Rolex Daytona Rainbow: When An Icon Goes Colorfully Gem-Set

Aside from the watch that was made legendary by Paul Newman — and which would forever, unofficially, carry the famous actor’s name — there is probably no version of the Rolex Daytona that is more coveted than the “Rainbow” models that bring a meticulously designed and eye-catchingly beautiful assortment of colorful precious stones to the bezel, case, and dial of the motorsport-inspired luxury chronograph. Here is the story behind the Rolex Daytona “Rainbow” and why it has become yet another smash hit for the Crown in the 21st Century. 

To start off, it’s worth answering the question, “Why is the Rolex Daytona so famous in the first place?” The model’s success story begins in 1962, when Rolex, hot on the heels of other genre-defining watch releases like the Explorer, GMT-Master, and Submariner several years earlier, became the official timekeeper of the “Great American Race,” the Daytona 500. In celebration of the partnership, the Swiss brand introduced its original “Cosmograph” racing-inspired chronograph watch the following year. The watch, notable for its tachymeter bezel and three-register dial design, adopted the name “Daytona” shortly thereafter and really took the enthusiast community by storm when actor, director, and part-time racecar driver Paul Newman began wearing one regularly. Newman became a big-screen icon in the 1970s, around the same time that auto racing took off in popularity as a spectator sport, and this confluence of events helped elevate the profile of the Rolex Daytona and other racing-inspired watches in the enthusiast community.

Today, the Rolex Daytona is one of the most popular, most recognizable, and most coveted watches in the world, with new models commanding potentially years-long waitlists for prospective owners, and vintage models setting records on the auction block. A “Paul Newman” Daytona owned by the actor himself fetched a record $17.8 million at auction in 2017, making it one of the most expensive watches ever sold. Meanwhile, Rolex continues to maintain the watch’s high profile as a timekeeping partner of races such as the Daytona 500 and 24 Hours of Le Mans, awarding personalized Daytonas to the winning drivers and their teams. All these factors considered, it’s not surprising that Rolex has created numerous iterations of the Daytona over the decades, some of which even take the watch far from its utilitarian roots into distinctly opulent territory. The most noteworthy of these are the “Rainbow” editions that have become a somewhat unlikely favorite during their relatively short tenure in the collection.

Rolex Daytona “Zenith” Rainbow (1994)

Photo: Phillips

While the Rainbow Daytona series officially traces its starting point to 2012, Rolex’s first foray into luxurious gemsetting on its sporty chronograph saw the light of day way back in 1994, during an era where both Rolex and the watch industry at large were quite different. The Daytona Ref. 16599SAAEC was a white-gold watch made on request for a client in Saudi Arabia. The “SAAEC” in its lengthy reference number stands for “saphir arc-en-ciel,” which in French means “sapphire rainbow.” This unique piece was, as far as is known, the first gem-set model of the Daytona, though not the first of the Crown’s Oyster Perpetual watches to be so adorned, as Rolex had been making Day-Date models bedecked with precious stones since as early as the 1980s. It established the template that the series-produced pieces launched in 2012 and beyond would more or less adhere to: a ring of multicolored sapphires, in place of the Daytona’s traditional tachymeter-scale, occupying the bezel,  arranged in a series that resembled a seamless rainbow of gradient colors flowing into one another. The watch’s familiar three-register dial is pavé-finished with brilliant-cut diamonds and enhanced with blue sapphire hour markers. This singular model, which sold at a Phillips auction in 2024 for $6.3 million, is known in collectors’ circles as the “Zenith Rainbow,” because its movement is the famed Rolex Caliber 4030, a modified version of the Zenith El Primero high-frequency chronograph caliber. Rolex wouldn’t equip the Daytona with its own in-house movement, Caliber 4130, until 2000, and has used that movement, and variations of it, in the model ever since.

