The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona, or Rolex Daytona, as everybody calls it, receives two new glamorous versions with inverse mother-of-pearl dials and a diamond-set bezel. Shopping for previous Daytona watches with a similar configuration can be a lot of fun, even if you are spending your imaginary dollars, and as simple a recipe as it may be, it is nevertheless nice to see the Rolex continuing with some of these gently outrageous iterations on its “racing chronograph.”

Gone is the tachymeter scale and in its favor are 36 brilliant-cut diamonds, each selected and set by Rolex’s in-house gemmologists and gem-setters into an 18k white gold bezel. The case is in 18k white gold, too, although, sadly, last year saw the Oystersteel Daytona join the precious metal-cased versions by incorporating their fatter lugs and flatter lug undersides.

The dials are now crafted from wafer-thin mother-of-pearl, which is layered on a brass base — you can imagine there isn’t too much space to work with between the top plate of the movement, the hands, and the inside of the sapphire crystal that covers them all. On reference 126589RBR-0001, we have a white mother-of-pearl dial with black mother-of-pearl subdials, while reference 126579RBR-0001 reverses this with a black mother-of-pearl main dial and white mother-of-pearl subdials. Both versions have brilliant-cut diamonds set into 18k white gold frames. Sadly, gone are the days when Tahitian mother-of-pearl dials were offered on the more plebeian Rolesor (two-tone, steel-gold) versions of the Daytona.

Rolex has also quietly introduced two rather more outlandish and even more generously bedazzled Daytona watches at Watches & Wonders 2024. They are the Rolex Daytona reference, 126538TBR-0003, in 18k yellow gold on an Oysterflex elastomer bracelet, and the Rolex Daytona 126595TBR-0001 in 18k Everose gold on an 18k Everose gold Oyster bracelet. They both feature the same lavish decorations: 36 trapeze-cut diamonds adorn their gold bezels, with another 9 brilliant-cut diamonds set into each lug. These are the real heavy-hitters, as the Rolex Daytona 126538TBR-0003 is priced at $112,500 USD, while the Rolex Daytona 126595TBR-0001 is yet to have its price made available but you can expect it to be at around $130,000 USD.

The Rolex Daytona watches with mother-of-pearl dials and diamonds are priced at $70,100 USD. You can learn more at the brand’s website.