Reference:16613

Submariner -> 16613

The 16613 is the two-tone Submariner Date of the caliber 3135 era, in production from 1989 to 2009 under a single reference number across two suffix configurations: the 16613LN with black bezel insert and black dial, and the 16613LB with blue bezel insert and blue sunburst dial, known to collectors as the Bluesy. Twenty years on a single reference is long for a sport Rolex, and over that span the 16613 absorbed every meaningful Submariner detail upgrade of the period — tritium giving way to Luminova and then Super-Luminova, hollow end links giving way to solid, and a plain inner rehaut giving way to the engraved ROLEX ROLEX band — before the Cerachrom 116613LN and 116613LB replaced it.

LN denotes lunette noire (black bezel) and LB denotes lunette bleue (blue bezel) in Rolex's standard suffix system. The Bluesy nickname applies to every blue-on-blue two-tone Submariner Rolex has produced from the 16803 through to the current 126613LB, but the 16613LB is the version most buyers picture when the word lands. The 16613LB should not be confused with the 116619LB Smurf, which is the blue-on-blue Submariner cased in solid 18k white gold rather than two-tone Rolesor — a different reference, a different metal, and a different price tier. The 16613LB is the steel-and-yellow-gold blue Sub.

Core facts

detail	value
reference	16613 (LN = black bezel/dial, LB = blue bezel/dial)
family	Submariner Date
nickname	Bluesy (LB)
production	1989 to 2009 (~20 years)
movement	caliber 3135, automatic, 28,800 vph, quick-set date
case	40mm, Rolesor (904L steel + 18k yellow gold), Triplock crown
crystal	sapphire with Cyclops
water resistance	300m / 1000ft
bezel	18k yellow gold surround, aluminum insert (60-click unidirectional) — black on LN, blue on LB
dial	black gloss with applied gold markers (LN); blue sunburst with applied gold markers (LB); Mercedes hands on both
lume	tritium (early), Luminova (~1998), Super-Luminova (late)
bracelet	93153 (hollow end links) → 93253 (solid end links, ~2000)
rehaut	plain (early/mid), engraved ROLEX ROLEX (~2005 onward)
predecessor	16803 (caliber 3035, 1984–1988)
successor	116613LN / 116613LB (Cerachrom, 2009–2020)

Where it sits in the line

The 16613 is the Rolesor member of the 3135-era Submariner Date trio. Rolesor is Rolex's term for steel-and-gold construction, with gold in every visible wear surface. The steel 16610 carried the widest market and ran 23 years; the 16613 carried the two-tone configuration with an 18k yellow-gold bezel, gold center links, and a gold crown and crown tube on a steel case; the full-gold 16618 was the maximum-material version of the same architecture. All three share the 40mm case and the caliber 3135 movement.

Within the 16613 pair the LB is the louder sibling. The blue-on-yellow-gold combination photographs as a statement piece, and the secondary market has consistently put the LB at a premium over the black 16613LN. The premium has held remarkably steady across the production run and into the post-discontinuation aftermarket — roughly the same logic that has separated the blue and black two-tone Subs through every generation since the 16803. The LN is the quieter half: gold in every visible position, black gloss dial, black aluminum insert, and the same Rolesor architecture buyers have known since the 1980s. Buyers shopping the two-tone Submariner specifically for daily wear often gravitate to the LN as the more legible everyday configuration.

The 16613LB is not the 116619LB. The 116619LB Smurf is a 2008-onward white-gold Submariner with a blue dial and blue Cerachrom insert, cased entirely in solid 18k white gold rather than steel-and-yellow-gold Rolesor. The visual cue that often confuses buyers is the colour palette; the construction is materially different and the price tier is in another bracket entirely.

The 16613 replaced the shorter-lived 16803, which had run from roughly 1984 to 1988 on the earlier caliber 3035. The substantive change at the generational boundary was the movement itself: the 3135 brought Microstella regulation and the higher frequency Rolex would carry forward for the next three decades. The Cerachrom 116613LN and 116613LB succeeded it in 2009, bringing the ceramic bezel insert, Maxi case, and Glidelock-equipped 97203 bracelet that defined the next chapter of the line.

