Somewhere Over the Fake Rolex Rainbow Daytona 116595RBOW

Fast forward to the 1980s, Rolex was becoming more known as a luxury watchmaker. Like some of their other sports audemars piguet replica watches, they decided that the famous Daytona deserved the full luxury treatment and released the exceedingly rare reference 6269. The 6269 paired the 6263 case style with a solid gold case and a bezel set with 48 brilliant-cut diamonds along with a dial that was covered by 240 brilliant-cut diamonds. This reference marked the first time Rolex glammed up the Daytona and set the stage for the Rainbow Daytona.

The first modern “Rainbow Daytona” was launched at Basel World in 2023 in white and yellow gold and was produced in extremely limited quantities. It was initially met with some pushback for being too gaudy, but it has become a favorite among watch-obsessed celebrities like John Mayer and Mark Wahlberg since then. Six years later, in 2018, Rolex introduced another Rainbow Daytona-the timepiece we have here-the reference 116595RBOW. This watch differs from its white and yellow gold siblings in two key ways. One, it’s made from Rolex’s proprietary Everrose gold, and two, instead of diamonds, the watch has baguette-cut sapphires for hour indices to match the color gradient of the bezel, giving us just that much more rainbow. The rolex quartz replica was a bit more appreciated this time around and has become a modern Daytona holy grail for many collectors. But like the Rainbow’s and diamond set Daytonas before it, this watch is tough to produce and exceptionally rare.

This may be surprising to those new to the brand, but Rolex making “luxury watches” is a relatively new concept. For most of the brand’s storied history, they were primarily known as a maker of tool/sport watches, rugged and accurate timepieces made to help folks get things done. However, over time their stellar reputation and relentless pursuit of perfection eventually led to them being the luxury objects we know them as today. Sure, they still technically make sports watches but as everyone knows, having a watch with a crown on the dial is unarguably a luxury. Perhaps the ultimate symbol of this evolution from “sport” to “luxury sport” is the rare and opulent solid gold Rolex Rainbow Daytona 116595RBOW, otherwise known as the “Rainbow Daytona.” It’s the ultimate expression of a fun, luxury sports watch, the Rolex way.

History
The original Rolex Daytona was released in the early 1960s as a racing replica audemars piguet. It was made for those involved in motorsports, and that’s who made up a majority of the folks who bought and wore the watch. Over time, however, the reputation of Rolex grew, and unofficial celebrity brand ambassadors like Paul Newman helped the watch become more mainstream.