Imagine being so far down the Rolex rabbit hole, so heavily Crowned, that you have your own Daytona named after you.

Or, at least nicknamed after you, like you’re a modern-day Paul Newman. That’s precisely what happened to John Mayer when he talked up this then-overlooked yellow-gold version of the Daytona with a green dial known as the ref. 116508 back on an episode of Hodinkee’s Talking Watches in 2019. In the video, Mayer called it a sleeper hit but that description wouldn’t be accurate much longer.

The singer’s ref. 116508 retailed for $34,650 back in 2016 the “John Mayer” Daytona quickly took off into the stratosphere after the famed singer-songwriter-guitarist name-checked it. Suddenly, secondary-market prices were hitting $70-$100K depending upon condition, the presence of box and papers, etc. The “Mayer Effect,” it would seem, was clearly real.

Mayer brought the watch back out this week during his live performance for SiriusXM at The Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, New York. Measuring 40mm in yellow gold, the six-digit 116508 debuted at Baselworld 2016. Though it’s spottable from a mile away with its matching yellow gold Oyster bracelet, tachymeter bezel, and bright green sunray dial with tone-on-tone totalizers, collectors at the time were too focused on the steel-and-ceramic ref. 116500LN that came out the same year to care.