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BezelBase
A watch reference encyclopedia
About this project
BezelBase is a hobby project with a simple ambition: capture the historical record of Rolex watches in one place, as thoroughly and honestly as possible. Not a blog, not a dealer site — just a reference, built by enthusiasts who keep falling deeper into the details and figured other people might want to read what they found.
The long-term goal is to cover every Rolex family. We are starting with the Submariner, because it is the watch that refuses to let you stop researching it.
Why the Submariner
Before 1953, Rolex made dress watches, Datejusts, and Bubblebacks. Fine watches, but nothing that would define what a sport watch looks like for the next seventy years. That changed when the reference 6204 appeared — a 100-meter dive watch with a rotating bezel, luminous hands, and the word "Submariner" printed at six o'clock. It was not the first dive watch ever made, but it became the one that everything else was measured against.
What followed was seven decades of continuous production across more than three dozen distinct references. The design language shifted constantly in the early years — pencil hands gave way to Mercedes hands, small crowns grew into big crowns, gilt dials turned matte, radium was replaced by tritium — and then settled into the form most people picture when they hear the word "wristwatch." Crown guards arrived in 1959 and never left. The acrylic crystal held on until 1979 before sapphire took over. The aluminum bezel lasted until 2010, when Cerachrom ceramic finally replaced it. Each of these transitions created a new generation of references, and within each generation, dozens of variants that collectors have spent decades cataloguing.
The Submariner is also one of the most misunderstood watches in the world. A single reference like the 5513 ran for 27 years and went through gilt dials, matte dials, Explorer dials, Maxi dials, military-issue configurations, and a late glossy generation that barely resembles the watch it started as. The 1680 — the first Submariner with a date — splits into Red Subs and White Subs, with six distinct Mark numbers on the red-text dials alone, and a chocolate tropical variant that commands some of the highest prices in vintage Rolex collecting. And that is just two references out of thirty-nine.
This is the watch that keeps pulling you further in. BezelBase exists because we wanted somewhere to put everything we found along the way.
The Submariner reference library
Every article covers the full production story for one reference: specifications, movement history, dial variants, case and bezel details, bracelet fitment, special branches, and market context. Sources are cited. Gaps are named.
Early Submariner (1953–1959)
The experimental years. Rolex had not yet decided what the Submariner would be. Crown sizes moved between 5.3mm and 8mm. Depth ratings jumped from 100 to 200 meters. The hands changed from pencil to Mercedes. Dial layouts shifted between clean faces, Explorer-style 3-6-9 numerals, and the first chronometer certifications. Some of the rarest and most valuable Submariners ever made came out of this period — including the 6200 "King Sub" and the 6538, the watch Sean Connery wore as James Bond.
6204 · 6205 · 6200 · 6536 · 6536/1 · 6538
Overview: Early Submariner family
Crown-guard era (1958–1990)
The Submariner finds its lasting form. Crown guards appear on the 5512 in 1959 and become permanent. The 5512 carries the chronometer certification; the 5513 runs alongside it as the non-chronometer alternative — cheaper, more widely produced, and ultimately the longest-running Submariner reference at 27 continuous years. The 5514 and 5517 branch off into COMEX and military service. The 1680 introduces the date window in 1969 and splits into the Red Sub and White Sub eras.
No-date:
5508 · 5510 · 5512 · 5513 · 5514 · 5517
Date:
1680
Overview: 5xxx Submariner family
Five-digit era (1979–2010)
The modern Submariner takes shape. The 16800 brings the sapphire crystal and caliber 3035 in 1979 — the end of the acrylic era. The 16610 follows and runs for 23 years with the caliber 3135, picking up solid end links, a Parachrom hairspring, and an engraved rehaut along the way. The 14060 and 14060M carry the no-date line forward. Rolex expands the Submariner into gold, two-tone, and the green-bezel 16610LV — the first colored-bezel steel Submariner.
Six-digit era (2010–present)
Cerachrom ceramic bezels, Glidelock micro-adjusting bracelets, and the move from 40mm to 41mm. The 114060 is the last 40mm no-date Submariner — collectors now call it "the last small Sub." The 116610LV "Hulk" becomes one of the most talked-about modern Rolexes. The current 126-series production represents the Submariner at its most refined, and increasingly, at the beginning of its own collecting era.
Date (steel):
116610LN · 116610LV · 126610LN · 126610LV
Date (precious metal):
116613 · 116618 · 116619LB · 126613LB · 126613LN · 126618LB · 126618LN · 126619LB
How this is built
Every claim in a BezelBase article traces to a named source — Rolex primary material, the Vintage Rolex Field Manual, auction catalogues from Phillips, Sotheby's, and Christie's, specialist dealer archives, and documented collector research. Where sources disagree, both positions are presented with attribution. Where the historical record has gaps, they are acknowledged rather than glossed over.
The articles are structured for reference use. Each follows the same architecture: core specifications, production outline, movement notes, dial map, case and bezel details, bracelet fitment, special branches, and market context. Built to be scanned, not just read.
Contribute
This is an open project. If any of this interests you, there is plenty of work to do.
- Improve an article — every page is a working draft; click Edit source and make it better
- Bring sources — auction results, dealer archives, published research, anything that strengthens a claim or fills a gap
- Upload photos — images of watches you own are welcome (see the image policy)
- Flag errors — if something is wrong, say so; getting it right matters more than getting it finished