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Pawelb: /* Submariner */

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<div style="display:none;">{{DISPLAYTITLE:<span style="display:none;">BezelBase</span>}}</div>
{{#seo:
|title=BezelBase — Watch Reference Encyclopedia
|description=A hobby-driven encyclopedic reference for Rolex watches. Starting with the Submariner — every reference, every variant, every era. Historical context, production details, and collector notes.
|keywords=watch reference, Rolex, Rolex Submariner, vintage Rolex, collector guide, watch history, production history, dial variants
}}

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Rolex changed what a wristwatch could be. The Oyster case made watches waterproof. The Perpetual rotor made them self-winding. The Submariner made them dive-rated. The Daytona timed races. The GMT-Master crossed time zones for Pan Am pilots. These are not just expensive objects — they are engineering milestones that shaped an entire industry, and every one of them has a production history worth documenting properly. That is what this project is for.

We kept running into the same problem: the good information is scattered across forum threads that get buried, auction archives behind paywalls, out-of-print books trading for more than the watches they describe, and dealer sites that disappear when the business closes. So we started consolidating it. Every claim here traces to a named source. Where sources contradict each other — and they do, constantly — both sides are shown. [[BezelBase:About|How this is built →]]

== Reference library ==

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=== [[Reference:submariner|Submariner]] ===

We started here because the Submariner is the reference that never lets you stop researching. Thirty-nine distinct references across seventy years of production. The 6204 showed up in 1953 with a 100m depth rating and no crown guards, and by the time you get to the current 126-series the watch has been through gilt dials, matte dials, aluminum bezels, ceramic bezels, acrylic crystals, sapphire crystals, and more bracelet configurations than most people realize exist. A single reference like the 5513 ran for 27 years and produced enough dial variants to fill its own taxonomy. We have 36 articles live — each one covers specs, movement history, dial variants, bracelets, and whatever the auction record actually says.

'''Highlights:'''
* [[Reference:6538|6538]] — the James Bond Submariner
* [[Reference:5513|5513]] — 27-year production run, the broadest vintage reference
* [[Reference:1680|1680]] — first Submariner Date, Red Sub and White Sub eras
* [[Reference:16610|16610]] — the 23-year benchmark modern Submariner
* [[Reference:116610LV|116610LV]] — the "Hulk," now a modern collectible
* [[Reference:114060|114060]] — the last 40mm no-date, "the last small Sub"

'''[[Reference:submariner|→ Full Submariner index]]'''
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