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. How this is built →
Reference library
Submariner
Thirty-nine references across seventy years
| Era | No-date | Date (steel) | Date (precious metal) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early 1953–59 |
6204 · 6205 · 6200 · 6536 · 6536/1 · 6538 | ||
| Crown-guard 1958–90 |
5508 · 5510 · 5512 · 5513 · 5514 · 5517 | 1680 | — |
| Five-digit 1979–2010 |
14060 · 14060M | 16800 · 16610 · 16610LV | 16803 · 16808 · 16613 · 16618 |
| Six-digit 2010–now |
114060 · 124060 | 116610LN · 116610LV · 126610LN · 126610LV | 116613 · 116618 · 116619LB · 126613LB · 126613LN · 126618LB · 126618LN · 126619LB |
Collector landmarks: 6538 Bond Sub · 5513 27-year run · 1680 Red Sub · 5514 COMEX · 16610 23-year benchmark · 116610LV Hulk · 114060 last small Sub