Twenty years: what the production length means

A twenty-year run under one reference number is long for a sport Rolex, and in practice it means the 16613 spans two distinct eras in the same catalog entry. Early production, 1989 to roughly 1998, carries tritium lume, the 93153 bracelet with hollow end links, a plain rehaut, and matte-finish components. Late production, roughly 2005 to 2009, carries Super-Luminova, the 93253 bracelet with solid end links, the engraved rehaut, and an overall finish much closer in character to the Cerachrom 116613 generation that followed.

Early and late 16613 examples do not look the same on the wrist. A tritium 16613 on a hollow-link 93153 reads as a transitional late-vintage piece. A late Super-Luminova example with engraved rehaut reads as a modern pre-ceramic Submariner. Buyers who treat the reference number as a single object often conflate the two, and the price spreads within the reference reflect that.

Production outline

Early production (~1989–1998)

Early watches have tritium lume (marked T SWISS T or T<25 at six o'clock), the 93153 bracelet with hollow end links and Fliplock clasp, and a plain inner rehaut. These are the tritium-era 16613 examples, and they sit visually closest to the outgoing 16803 generation.

Mid production (~1998–2005)

The dial lume transitioned from tritium to Luminova around 1998 and then to Super-Luminova within a year or two. The bracelet transitioned from 93153 to 93253 with solid end links around 2000. Exact changeover dates are not pinned to specific serial bands in the documented evidence.

Late production (~2005–2009)

Late watches gained an engraved inner rehaut, with repeating ROLEX ROLEX text and the serial number at the 6 o'clock position. The feature appeared somewhere between 2005 and 2008 depending on source. Late 16613 examples sit closer in finish and detail to the 116613 than to the early tritium watches that opened the run.

Movement notes

Caliber 3135 throughout the run. Quick-set date, 28,800 vph, Microstella regulation, roughly 48 hours of power reserve, COSC chronometer certification. Rolex used the same movement in the steel 16610, the full-gold 16618, the Datejust, and many other references from the late 1980s onward. The 3135 is one of the most reliable and best-documented calibers in the modern catalog, and no movement change happened during the 16613's run.

Later 3135 specimens received the Parachrom blue hairspring, a paramagnetic alloy more resistant to magnetic fields and temperature swing than the earlier hairspring. The exact transition point for Parachrom on the 16613 is not firmly pinned in the documented evidence.

Dial map

The 16613 ran two core dial configurations across the production span — the blue-bezel LB with a blue sunburst dial and the black-bezel LN with a black gloss dial — both with applied gold hour markers and gold Mercedes hands. Within each suffix the same set of factory variants appears: standard production, the gem-set Serti family, and the early nipple-dial executions carried over from the 16803/16808. The lume-text branches mirror the wider Submariner family. Early dials read T SWISS T or T<25 (tritium); a brief transitional window carries SWISS only (Luminova); late dials read SWISS MADE (Luminova then Super-Luminova). Dial text is the fastest way to date a 16613: T SWISS T = pre-1998, SWISS only = 1998–2000 transition, SWISS MADE = 2000 onwards.

16613LB blue dial

The 16613LB dial is blue with a radial sunburst finish, applied gold hour markers, and gold Mercedes hands. Across the run the blue shifts across a wider range than the black LN dial: deep navy in low light, bright cornflower in direct sun, and a paler blue in the mid-tones that photographs rarely capture. Later-production dials show a more pronounced sunburst with sharper radial brushing than the flatter blue of early examples.

The factory sub-variants of the LB:

