Reference:116713LN

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GMT-Master → 116713LN

The 116713LN is the two-tone ceramic GMT-Master II of the six-digit era. It arrived at Baselworld 2006 as the first GMT-Master II with a Cerachrom bezel, and it did so in Rolesor rather than steel. That release order matters. For roughly a year, the only ceramic GMT-Master II Rolex sold was this steel-and-yellow-gold version, ahead of the all-steel 116710LN that arrived in 2007. The reference then ran alongside the steel ceramic version for the next decade, holding the Rolesor position in the line until the broader 2019 generation change.

Its branch story is unusually narrow. Unlike the earlier two-tone 16713, which divided into brown Root Beer and black-dial branches, the 116713LN exists in a single gloss-black dial configuration with a black Cerachrom insert. The Rootbeer colourway does not come back to the two-tone GMT-Master II until the 126711CHNR in 2018.

Core facts

detail value
reference 116713LN
family GMT-Master II
production Baselworld 2006 debut; discontinued around 2019 in the 126710/126711 generation shift
movement caliber 3186 with blue Parachrom hairspring
case 40mm Rolesor (Oystersteel and 18k yellow gold) Oyster case
crystal sapphire with Cyclops
water resistance 100m
bezel black Cerachrom with gold-filled 24-hour graduations
key identity first ceramic-bezel GMT-Master II, and the only two-tone yellow-gold ceramic GMT

Where it sits in the line

Rolesor ceramic era catalogue context

The 116713LN is the direct ceramic-era successor to the 16713, the two-tone yellow-gold GMT-Master II of the five-digit generation. Where the 16713 divided cleanly into a brown Root Beer branch and a black-dial branch, the 116713LN consolidated the reference onto a single black-on-black configuration. The Rootbeer colour scheme left the two-tone GMT-Master II at this point and did not return until the ceramic 126711CHNR launched in 2018, by which time the gold side had also shifted from yellow to Everose.

The 116713LN opened the Cerachrom rollout for the GMT-Master II. Rolex introduced it at Baselworld 2006, a year ahead of the all-steel 116710LN in 2007, which reversed the usual pattern of launching a sports reference in steel first and adding precious-metal versions later. That sequence puts the Rolesor reference in the role the 116718LN yellow-gold version had played since 2005: the vehicle for the newest bezel and dial technology. Once the steel 116710LN arrived, the 116713LN held the two-tone position in the line for another decade.

Its closing context is the 2019 generation change, when Rolex replaced the 116710LN, 116710BLNR, and the 116713LN with the six-digit 126710 family. The two-tone Rolesor position then sat empty in ceramic until the green-and-black 126713GRNR in 2023, which returned to two-tone yellow gold but on Jubilee rather than Oyster and in a new colourway rather than reviving black.

Production outline

The reference launched at Baselworld 2006 and ran into roughly 2019. Dealer-side guides place the end of production around 2018 to 2019, reflecting the rolling nature of the cutoff rather than a dated announcement. The surviving market carries examples dated across the full run, with 2014 and 2017 lots entering the auction-house record in Sotheby’s and Bonhams sales during active production.

Movement notes

Caliber 3186 powered the 116713LN through its entire production window. This is the same movement Rolex had introduced on the yellow-gold 116718LN at Baselworld 2005, brought into the Rolesor line a year later. Its defining feature is the blue Parachrom hairspring, introduced elsewhere in the Rolex catalogue earlier in the 2000s and carried onto the GMT-Master II through the ceramic-era references. The 3186 also moved the GMT wheel to the revised design that cleaned up quickset date and independent-hour-hand behaviour, and it remained the reference movement for the line until caliber 3285 replaced it on the 2018 launches.

The 3186 ran at 28,800 vph with a 50-hour power reserve. Caliber 3285, which superseded it on the ceramic Rootbeer pair in 2018, moved the reserve to 70 hours and added the Chronergy escapement. The 116713LN never received the 3285, which keeps its movement generation clean.

Dial map

Black dial on two-tone Rolesor

The dial story is the 116713LN’s narrowest. A single gloss-black lacquer dial with Chromalight lume plots in yellow-gold surrounds, paired with a black Cerachrom insert carrying gold-filled 24-hour graduations. The GMT hand is green, a detail that reads as the simplest generation marker separating the 116713LN and its Cerachrom siblings from the aluminum-insert 16713. There is no Rootbeer branch, no brown-dial branch, no alternate bezel colour inside the reference. Sotheby’s and Bonhams auction catalogues across the production run describe the same configuration.

The single-dial decision is itself a narrative point. The vintage 1675 and 16753 carried brown-and-gold Rootbeer dials as the yellow-gold GMT identity. The 16713 split yellow-gold production between brown and black. The 116713LN consolidated yellow-gold GMT-Master II production onto black only. When Rolex brought the Rootbeer back in 2018, it did so in Everose, not yellow gold, and on a different six-digit reference.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown notes

Black Cerachrom bezel on Rolesor
Caseback detail

The case is the Maxi-case geometry shared across the Cerachrom-era GMT-Master II. Compared with the 16713, the crown guards are larger, the lugs are thicker, and the case sides are more squared. The 40mm footprint is unchanged, but the wrist presence is heavier. The dial carries correspondingly larger applied hour markers and a wider Mercedes handset, the configuration commonly called the Maxi dial.

The Cerachrom insert is the defining technical change over the aluminum 16713. Rolex replaced the 120-click aluminum bezel with a 24-click unidirectional Cerachrom ring, scratch-resistant and colourfast in a way the aluminum insert was not. The 24-hour graduations are not printed or painted. They are deposited into the ceramic using a patented nano-particle gold process, which gives the markings their gold tone and keeps them flush with the ceramic surface. Cyclops over the date and the Triplock crown carry over unchanged.

Bracelets, end links, clasps, and packaging notes

Oyster Rolesor bracelet

The 116713LN shipped on the Rolesor Oyster bracelet, reference 97203, with solid end links and the Oysterlock clasp carrying the Easylink 5mm comfort extension. The Jubilee, which became the default two-tone GMT bracelet on the 2023 126713GRNR, was not offered on the 116713LN during its run. Every auction-house description in the corpus shows the same Oyster fitment.

Special branches

The reference has no production branches in the sense that the earlier 16713 or the 16710 do. The single dial, single bezel, and single bracelet mean the 116713LN is best read as one long generation rather than a tree of variants. The collector interest is in the reference itself, not in sub-configurations within it.

Historical market and auction record

Auction-house coverage is relatively thin for the 116713LN, in line with the reference’s status as an active-production watch through most of its life. Sotheby’s documented the reference with both a 2014 direct-sale listing and a broader direct-sale page covering the configuration. Bonhams catalogued a 2017 example in its Fine Watches sale, with retail provenance documented. The secondary market treats the 116713LN as a discontinued fixed-supply reference with a defined pricing band, distinct from the price trajectory of the steel ceramic siblings. The overall market picture is a steady dealer-led presence rather than a headline auction reference, which suits the watch’s role as the long-running Rolesor member of the Cerachrom family.

Sources

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