Reference:submariner-5xxx-family

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The 5xxx Submariner family is the core no-date vintage Submariner story. It starts with the last no-crown-guard watches, runs through the transitional big-crown 5510, and settles into the crown-guard commercial core of the 5512 and 5513. From there it breaks into special-issue branches: the COMEX 5514 and the British military 5517.

Core map

Six references make up the family. The 5508 is the small-crown, no-crown-guard watch, the last of its branch. The 5510 is the big-crown transitional bridge. The 5512 is the chronometer crown-guard no-date Submariner; the 5513 is its non-chronometer counterpart. The 5514 is the COMEX-only branch with a helium escape valve (HEV), and the 5517 is the fixed-bar military branch.

Small crown and big crown refer to the size of the winding crown on the pre-crown-guard watches. Those terms carry their full meaning in the references themselves.

Where the family changes

Crown and case architecture

The family starts without crown guards and ends with them permanent. The 5512 is the structural pivot — it locks crown guards into the Submariner.

The sequence is simple. 5508 and 5510 close the no-crown-guard era. The earliest 5512 introduces square guards, then pointed Cornino guards, then the mature rounded form that carries through the long 5512 and 5513 run.

Commercial split

The 5512 and 5513 overlap for years but hold different market positions. The 5512 is the chronometer no-date watch, certified to COSC and priced accordingly. The 5513 is the non-chronometer no-date watch, produced in far higher volume and sold at a lower retail price. That split drives much of the modern collecting split as well.

Special-issue branches

The 5514 and 5517 are not retail peers to the 5512 and 5513. They are branch watches tied to specific professional distribution paths: COMEX for the 5514 (French commercial saturation diving) and the British Royal Navy for the 5517.

Reference by reference

5508

The 5508 is the last mainstream Submariner without crown guards. It sits in the small-crown world and closes the earlier case chapter before the 5512 changes the line. Archive examples now include a tropical 1959 watch, a service-dial example, and a 1962 exclamation-dot late example.

5510

The 5510 is the short-run big-crown transitional watch. Case and crown still look back to the 6538, but the movement is already caliber 1530, the same caliber that powers the early 5512 and 5513. That dual identity is its whole point.

5512

The 5512 is the premium no-date Submariner and the first reference where crown guards become a lasting part of the model. It carries the chronometer story across a twenty-year run and four documented crown-guard generations.

5513

The 5513 is the long-run commercial core. Twenty-seven years of production, 151,449 pieces, dial eras from gilt through matte to late gloss. No other Submariner reference covers as much ground.

5514

The 5514 is the COMEX-specific branch. COMEX (Compagnie Maritime d'Expertises) was a French commercial diving firm that pioneered saturation diving. The 5514 is a 5513 case with an HEV, issued directly to COMEX divers and never sold through any retailer. A sold 1976 archive example with box, service papers, and documented diver provenance anchors the reference.

5517

The 5517 is the British military Submariner, known universally as the MilSub. Fixed bars, a 60-minute bezel, T SWISS T tritium dial, and military caseback markings put it in a different lane from the commercial references. The footing is concrete: two Sotheby's 5517 lots, a photographed 1977 example from Hodinkee's Mike Wood report, and a sold military 5513 archive example for context.

Dial and movement logic across the family

The 5xxx family is not one dial story. Early watches live in the glossy gilt world, then the 5512 and 5513 split into different long-run dial arcs. The 5512 carries the chronometer movement path. The 5513 settles into the long non-chronometer route.

Lazy summaries get collectors into trouble here. The 5xxx family rewards reference-specific thinking.

Bracelet and packaging logic

Bracelet fitment is easier to document than original delivery. Across the 5512 and 5513 the documented fitment overlap is familiar: 7206/80 early, 9315 with 280 or 380 in the middle, 93150/580 late. That is fitment, not a universal delivery chart. The same caution applies to boxes and papers.

Historical market view

The 5512 and 5513 do not occupy the same market depth. The Rolex-commissioned Submariner book by Nicholas Foulkes puts the gap in sharp relief: 17,338 pieces for the 5512 against 151,449 for the 5513. Roughly one 5512 for every eleven 5513s.

That ratio does not make every 5512 automatically better, but it does explain why the 5512 feels scarcer in the market and why special-branch 5xxx watches move into a different price tier quickly. A sold 1976 5514 COMEX archive with box, service papers, and diver provenance, and two Sotheby's 5517 lots from 2018 and 2023, make the branch market concrete rather than abstract.

Sources

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