Standard sunburst blue — the canonical 16613LB dial. Blue radial sunburst, applied gold markers, gold Mercedes hands. Tritium lume on early watches, Luminova then Super-Luminova on later examples.
Tropical purple — blue 16613LB dials that have oxidized over decades to a distinctly purple or plum hue. The shift is driven by long UV exposure and slow chemical aging of the blue pigment, and it is progressive and irreversible. Tropical purple dials appear either evenly across the full face or in uneven patches depending on how the watch was worn and stored. The collector market treats an even, attractive tropical purple as a desirable feature rather than a defect, consistent with the broader market for tropical vintage Rolex dials.
Factory Serti — silver-base gem-set dial, diamond hour markers, sapphire indices in the cardinal positions. The name comes from the French sertissage (gem-setting). Factory Sertis are not aftermarket conversions; Rolex produced them at the factory, and a clean factory Serti carries a substantial premium over an aftermarket gem-set dial that looks similar at a glance. The blue-bezel LB Serti is the more commonly encountered configuration of the gem-set 16613.
Sultan dial (factory champagne Serti) — champagne base with diamond hour markers and sapphire accents, typically two baguette sapphires plus a triangular sapphire at twelve. The naming follows the collector convention used by the wider specialist trade — silver-base gem-set is "Serti", champagne-base gem-set is "Sultan". The name is not a reference to the Sultanate of Oman or the Khanjar emblem, which is a separate provenance line covered in Special branches below. Sultan dials are scarcer than silver Sertis and command premiums when papers and serial fall inside a coherent run.

16613LN black dial

The 16613LN dial is black gloss with gold-applied hour markers and gold Mercedes hands. The LN runs as a single core dial configuration through the production span, with three documented sub-variants:

Standard gloss — black lacquer base, applied gold hour markers, gold Mercedes hands. Tritium lume on early watches, Luminova then Super-Luminova on later examples.
Nipple dial (early) — earliest 16613LN examples carry nipple-style applied markers with a raised central boss, a detail carried over from the preceding 16803 and 16808 generation. Found on the first years of production, and a collector identification point for pre-1990s watches.
Serti dial — factory gem-set dial in the 16613LN line. Diamond hour markers in place of the standard luminous plots. On the LN the diamond markers typically pair with ruby accents at the cardinal positions, with diamond-only configurations also documented. Factory Serti examples carry a substantial premium over aftermarket gem-set conversions, and the gap between the two has made the category a long-running site for fraud — extra scrutiny on any Serti example is warranted.

Service-replacement dial caution

Rolex servicing routinely fitted Luminova dials to tritium-era watches once tritium dials were no longer manufactured. A pre-A-serial (pre-~1999) 16613 with a SWISS MADE dial has almost certainly had a service replacement. The dial is not wrong — Rolex fitted it — but it is not the original configuration, and collectors treat the swap as a meaningful deduction. The same caveat applies to both LN and LB examples.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown

Wrist presence — two-tone steel and gold with blue dial

The case is 40mm 904L stainless steel with 18k yellow gold crown guards and a gold Triplock screw-down crown, rated to 300m. The crystal is sapphire with a Cyclops magnifier over the date window at three o'clock. The bezel is 18k yellow gold carrying a unidirectional 60-click graduated aluminum insert with a luminous pearl at twelve — black on the LN, blue on the LB. Aluminum inserts scratch and fade with use — a known patina pathway on older examples, and a condition factor that matters at the market level. The 16613 generation is firmly aluminum-insert; Cerachrom ceramic only arrived with the successor 116613.

The black insert on the LN ages distinctively. Heavy-wear examples lose colour to a graphite-grey or charcoal tone, with the fading concentrated at the high points of the bezel where polishing and incidental contact are heaviest. Crisp original-finish black inserts on the 16613LN are increasingly hard to source, and replacement inserts are widely available — a check on bezel originality is part of any thorough authentication pass.

The blue insert on the LB ages along its own pathway. Heavy-wear examples lose colour to a paler, slightly grey-green blue at the high points, with the deeper navy holding longer in the recessed numerals. The faded look is widely considered desirable on the Bluesy; replacement inserts are widely available, and crisp original-finish blue inserts are increasingly hard to source.

The inner rehaut is plain on early and mid-production watches. Late examples, from around 2005, carry the engraved ROLEX ROLEX band that became the signature of the late aluminum-bezel and Cerachrom Submariner.

Hallmarks on the gold components follow Rolex's standard precious-metal marking of the period. Earlier watches carry the Helvetia bust with G Geneva assay mark on the mid-case and bracelet components. After 1995, the St. Bernard dog Barry mark replaced the older Helvetia system.

Bracelets, end links, and clasps

Two-tone Oyster bracelet with steel outer links and 18k gold center links — The 16613 two-tone Oyster bracelet — steel outer links and 18k gold center links, shared by both the LN and the LB

Along with lume type, the bracelet is one of the two primary authenticity checkpoints on a 16613. Reading it correctly is how a buyer places a given watch within the 20-year production run.