Rolex Daytona “Rainbow” in Yellow and White Gold

Photo: Christie's

Rolex added the “rainbow” Daytona to its catalog — albeit certainly in limited numbers — in 2012. The spirit of the 1994 pièce unique lived on in the two variants — Ref. 116599RBOW in 18k white gold for the case and bracelet, and Ref. 116598RBOW in 18k yellow gold, both with the RBOW “rainbow” abbreviation replacing the French “SAAEC” — but there were a few changes, as well. The bezels once again hosted baguette-cut sapphires of varying colors (36, fewer than the original's 44), arranged to create the optical illusion of a smoothly gradient rainbow — from bright crimson red at 12 o’clock, to tangerine oranges, lemon yellows, and light-to-dark green hues, culminating in a bright blue at 6 o’clock, which in turn flows from lilac to purple and magenta tones, ultimately transitioning elegantly back to the red at the top of the circle. This progression of colors is different from that of the 1994 “Rainbow” model, which had the yellow and green hues around the 9 o’clock sector on the left and the purples and magentas around 3 o’clock on the right. 

The dials are notably different, as well, with a black lacquered finish and a gold-crystallized treatment on the three subdials that resembles the look and texture of meteorite. Brilliant-cut diamonds serve as the hour markers, except for the cardinal points at 12 o’clock (marked by the Rolex crown logo) and at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock (marked by Arabic minute numerals of 15, 30, and 45, respectively). The cases of the newer versions also featured brilliant-cut diamonds, 56 of them total, decorating the top surfaces of the lugs and crown guards. In place of the brown leather strap on the 1994 piece, the modern “Rainbows” are mounted on Oyster bracelets matching the precious metal of the case. The movements inside are not the El Primero-based Caliber 4030, but the Rolex manufacture Caliber 4130, whose technical attributes include a bidirectional ball-borne rotor; a column wheel with a vertical clutch; a hairspring made of blue Parachrom, a Rolex-patented alloy of niobium, zirconium and oxygen that offers a high level of resistance to magnetic fields, shocks, and temperature variations; and a power reserve of 72 hours. 

Photo: Phillips 

As you might expect, the process of choosing the colored sapphires for the bezels and setting them by hand is a painstaking one — involving lots of discarded stones and much in-depth analysis by gemologists, using advanced tools like spectrometers and X-ray imaging. Not only does each stone need to have the perfect saturation, hue and transparency to be included in the gradation but it also must have a precise geometrical dimensions that will enable it to be set flush with the other stones. More evidence of Rolex’s striving for exclusivity in its Rainbow models is the use of a special patented alloy in the white-gold Ref. 116599RBOW, one free of the allergenic nickel and copper and boasting both exceptional hardness as well as a clean whiteness achieved without rhodium plating.

Rolex Daytona “Rainbow” in Everose Gold (2018)

Photo: Sotheby's

Despite the fact that the “Rainbow” Daytona editions took the famous racing watch far from its roots aesthetically, they were an unqualified hit with enthusiasts and collectors. In 2018, Rolex doubled down on the “Rainbow” aesthetic for the latest version of its gem-set Daytona, which also was the first from the vibrant-colored series to use the company’s proprietary Everose gold for its case and bracelet. Everose gold is a rose-gold alloy made in Rolex’s own foundry that combines pure gold, copper, and a smattering of platinum to achieve its warm, lustrous sheen that resists color changes due to corrosion. The Ref. 116595RBOW “Rainbow” was not only the first one in the highly limited series to feature this exclusive alloy but also added a new element to the dial. The baguette diamond hour markers of the 2012 models and their successors gave way to an assortment of colorful baguette-cut sapphires that reflected the multicolored, gradient sweep of the rainbow bezel.

This newer edition is offered with either a varnished black dial or a dial with a full pavé diamond finish; the central chronograph hand is in gold, while the subdial hands have a black varnished finish. Inside the case is the now-ubiquitous Caliber 4130. Yellow-gold (Ref. 116598RBOW) and white-gold (Ref. 116599RBOW) editions of the Daytona “Rainbow” with the new, on-theme rainbow hour markers debuted in 2022, and it remains to be seen what new frontiers in color and elite gem-setting Rolex might explore in future editions. You can learn more at rolex.com