Rolex Would Never Approve This Watch — That's What Makes It Great
Customized watches remain a touchy subject in watch culture, especially when the crown is involved. Olaolu Slawn’s latest Rolex mod is a case study — no pun intended.
The artist’s horological rework gives the classic Rolex Day-Date “Presidential” a literal fresh face, swapping its dial for one of his signature cartoonish, chaotic artworks.
Crucially, this isn’t an official Rolex collab. Slawn’s Rolex instead lives in a deliciously murky grey area. Technically, it’s just a dial swap. But culturally? That’s where it gets interesting.
The Rolex Day-Date Presidential, appropriately nicknamed “The President,” is famously (and obviously) associated with presidents, part of a long lineage of institutional wristwear.
Slawn flips that script. Or flips the dial, in this case.
“What makes this one stand out is how subtle and artistically driven it is. It doesn’t shout, but you recognize it immediately,” collector Charity Mhende, founder of Pulse on the Wrist, tells Highsnobiety. “It adds depth without compromising the integrity of the watch.”
This isn’t the first time Slawn’s customized a Rolex, or even the first time Rolex has pushed back. When he posted images of a modded Day-Date to his Instagram page in 2023, it was initially believed to be an official collab. The buzz spread so fast that Rolex stepped in to clarify it had no involvement and didn’t endorse Slawn’s mod. That tracks: Rolex isn’t just protective, it’s borderline paranoid.
And that’s the thing, Slawn’s customized Rolex occupies a space that watch culture still struggles to comprehend.
Even though this is one of the more conservative mods — no diamonds, no casework, no movement tampering, all which would void Rolex’s warranty — it pushes back, however subtly, against the notion of treating a watch as sacrosanct. The watch world, more than any other, is policed by purists.
Sure, custom watches exist but almost always on the brand’s terms and often with a wrist-sweating price tag. Just ask UNDEFEATED’s Eric Peng Cheng, who secured a made-to-order Cartier Crash with a green dial to match his collaborative Jordan 4 shoes.
Brands like Hublot, Piaget, and even the revered Kari Voutilainen also offer bespoke options.
But let’s be clear: this customization might look personal but the power still sits with the brand. Even aftermarket customizers like Artisans de Genève or MAD Paris get a pass, so long as the result stays within certain bounds.
Cultural backlash is less about technical integrity than cultural coding. Slawn is a black, street-turned-fine artist with an irreverent tone. That alone makes some powerful people uncomfortable. It echoes the same tension we saw in the bling era, when hip-hop redefined luxury on its own terms and was met with establishment eye-rolls.
Customization isn’t a gimmick. It’s authorship.
Slawn’s Day-Date sits in the same lineage as artists who used luxury itself as a canvas. KAWS painting over Dior ads, Stephen Sprouse tagging Louis Vuitton, Basquiat rendering Eurocentric iconography raw. It is Black-coded symbolism, something Virgil Abloh compared to sampling in hip-hop. "Deface" to reclaim before becoming big enough to be invited into the boardroom.
And the fact that the image of Slawn’s Rolex remix is already circulating widely says it all: people see themselves reflected in these personalized grails.
Custom watches like this don’t dilute Rolex’s power, they merely recontextualize and perhaps even improve on it.
“Watches don’t have to be so serious. Customize your dial, switch up your bracelet - make it yours. I genuinely believe personal style and self-expression are the bedrock of getting the next generation into watch collecting,” says Pulse on the Wrist’s Mhende. “And this? This is a beautiful step in that direction.”
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