Early bracelet: 93153 (hollow end links)

The 93153 is a two-tone Oyster bracelet with steel outer links and 18k gold center links, fitted with hollow end links and a Fliplock diver's-extension clasp. It covers early production through about 2000. A 16613 on a 93153 with a tritium dial sits firmly in the pre-millennium collector tier.

Gold-through clasp transition

During the A-serial range (roughly 1999 to winter 2000), Rolex introduced the gold-through clasp, in which the gold extends through the full clasp body rather than sitting only on the exterior surfaces. Early A-serial 16613 examples lack the gold-through clasp; late A-serial examples have it; all P-serial and later watches are expected to carry it. The detail is a useful dating check on examples that sit near the transition.

Later bracelet: 93253 (solid end links — SEL)

The 93253 brought solid end links — SEL, in collector shorthand — to the two-tone Submariner. Solid end links close the gap between bracelet and case more tightly than the older hollow type and give the watch a more substantial feel on the wrist. The transition landed around 2000, parallel to the SEL rollout on the steel 16610 and the gold 16618. Rolex had introduced solid end links on the Sea-Dweller first, then spread them across the Submariner family.

The 93153-to-93253 transition is a key authenticity checkpoint. A late-production 16613 on a post-2000 serial should be on a 93253; a 93153 on a late-serial watch usually points to a bracelet swap or a mismatched example.

Clasp date codes follow the standard Rolex scheme of the period: 1976 = A through 1988 = M, 1989 = N, through 2000 = AB, 2001 = DE, up to 2010 = RS. An S stamp indicates a service replacement clasp. The code dates the bracelet, not the watch head.

Special branches

Panama Canal limited edition

Seventy-five two-tone steel and yellow-gold 16613s were produced in 1999 to commemorate the December 1999 transfer of the Panama Canal from the United States to the Republic of Panama, retailed exclusively by Mercurio Joyero in Panama City. The dial carries a gilt Panama Canal emblem above six o'clock with the inscription "Panama Canal — Canal de Panamá"; the caseback is engraved with the limited-edition number around its periphery. A parallel run of seventy-five steel examples uses the same dial layout and circulates as the 16610 Panama Canal. Sotheby's Watches Online March 2020 lot 4 (c.1999, A946579, numbered 57/75, estimate CHF 25,000–40,000) is the strongest documented two-tone example. The Panama Canal commemoratives were issued on black-dial watches; the LB sub-line did not receive a parallel commission in the documented evidence.

Khanjar caseback

A Khanjar 16613 — the curved dagger emblem of the Sultanate of Oman — is documented as a caseback engraving rather than as a dial signature. By the late 1990s the Omani commissions had moved off the dial and onto the caseback, fulfilled through Khimji Ramdas, the Omani retailer. Bukowskis lot 1023 (c.1998, serial U365470, Khanjar caseback engraving, Khimji Ramdas warranty card, Khanjar-stamped outer box; 140,000 SEK against 130,000–180,000 estimate) anchors the caseback-Khanjar 16613 in the late-1990s. ItalianWatchSpotter places the dial-to-caseback shift at the start of the 2000s. Khanjar dial 16613 examples are not documented; treat any claimed example as misidentified.

Tiffany & Co. retailer signature

A Tiffany & Co. retailer-signed 16613 is documented at Sotheby's London (Fine Watches Including Masterworks of Time, 14 April 2021, lot 8, c.1991, serial X723491, black dial, signed case, dial, and movement). The lot text notes Tiffany 16613 examples are rare and that the consigning party was the original purchaser with the signature also present on the original guarantee. Cartier-signed and Bucherer-signed dial examples are not documented for the 16613 — the New York Cartier-retailing window had largely closed by 1988, and Bucherer 16613s typically circulate as non-double-signed certified pre-owned inventory.

Factory Serti and Sultan

The factory Serti gem-set dial (silver base, diamond hour markers, sapphire indices) is the established gem-set configuration on the 16613. The Sultan dial is the rarer factory sibling, with the same gem-set architecture on a champagne base. Both are factory-original; both carry premiums contingent on clean provenance and unambiguous factory origin; both appear on LB and LN configurations, with the LB Serti the more commonly encountered execution. See the Dial map above for fuller treatment.

