BezelBase

Reference:116710BLNR


GMT-Master → 116710BLNR

The 116710BLNR is the original Batman. Rolex launched it at Baselworld 2013 with a blue-and-black two-tone Cerachrom bezel, the first two-colour ceramic insert the brand had ever shipped. The reference shares its case, movement, and bracelet with the all-black 116710LN that had preceded it since 2007, and the only real change at launch was the bezel. That one change was enough to make the 116710BLNR the most talked-about steel GMT-Master II of its generation and to drive a secondary-market arc that still defines collector memory of the reference.

The nickname was not Rolex’s. The community named it Batman for the DC colour scheme, and the name stuck. Rolex’s own “BLNR” code parses as Bleu Noir.

Core facts

detail value
reference 116710BLNR
family GMT-Master II
production 2013-2019
movement caliber 3186
case 40mm Oystersteel Oyster case, Super Case generation
crystal sapphire with Cyclops
water resistance 100m
bezel two-colour blue-and-black Cerachrom
key identity first Rolex with a two-tone ceramic bezel

Where it sits in the line

The 116710BLNR is a bezel variant of the 116710LN. Same 40mm Super Case, same caliber 3186, same Oyster bracelet, same dial platform — the Batman swaps in a blue-and-black Cerachrom insert and a blue 24-hour hand, and it drops the green “GMT-Master II” signature line that the 116710LN carried. WCL’s hands-on coverage makes those two dial changes explicit.

Downstream, the 116710BLNR is replaced by the 126710BLNR in 2019. The successor moves to the slimmer 126710-generation case, caliber 3285, and a Jubilee bracelet at launch. Rolex retired the 116710BLNR and the 116710LN at the same Baselworld event.

Production outline

Production runs from 2013 through 2019. The Fratello and SJX Baselworld 2013 launch-day pieces are the period-press anchors for the debut. Fratello gives the CHF 8,500 launch retail price; 41Watch gives roughly EUR 7,250 at launch and around EUR 8,200 at retirement.

The secondary market tells a louder story. 41Watch tracks the EUR price running from around EUR 8,500 at the start of the discontinuation signal into the EUR 16,000 range as collectors reacted to the Batman’s retirement. The premium persisted after production stopped — Phillips offered a new-old-stock stickered example at the Geneva Watch Auction XIX in May 2024 from the Guido Mondani Collection.

Movement notes

The 116710BLNR runs caliber 3186 for its entire life. The movement carries a blue Parachrom hairspring, Paraflex shock protection, and the revised GMT wheel that Rolex used across its Super Case sports references.

The 3186 is the same calibre that powers the 116710LN, which is what lets collectors treat the Batman and the all-black ceramic GMT as mechanical siblings. It is also the movement that the 126710BLNR moves past in 2019, when caliber 3285 arrives with a 70-hour reserve and the Chronergy escapement.

Dial map

The 116710BLNR has one dial configuration: glossy black Maxi dial with 18K white-gold markers, Chromalight luminescent plots, and a blue 24-hour hand. The printed text omits the green “GMT-Master II” signature that appears on the 116710LN.

The dial is shared with the 116710LN in every respect other than the 24-hour hand colour and the signature line. That deliberate reuse is part of the Batman’s design logic: the bezel is the change, the dial is the pair.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown notes

The case is the Super Case generation that Rolex introduced across its sports catalogue from 2005 onward. Compared with the 16710, the crown guards are heavier, the lugs are wider, and the overall wrist presence is thicker. The 1916 Company’s “Dark Knight Returns” piece gives the 2005 Super Case origin date and notes the 904L steel construction that Rolex used through this period.

The bezel is the story of the reference. The blue-and-black Cerachrom insert is a Rolex-patented innovation that The 1916 Company describes as a chemical-treatment process on a single Cerachrom ring — the two colours are not two separately fired pieces joined together, they are two different metallic-oxide states produced on one ring through a two-stage firing process. Time+Tide’s 2014 review captures how the colour shifts in practice: in direct sunlight the blue reads bright, in neutral indoor light it softens toward matte, and in low light the bezel looks almost entirely black.

The crystal is sapphire with a Cyclops. The crown is the Triplock system shared across Rolex’s modern sports references, and the reference carries 100m water resistance.

Bracelets, end links, clasps, and packaging notes

The 116710BLNR ships exclusively on an Oyster bracelet with solid end links. The Oysterclasp carries the Easylink 5mm comfort extension. Glidelock, the longer micro-adjustment system Rolex uses on the Submariner and Deepsea, does not appear on the GMT-Master II. The Jubilee bracelet did not enter the Batman family until the 126710BLNR in 2019.

Full-set packaging is the Rolex presentation box, the International Guarantee card, and the swing tags. Sotheby’s 2019 full-set lot description and Phillips’s 2024 stickered new-old-stock lot both confirm the same full-set expectation.

Special branches

The 116710BLNR is itself the named variant. Where the 116710 family has two published configurations — the all-black 116710LN and the blue-and-black 116710BLNR — the Batman is one of them, not a sub-branch inside it. Late-production full-set examples carrying 2019 guarantee-card dates are a minor collector sub-branch because they mark the final year of original Batman production and sit adjacent to the 126710BLNR transition. Sotheby’s 2019 lot is the auction-grade anchor for that sub-branch.

Historical market and auction record

The auction record is stronger than the 116710LN’s. Phillips offered a new-old-stock 116710BLNR from the Guido Mondani Collection at the Geneva Watch Auction XIX in May 2024 — a Phillips-condition stickered example five years after discontinuation, with bracelet, guarantee, hang tag, and presentation box intact. Sotheby’s had already catalogued a late-production full-set example dated to 2019 as the reference exited production.

WatchCharts tracks the broader secondary-market pricing history and positions the 116710BLNR against its successor 126710BLNR. 41Watch carries the specific EUR price history across the discontinuation window, documenting the climb from around EUR 8,500 at the start of the discontinuation signal into the EUR 16,000 range shortly after.

Sources

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