When Nigerian-British artist Olaolu Slawn first broke into London’s contemporary art scene, few could have anticipated the degree to which his style—raw, defiant, and deeply personal—would ripple through the global fashion and art worlds. Now, in 2025, Slawn continues to shatter expectations and redefine luxury with the unveiling of a new customized Rolex Day-Date that is already stirring speculation about a deeper relationship with the iconic Swiss watchmaker.

Spotted initially on the wrist of Corteiz founder Clint419, the timepiece merges Slawn’s unmistakable clown iconography with Rolex’s legendary silhouette. The result is a surrealist-meets-luxury hybrid that has social media and watch enthusiasts in a frenzy.

And yet, amid all the excitement, Rolex has issued a statement of clarity: the new Slawn Day-Date is a customized piece, not an official collaboration. Still, for many observers, this distinction hardly tempers the implications. Because with Slawn, a custom watch is never just a custom—it’s a cultural intervention.

The Watch: A Canvas of Provocation

The timepiece in question features a radiant peach-toned dial, layered with magenta numerals and luminous gold hour markers. At the heart of the dial is Slawn’s signature clown face, its chaotic brushstrokes almost defacing the precision of Swiss craftsmanship—a visual metaphor for disruption within institution. The dial rests within a traditional gold Day-Date case, making for a jarring and unforgettable juxtaposition.

Though modifications to Rolex watches are nothing new—many collectors commission bespoke designs through third-party ateliers—Slawn’s creation reads more like a statement than a personalization. As if daring Rolex to embrace a fuller, more radical collaboration, he reframes the Day-Date as a wearable piece of anti-establishment art.

The clown motif, recurring in Slawn’s oeuvre, isn’t merely decorative. It’s a grim satire of social masks, bourgeois pretensions, and the absurdity of wealth as performance. That it now resides on a Rolex Day-Date, often dubbed “The President’s Watch,” further layers the message. The traditionally sober signifier of power and legacy is now a host to irony, play, and rebellion.

A Familiar Relationship: The 2024 Datejusts

This isn’t Slawn’s first foray into horology. In 2024, the artist collaborated—unofficially but memorably—on a limited series of 10 customized Rolex Datejust 41mm models. These watches retained Rolex’s high-grade materials and mechanical precision but were visually transformed by Slawn’s bold application of color, graffiti-style text, and iconography that challenged the sterile perfectionism of luxury design.

Each watch sold for approximately £15,000 and quickly became a status object among the young elite. Artists, athletes, and musicians sought the pieces not just for their craftsmanship but because they represented an alignment with Slawn’s ethos: that art must remain untamed, even when dressed in gold.

The success of the 2024 Datejusts suggested a hunger in the marketplace for collaborative pieces that marry institutional legacy with subversive artistic vision. Though Rolex remains notably conservative when it comes to collaborations, especially compared to brands like Audemars Piguet or Hublot, the growing popularity of these modified watches cannot be ignored.

Artist in Ascendance: Slawn’s 2025 Takeover

Slawn’s 2025 has been nothing short of meteoric. With touchpoints across sport, fashion, and fine art, his output has defied genre and location.

In March, he hand-painted a Formula 1 car for McLaren as part of a campaign to rebrand motorsport for a younger audience. That same month, he debuted a series of limited-edition Air Max 90s with Nike, each pair bearing hand-scrawled messages, asymmetric color blocking, and his now-iconic face motifs. The release sold out within hours.

He then made headlines with his involvement in the Marni Fall/Winter 2025 collection, contributing a series of graphic interventions that turned traditional garments into canvases. Later, a monumental sculpture at Wembley Stadium during a major football match cemented his name in public consciousness.

Through it all, Slawn has refused to be defined by gallery space or fashion runways alone. His art moves at the speed of culture, constantly shifting shape: a watch today, a billboard tomorrow, an album cover next week.

Modified vs. Official: Why the Distinction Matters

It is worth pausing on Rolex’s careful phrasing. “This is a modified piece,” the brand insists, distancing itself from the notion of an authorized collaboration. In luxury watchmaking, this boundary is a meaningful one.

Rolex has long been allergic to partnerships, preferring instead to let its aura of heritage and excellence speak for itself. Where other Swiss marques like Richard Mille or Tag Heuer have openly embraced collaborations with celebrities and streetwear designers, Rolex remains resolutely inward-looking.

This conservatism is strategic. By avoiding external influence, Rolex preserves its mythology. But it also leaves space for mavericks like Slawn to operate in the margins, customizing without permission and still capturing the market’s imagination.

For collectors, the modified Slawn Day-Date occupies a strange but compelling space: it is simultaneously outside the brand’s formal catalogue and yet unmistakably a Rolex. It is transgressive, but not illegal. Unauthorized, but deeply desirable.

Slawn’s Rolex: A Collector’s Dream?

Given the limited nature of Slawn’s past customized watches, it’s safe to assume this new Day-Date will command a premium. If officially released in even small numbers, the demand would likely outpace supply in seconds.

Collectors, particularly younger ones with deep pockets and an appetite for cultural relevance, are increasingly looking beyond traditional Patek Philippes and Vacheron Constantins. What they want are pieces that double as signifiers—of style, of politics, of taste.

A Slawn Rolex represents all three. It is both art object and horological masterwork. It speaks to both the street and the salon. It wears its irony like an accessory but demands serious money. In this way, it is perfectly positioned for a new class of collectors who see no contradiction in pairing Savile Row suits with Supreme accessories.

The Broader Cultural Shift: Bespoke Embracing Irreverence

Slawn’s interventions land in a cultural moment that’s increasingly allergic to pretension. From Pharrell’s Louis Vuitton to Martine Rose’s Nike Shox, luxury brands are in open courtship with street-level aesthetics. The old rules—about scarcity, formality, and restraint—are being redefined.

This is especially true among Gen Z and Millennial buyers. For them, luxury is not about invisibility or quiet wealth; it’s about expression, identity, and narrative. A Slawn Rolex doesn’t just tell time—it tells a story. It’s a conversation starter. A piece of provocation strapped to the wrist.

In many ways, this is Rolex’s Rubicon. If the brand does eventually collaborate officially with Slawn, it would signal a landmark shift: the opening of the gates to an entirely new aesthetic future.

What Comes Next?

Slawn’s own cryptic caption—“COMING SOON”—has predictably set off a wave of speculation. Will there be a limited drop? Is there a secret capsule in the works? Could Rolex, long the holdout in the collaboration economy, finally embrace the moment?

One possibility is that Slawn may team up with an independent customizer like Artisans de Genève to release a handful of bespoke Day-Dates with Rolex parts but no brand sanction. Another is that this is simply a one-off piece made for a friend or patron, never to be sold publicly.

But if history is any guide, Slawn’s art rarely stops at one-offs. His trajectory favors scale. And if the 2024 Datejusts taught us anything, it’s that even a whisper of availability can set markets ablaze.

Final Thoughts

Rolex has always been a symbol of permanence—of achievement, legacy, and stability. Slawn, by contrast, thrives on rupture. His clown face defiles the crown; his brushstrokes disrupt symmetry. And yet, somehow, the two coexist.

This tension is what makes the customized Slawn Day-Date such a compelling object. It is less about timekeeping and more about time-breaking. A memento of a moment when the art world, the fashion world, and the horological world all collided—and when the results refused to be ignored.

As the watch world holds its breath for whatever comes next, one thing is certain: Slawn has once again reminded us that rebellion, when rendered with enough style, belongs not outside luxury—but at its very center.

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