The Leopard Diamond Rolex Daytona with Orange and Black Leopard print dial is a stunning timepiece and sure to turn heads. This timepiece came out with a reference of 116598 SACO back in 2004. It is not currently for sale on the Rolex website. It was nicknamed the Daytona Leopard for obvious reasons.
The Daytona Leopard timepiece was not one of the most popular timepieces when it was first released. Rolex has traditionally been very conservative with its designs over the years. Even if you look through its selection of Daytona timepieces today, you will see that the options are very tame in comparison to this outrageous design.
However, Rolex has long wished to promote its exquisite gem selection and placement by designing gem encrusted timepieces that almost entirely cover the face of the case itself. The purpose is to create a show piece that demonstrates the skill and craftsmanship of Rolex designers. Finding gems of the perfect size and color takes exquisite skill and patience that few designers can muster.
Although this timepiece is often berated as the “Ugliest Rolex” by commentators, it is far from that, in our opinion. The mixture of Cognac Sapphires almost perfectly matches the gradiated orange on the dial and the matching Leopard strap that accompanies the timepiece.
Unlike other extravagant Rolex timepieces, this one has a symmetry and color coordinated pattern that actually makes sense and has a logical appeal for anyone bold enough to wear it. It would have been fun to have been a fly on the wall to listen to the Rolex designer that proposed this one of a kind design.
Leopard Diamond Rolex Daytona
The dial is probably the first place to start talking about the Leopard. You can see that each of the 10 diamonds on the dial is surrounded by yellow gold, helping to fix these precious stones in place and giving it a soft outline against the black and orange patterns on the dial itself.
The orange coloring is called “cognac” by Rolex. It is closer to a soft yellowish orange at the left and right sides but gets to a deep orange in the center, bottom and top of the dial. The black Leopard spots are created using a black lacquer.
At the 3, 6 and 9 o’clock positions the Leopard Diamond Rolex Daytona has instead the Arabic numerals 15, 30, and 45 in gold. There are 3 inner dials which are managed by the 2 pushers at the 2 and 4 o’clock positions. Notably this timepiece does not have a Tachymetric scale that is normally found on any Daytona timepiece. Instead the bezel is packed with 36 symmetrical baguette style, cognac colored, sapphire crystals.
At the lug area where the bracelet meets the case, there are 48 symmetrical diamonds. Clearly, the outstanding use of gem selection, placement and design is the high point of this masterpiece.
The master jewelers that worked on this timepiece definitely were able to flex their muscles and show off their incredible skill and dominance. It is important to note that Rolex as a brand shows off their available stockpile of gems that could be used for an encrusted timepiece such as this.
The matching band is just incredible. It has the same pattern as the dial. However, we would strongly recommend to replace this with a Rubber B band such as the Orange band pictured above.
The Rubber B band looks and feels like real fabric but is actually 100% rubber and will last much longer. Plus you can save the Leopard print band for future resale of the Rolex into the future. Find the Rubber B Orange band here.