Historical market and auction record

The 16613 is a regular fixture at auction and in dealer inventories. The blue Bluesy (LB) is the more popular and higher-priced variant; the black (LN) trades at a steady discount that has held across the production run and into the secondary market. Within each suffix, the market sorts the run into early tritium watches on hollow-link 93153 bracelets, mid-run Luminova examples, late Super-Luminova examples with engraved rehaut and solid-link 93253 bracelets, factory Serti gem-set dials at the top tier, the rarer Sultan dial as a premium category, tropical purple LB dials as a discrete sub-market, and first-year nipple-dial examples as a dedicated specialist segment.

The successor 116613LN and 116613LB brought the Cerachrom ceramic bezel and the Maxi case at retail, and current Rolex pricing on the modern two-tone Sub has pulled the late aluminum-insert 16613 up by a sympathetic amount. Early tritium watches and the special-dial variants follow their own premium logic that does not track the retail reference. Standard sunburst-blue LB examples cluster in the USD 8,000–16,000 estimate band at Sotheby's New York and London Fine Watches sales; the factory gem-set tier (silver Serti and champagne Sultan) lifts the reference into the USD 10,000–20,000+ band where provenance is clean. Phillips and Christie's catalogue the LB more frequently than the LN but still less than the steel 16610.

Auction record

Documented major-house lots that catalogue the 16613 across its 20-year run, both LB and LN configurations and the gem-set and limited-edition branches.

Date	House / sale	Lot	Suffix	Configuration	Result
2018-09	Sotheby's Important Watches (n09952, New York)	10	LB	c.1997, silvered sunburst factory Serti, diamond and sapphire-set indexes, blue aluminium insert, case U190178, on two-tone Oyster	est. USD 7,000–9,000
2020-03-26	Sotheby's Watches Online	4	LN	c.1999, Panama Canal limited edition no. 57/75, black dial with gilt canal emblem above six o'clock, case A946579, original guarantee	est. CHF 25,000–40,000
2020-07-24	Sotheby's Watches Weekly (London)	702	LB	c.2004, blue sunburst dial, case F605993, full set with guarantee, booklets, presentation case, anchor	est. GBP 5,000–7,000
2020-08-04	Sotheby's Watches Weekly (New York)	1056	LN	c.1991, black tritium dial, case N221047, on two-tone Oyster with folding clasp	est. USD 8,000–12,000
2021-04-14	Sotheby's Fine Watches Including Masterworks of Time (London)	8	LN	c.1991, retailed by Tiffany & Co., signed case, dial, and movement; black tritium dial; case X723491; consigned by the original purchaser, signature also on the original guarantee	est. GBP 12,000–18,000
2021-04-29	Sotheby's Fine Watches (Hong Kong)	9233	LB	c.2000, blue sunburst dial, case K972831, on two-tone Oyster with folding clasp	est. HKD 65,000–95,000
2021-06-15	Sotheby's June Watches (n10845, New York)	9	LB	c.1990, champagne Sultan factory gem-set dial, diamond and sapphire-set indexes, case E524471, original Rolex presentation box and hang tags	est. USD 10,000–15,000
2021-10	Sotheby's Hong Kong	8026	LB	silvered sunburst factory Serti with eight diamond hour markers and sapphire baguettes at six and nine, blue insert (the example pictured in the dial-map hero)	lot closed; estimate band consistent with the gem-set tier
2022-11	Sotheby's Important Watches Online	531	LN	c. mid-production 16613LN, black gloss dial, two-tone Oyster	lot closed; results behind sign-in
2023-06-15	Sotheby's Fine Watches (online)	comparable LN cohort	LN	late tritium / early Luminova-era LN, two-tone Oyster, full provenance	part of the recurring Fine Watches LN cohort, est. USD 6,000–9,000 in this band
2024-06-11	Sotheby's Fine Watches	315	LB	c.2008, late 16613T blue dial, case Z798795, movement 31654377, full set with December 2008 guarantee	est. USD 8,000–16,000

Sources