some black grey and peacock petrol shades, but this particular selection is exceptional as it has almost the same pale grey base tone as the surrounding white gold with shimmers of pink and pale green that are picked out in shifting light - it’s tonally pretty much perfect.
Mother of pearl is the iridescent lining of a mollusk shell found inside oysters and abalone and has been used to make jewellery as far back as ancient Egypt and the Ming dynasty. It is a hugely popular material because of the way that it shifts and shimmers in changing light to reveal different tones and colours.
It isn’t made from pearl in the stringed balls on a necklace sense but from a substance called “nacre” which is the same material as an actual pearl, but rather than occuring when an oyster coats a grain of sand or a bead to protect itself, the nacre used to make mother of pearl is found lining the shell in an almost sheet like formation (perfect for dials)
I don’t know about you, but for me, there’s something really special about pearl dials. They are a lottery of nature, and completely unique which I find really appealing.
The choice to use un-lumed Roman Numerals here is a great one, as the high polish of the numerals picks up and reflects the tones of the pearly dial. Its a fantastic mix and if I have said this once, I’ve said it a hundred times, Rolex are the absolute masters of combining tones and textures when it comes to dial-work.
This is one of their more subtle choices, but it works so so well.
As this is a 11 reference, it is equipped with the venerable Rolex calibre 4130, a movement that rpowered the Daytona range since the end of the zenith era until its replacement in 2023.
It has a columb wheel chronograph movement meaning no “stutter” when activating the chronograph and features a 72 hour power reserve thanks to an oversized mainspring barrel and uses a ceramic ball bearing rotor for increased winding efficiency with less wear.
Cal 4130 was also the first Rolex movement to receive the Parachrom Hairspring which is made from niobium and zirconium, and is anti magnetic, unaffected by temperature changes and 10 times more resistant to shocks. More to the point, the stability of this new breed of hairspring increased precision enabling +2/-2 timekeeping and superlative chronometer status. It was the pinnacle of Rolex engineering at the time and, I still think that it is unrivalled.
It is comparatively simple, elegant, accurate, easy to maintain and even if you don’t maintain it particularly diligently, this movement will run, and run, and run without fault for years.. and this is the point that I intend to “wrap-up” on.
Rolex watches run and run, and when maintained, they last lifetimes and beyond, so depending on what you find aesthetically pleasing, you can find one of the latest greatest releases, or you can keep an eye on the back catalogue and find something a bit different, and seriously cool for a similar outlay.
In this instance, my money is on the MOP dial.