Antoine Arnault. (Photo: Instagram / @niccoloy / @young.brando)
Antoine Arnault, the eldest son of one of the richest men in the world and the chief executive of Dior, attended on Tuesday the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2026 show at the Louvre wearing a vintage Rolex Sea-Dweller ref. 1665 “Great White” with a Tiffany & Co.-signed dial. The rare model was first spotted by watch writer Nick Gould.
Arnault wore the same piece a few days earlier while standing on the sidelines of Paris FC, the football team his family owns. While it would be easy to give Rolex points for the fact the 48-year-old LVMH scion was wearing the brand, Coronet feels the choice reveals something worth writing about.
By contrast, Rolex’s most visible ambassador Roger Federer appeared in Zürich almost the same day wearing a Daytona Le Mans in Everose gold during a video shoot for Complex with Burna Boy. Just a week earlier at the Laver Cup, he drew headlines for wearing an off-catalog Daytona set with blue sapphires and diamonds, a watch whose market value exceeds a million dollars.
Rolex’s strategy has been to turn its iconic references into more opulent versions of the originals. The word used in Geneva is “décliner.” As the brand leans further into flashier designs and vintage Rolex prices continue to climb, the worlds of new and old money intersect, revealing the two faces of Rolex.
And while those reaching for the crown prefer the glitz, those who are already wearing it, like Arnault, look for something else: the understated, the restraint, the rare only time can make.