Reference:16718
GMT-Master -> 16718
The 16718 is the solid yellow-gold GMT-Master II of the 16710 era, produced from 1989 to 2007. It carries the independent 24-hour hand inherited from the 16760 in a full-gold case, predating the ceramic generation that reset the family aesthetic. The five-digit gold GMT-Master II is a collector reference in its own right, not a dress version of the steel watch.
Documentation is uneven across the two retail configurations. The black-dial watch is well attested in dealer listings and auction cataloguing. The brown-dial Root Beer configuration is named as period-correct in the major collector references but surfaces less often in direct sale material.
Core facts
| detail | value |
|---|---|
| reference | 16718 |
| family | GMT-Master II |
| production | roughly 1989-2007 |
| movement | caliber 3185, with late 3186 noted in the Field Manual |
| case | 40mm solid yellow-gold Oyster case |
| crystal | sapphire with Cyclops |
| water resistance | 100m |
| bezel | black in the surviving market examples, with brown branch support in collector literature |
| key identity | solid-gold GMT-Master II with stronger black-branch documentation than the current direct brown layer |
Where it sits in the line
The 16718 is the solid-gold partner to the steel 16710 and the two-tone 16713. Within the gold branch, the direct predecessor is the 16758, which still carried the old linked-hand logic. The 16718 replaces that behavior with a separately adjustable 24-hour hand while keeping the classical five-digit case shape. The later ceramic gold GMTs push the look toward overt luxury. The 16718 carries full GMT-Master II behavior in the classical idiom.
Production outline
Rolex ran the 16718 from 1989 to 2007, an 18-year span carrying the gold GMT from late-1980s retail into the early ceramic era. The black-dial and brown-dial Root Beer configurations ran alongside each other through that window.
Black branch
The black-dial watch with black 24-hour insert dominates surviving examples and contemporary dealer inventory. Early and late examples are both readily found. The black branch is the default 16718 in the surviving market.
Brown branch
The brown Root Beer configuration with bronze-tinted bezel insert is documented across the published collector literature. Ross Povey's two-part GMT-Master II survey for Revolution treats the brown solid-gold watch as a period-correct retail option alongside the black version, and Colin A. White's The Vintage Rolex Field Manual places the brown 16718 inside the Root Beer continuity that runs from the 1675/8 through the 16758. Sotheby's Root Beer guide reads the same way. None publish reference-specific hammer prices, and all treat the brown branch as genuinely produced and genuinely scarce.
Direct sale evidence is thinner than for the black watch. A brown 16718 offered today deserves archive papers and dial-foot photography before any catalogue description is taken at face value.
Movement notes
Caliber 3185 powered the reference through most of the run, with late examples on the updated 3186 per the Field Manual. The independent 24-hour hand is present throughout. Mechanically there is no transition story to chase. What separates one 16718 from another is branch (black or brown) and how lightly the watch was worn.
Dial map
Black branch
Black dial with black 24-hour bezel. An early-run and a later-run example cover most of the visual range. Applied hour markers sit inside fine gold surrounds, with a gilt coronet that matches the case colour.
Brown branch
Brown Root Beer dial with bronze-tinted bezel insert, period-correct alongside the black watch across the published literature. It surfaces less often than the black configuration in direct sale material, and a period-correct brown example needs its dial printing and bezel colour cross-checked against catalogued examples.
Case, bezel, crystal, and crown
The case is the full-gold five-digit Oyster case with sapphire crystal, Cyclops, and a 24-hour aluminum insert. The bezel branch map is where the sources diverge. The Field Manual table reads the black-bezel LN as the standard fitment, while Povey in Revolution records both a black-dial / black-bezel form and a brown-dial / bronze-bezel form as period-correct. The conflict is unresolved in the published record.
Gold GMT-Master II dials changed subtly across the run. Early 16718s carry narrower surrounds and a warmer coronet; later dials move toward flatter, broader markers. The shift is gradual, which means dial style has to be matched to the serial range rather than assumed correct on appearance alone.
Bracelets, end links, and clasps
Surviving black-dial examples skew Oyster on the secondary market, a survival pattern rather than an original-delivery rule. Jubilee fitment existed as a retail option through the run.
Full sets surface most often on late-production examples. The punched warranty card carries the most weight for originality because it ties directly to the watch head. Box, hangtag, and outer paper add value but do not authenticate the same way.
Special branches
Black-dial branch
Black dial, black 24-hour bezel, gold Oyster bracelet. The dominant surviving configuration and the default visual associated with the reference.
Brown branch
Povey in Revolution, the Field Manual, and the Sotheby's Root Beer guide treat the brown solid-gold 16718 as a period-correct retail configuration with a bronze-tinted bezel insert. Direct sale examples are sparse in auction catalogues, and the brown branch remains under-documented at hammer.
Scarcity angle
Gold GMT-Master II watches sold slowly at retail. Clean 16718s surface more often than the 18-year production window would suggest, and the reference is scarcer on the wrist than the catalog years imply.
Historical market and auction record
Both branches of the 16718 are catalogued in the published collector literature, with the black-dial watch carrying the heavier editorial trail. Current direct-market anchors are retail or CPO listings rather than auction results. A hammered Phillips, Sotheby's, or Christie's result would strengthen the record on the brown branch, where collector literature has run ahead of sale documentation for years.
Sources
- The Vintage Rolex Field Manual — Colin A. White, Morning Tundra
- Master Stroke — The Rolex GMT-Master: Part II — Ross Povey, Revolution
- A Closer Look at the Rolex Root Beer — Christina Bohn, Sotheby's
- The Vintage Solid Gold Rolex GMT Master — MORNINGTUNDRA, VRFM.io
- 16718 Rolex GMT-Master II — Erik Gustafson, Hairspring
- Used Rolex GMT-Master II Ref 16718 18k Yellow Gold — unknown, Bob's Watches
- Rolex GMT-Master II ref 16718 Black Dial — unknown, Bob's Watches
- RolexForums 16718 thread bundle — RolexForums community, RolexForums