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 took the independent 24-hour hand inherited from the 16760 and put it in a full-gold case, well before ceramic rewrote the look of the family. It is the gold GMT-Master II of the five-digit period, and it is a serious collector reference on its own terms rather than a dressed-up 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 is the gold watch that fully crosses into GMT-Master II behavior without crossing into the modern idiom.
Production outline
Rolex ran the 16718 from 1989 to 2007, an 18-year span that straddles the transition from late-1980s retail into the early ceramic era. Both 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 is the configuration that dominates surviving examples and contemporary dealer inventory. Early and late examples are both readily found, and the black branch is what most buyers encounter when they look for a 16718 today.
Brown branch
The brown Root Beer configuration with bronze-tinted bezel insert is documented across the major collector references. Revolution's two-part GMT-Master II survey treats the brown solid-gold watch as a period-correct retail option alongside the black version. The Vintage Rolex Field Manual places the brown solid-gold 16718 inside the Root Beer continuity that runs from the 1675/8 through the 16758. Sotheby's Root Beer guide does the same. None of these sources publish reference-specific hammer-price data, but all three 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 rather than trust by catalogue claim.
Movement notes
Caliber 3185 powered the reference through most of the run, with late examples documented on the updated 3186 in the Field Manual. Independent-hour GMT-Master II functionality is present throughout. Mechanically the 16718 is not a transitional watch. The interest sits elsewhere, in branch survival and in how lightly the surviving population was worn.
Dial map
Black branch
Black dial with black 24-hour bezel. An early-run and a later-run example cover most of what a buyer needs to see. The 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 according to Revolution, the Field Manual, and the Sotheby's Root Beer guide. It appears less often in direct sale material than the black configuration, and a period-correct brown example should be matched carefully against the collector literature on dial printing and bezel colour.
Case, bezel, crystal, and crown notes
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 leans toward a black-bezel LN reading as the standard fitment. Revolution states the watch came in both a black-dial with black-bezel form and a brown-dial with bronze-bezel form. The conflict is real and unresolved in the published record.
Gold GMT-Master II dials changed subtly across the run. Early 16718s carry narrower surrounds and a warmer coronet, while later dials move toward a flatter, broader marker look. The shift is gradual, so the buyer has to match dial style to the serial range rather than assume every late-looking dial is original to the watch.
Bracelets, end links, clasps, and packaging notes
Surviving black-dial examples lean Oyster in dealer inventory, which is a market tendency rather than an original-delivery rule; Jubilee fitment existed as a retail option through the run.
Late-production examples are the ones most likely to survive with a full set. For originality, the punched warranty paper matters most because it ties directly to the watch. The rest adds value, but not in the same way.
Special branches
Black-dial branch
Black dial, black 24-hour bezel, gold Oyster bracelet. The configuration that dominates surviving examples and the first image a buyer encounters searching for a 16718.
Brown branch
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. A 1993 brown Root Beer example with Rolex CPO papers, listed in dealer inventory with caliber 3185 and yellow-gold case, is the cleanest recent anchor for the brown branch on the direct market.
Scarcity angle
Gold GMT-Master II watches sold slowly at retail, which is why clean 16718s can still surface more often than the long production run might suggest. The watch is scarcer on the wrist than the catalog years alone imply.
Historical market and auction record
Direct-market anchors now cover both branches. That matters because the black and brown sides of the 16718 are no longer just a literature claim; both now have real market examples behind them.
Every current anchor is a retail or CPO listing. A hammered Phillips, Sotheby's, or Christie's result would strengthen the record further, particularly 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