The Rolex on Drake's Wrist for Take Care Just Listed for $500,000

There are album covers that define a moment, and then there is the cover of Take Care. Drake, deep in thought at a booth in Joso's restaurant in Toronto, lit in black and gold, with a yellow gold Rolex on his wrist. Released in 2011, the album sold over ten million copies, spent 400 weeks on the Billboard 200, won the Grammy for Best Rap Album, and became the template for an entire decade of music that followed. The watch on that cover just hit the market for half a million dollars.

Images from: https://www.windvintage.com/ovo-drake-take-care-rolex-gmt-master-ii-ref-116758sanr-in-18k-yg-unpolished-full-set

The piece is a Rolex GMT-Master II reference 116758SANR, an 18k yellow gold travel watch introduced quietly by Rolex in 2006 and pulled from the catalogue around 2012. It was never a loud release in the traditional sense, which is ironic given what it actually is. The bezel is set with 36 baguette-cut diamonds and 12 black sapphires, with diamonds extending across the lugs and crown guards. Every stone was hand-set by Rolex's own craftsmen, making production slow, intensive, and inherently limited. Exact numbers are unknown, Rolex doesn't disclose them, but dealer Eric Wind of Wind Vintage estimates only a few hundred of this reference were ever produced worldwide.

What separates this example from every other 116758SANR in existence is on the caseback. Engraved there is the OVO owl, the symbol of Drake's October's Very Own label, making this a true one-of-one. The watch was not Drake's personally, it belonged to a colleague from his early career who lent it for the shoot and the Marvin's Room video, but the photo evidence is airtight and the engraving removes any ambiguity about what this object is.

Wind is asking $500,000. A standard 116758SANR without any connection to Drake trades somewhere between $80,000 and $150,000 on the secondary market. The provenance premium accounts for roughly $400,000 of the asking price, which Wind has been direct about. His logic: the cultural weight of Take Care and the one-of-one caseback remove this watch from any meaningful comparison to another example of the same reference. The listing includes the gold owl statue from the album cover, two OVO varsity jackets, and Club Paradise tour memorabilia.

Whether the math makes sense depends entirely on how you value provenance versus the object itself. For a purist, a gem-set GMT at $500,000 is an extraordinary ask. For someone who sees watches as cultural artefacts rather than purely horological ones, this is arguably a fair entry price into something that genuinely cannot be replicated.

Wind has said he would be personally delighted if Drake bought it back himself. It would be, as he put it, a fitting closure to the circle.

You can inquire about the watch over on Wind Vintage: https://www.windvintage.com/ovo-drake-take-care-rolex-gmt-master-ii-ref-116758sanr-in-18k-yg-unpolished-full-set