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Revision as of 20:12, 14 April 2026

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. Where nobody actually knows the answer, we say so instead of guessing. How this is built →

Reference library

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. More references are in progress.

Highlights:

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

→ Full Submariner index

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-We kept falling into the same problem: good information scattered across forum threads, auction archives, out-of-print books, and dealer sites that come and go. So we started putting it in one place. Every claim here traces to a named source. Where sources contradict each other — and they do, constantly — both sides are shown. Where nobody actually knows the answer, we say so instead of picking one and pretending. [[BezelBase:About|How this is built →]]
+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. Where nobody actually knows the answer, we say so instead of guessing. [[BezelBase:About|How this is built →]]
 == Reference library ==
@@ Line 18: / Line 20: @@
 === [[Reference:submariner|Submariner]] ===
-Thirty-nine references across seventy years. The 6204 showed up in 1953 and nothing in the lineup has stopped being argued about since. We have 36 articles live so far — each one covers specs, movements, dial variants, bracelets, and whatever the auction record actually says. The rabbit hole goes deep. Start anywhere.
+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. More references are in progress.
 '''Highlights:'''