Reference:126711CHNR

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GMT-Master → 126711CHNR

The 126711CHNR is the modern Rootbeer in Rolesor. Rolex introduced it at Baselworld 2018 alongside the solid-Everose 126715CHNR and the all-steel Pepsi 126710BLRO Jubilee, the lineup that marked the first full refresh of the ceramic GMT-Master II since the original Cerachrom rollout. Its technical headline was the two-colour ceramic bezel. The brown-and-black Cerachrom insert was the first time Rolex had combined two colours in a single ceramic ring on any reference, and it arrived on this watch and on its solid-gold sibling in the same press event.

The CHNR suffix is short for chocolat-noir, chocolate and black, and the colourway is a deliberate callback to the 1970s two-tone GMTs that carried brown-and-gold aluminum Rootbeer inserts. The homage is structural rather than literal. The dial is gloss black rather than brown, and the gold side of the Rolesor case is Everose, not the yellow gold of the earlier 1675/3, 16753, and 16713 Rootbeers. Collector reception has read those departures as a feature or a problem depending on which source is asked.

Rolesor Rootbeer, brown-black bezel
Rolesor Rootbeer, brown-black bezel

Core facts

detail value
reference 126711CHNR
family GMT-Master II
production 2018-present
movement caliber 3285 with Chronergy escapement
case 40mm Rolesor (Oystersteel and 18k Everose) Oyster case, monobloc middle
crystal sapphire with Cyclops
water resistance 100m
bezel two-colour brown-and-black Cerachrom with moulded Everose gold numerals
key identity first two-colour Cerachrom GMT-Master II, Rootbeer revival in Rolesor Everose

Where it sits in the line

The 126711CHNR is the direct successor to the 116713LN in the two-tone GMT-Master II slot. The 116713LN had held that position since 2006 with a single black-on-black colourway rather than a Rootbeer configuration. The 126711CHNR does two things at once. It replaces the yellow-gold Rolesor of the 116713LN with Everose, and it reintroduces the brown-and-black Rootbeer identity that had been absent from two-tone ceramic GMT-Master II production entirely.

The vintage lineage behind the Rootbeer nickname runs through the 1675/3, 16753, 16758, and 16713, every one of them yellow-gold rather than Everose. The 126711CHNR sits in that sequence but is not literally a Rootbeer revival. It is a reinterpretation, with a black dial, Everose accents, and two-colour ceramic where the original had a warm brown dial and an aluminum brown-and-gold insert.

Alongside it in the 2018 lineup sit the solid-Everose 126715CHNR, the steel Pepsi 126710BLRO on Jubilee, and in 2019 the replacement steel Batman 126710BLNR. The 126711CHNR has remained in production continuously since launch.

Production outline

The reference launched at Baselworld 2018 and remains in current production. Rolex initially catalogued it as 126711CHNR-0001 and has since updated the part number to 126711CHNR-0002, a numbering change rather than a visible specification change. The auction-house record is already meaningful: Sotheby’s catalogued a circa-2019 example in its Important Watches 2021 sale, and Phillips offered another circa-2019 full-set watch as lot 944 at the Hong Kong Watch Auction XIX in 2024, with hammer exceeding the HK$80,000-160,000 estimate.

Launch retail was US$14,050 according to aBlogtoWatch’s Baselworld 2018 coverage. Robb Report documented allocation pressure through the first two post-launch years.

Movement notes

Caliber 3285 arrives here fully formed: Chronergy escapement, 70-hour reserve, and the same modern GMT movement logic shared across the 2018-onward family.

The upgrade matters more as a generation marker than as a mechanical departure. The independent hour hand and GMT-Master II function logic are unchanged. What the 3285 introduces is the longer reserve and the higher-efficiency escapement that the current generation of Rolex calibres shares.

Dial map

The dial is single-configuration. Gloss black lacquer with Chromalight lume plots surrounded by Everose PVD-coated borders, baton and triangle indexes also Everose-rimmed, a green-tinted Chromalight lume that glows blue in the dark, and Everose hands. The GMT hand is also Everose rather than the green hand used on the 116713LN. Time+Tide’s hands-on coverage, Monochrome’s launch review, and Rolex’s own current product page all describe the dial in these terms.

The dial colour choice is the one real argument around the reference. Some collectors think the black dial makes the watch too cold for a Root Beer. Others think that contrast is exactly what modernizes it.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown notes

The case is the 40mm Oyster footprint shared with the rest of the 2018 ceramic GMT-Master II lineup. The Rolesor construction pairs Oystersteel (904L, now marketed as Oystersteel) case sides and lugs with an 18k Everose gold bezel ring, crown, and centre-bracelet links. The monobloc middle case carries over from the broader Oyster architecture, and Triplock crown, Cyclops, and 100m water resistance are unchanged from the previous generation.

The Cerachrom bezel is the reference’s technical headline. Rolex had produced single-colour ceramic bezels since 2005 and a two-colour red-and-blue Pepsi Cerachrom since 2014 on the white-gold 116719BLRO, but the brown-and-black combination on the 2018 Rootbeer pair required a new version of the process. The insert fires as a single piece of ceramic, and the two colours are produced by chemistry during the sintering cycle rather than by painting or lamination. The 24-hour numerals are then moulded into the ceramic in Everose gold, a platinum-fortified pink-gold alloy Rolex patented in 2005 to resist colour fade.

Bracelets, end links, clasps, and packaging notes

The 126711CHNR ships on the Rolesor Oyster bracelet with Oystersteel outer links and Everose centre links, solid end links, and the Oysterlock clasp carrying the Easylink 5mm comfort extension. Time+Tide’s hands-on shows the clasp and Easylink system in macro detail, and Rolex’s current product page catalogues the bracelet under the same Oyster configuration. The Jubilee, which became the default steel-Pepsi bracelet on the 126710BLRO, was never offered on the 126711CHNR.

Special branches

The reference exists in a single visible configuration through its production run. The only catalogued change has been the part-number update from -0001 to -0002, which has not produced a new dial or bezel variant. No stone-dial or alternative-dial version of the 126711CHNR has been released, which keeps the reference cleaner to describe than its solid-Everose sibling.

Historical market and auction record

Auction coverage of the 126711CHNR is already well-established for a 2018-launch reference. Sotheby’s Important Watches 2021 sale catalogued a circa-2019 example, and Phillips offered another circa-2019 full-set watch as lot 944 at the Hong Kong Watch Auction XIX in 2024, with hammer exceeding the HK$80,000-160,000 estimate. The secondary market treats the reference as active-production with its own distinct pricing band. Robb Report’s launch-window coverage describes strong allocation pressure in the first years after release, consistent with the auction picture.

Sources

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