For sixteen years the steel Daytona had barely changed5,6. In March 2016 Rolex gave it a black ceramic bezel, and the 116500LN was born6,10. The case, the bracelet and the base of calibre 4130 stayed as they were; the movement gained Rolex's new Superlative Chronometer certification, and the white dial got black counter rings2,5,6.
That small change made it one of the most sought-after Rolex watches of its time. SwissWatchExpo described years-long waiting lists24, and Luxury Bazaar calls it a long-waitlist watch for its entire run2. What follows is what the 116500LN is, how it differs from the watches either side of it, what it cost and what it asks for now.
From the 116520 to the 126500LN
Rolex launched calibre 4130, its own chronograph movement, in 2000, and with it the steel Daytona ref. 1165207,8,25. That watch had an engraved steel bezel and a black or white dial5,12,26,27.
Ceramic reached the Daytona first in gold and platinum: the Everose 116515LN in 2011 and the platinum 116506 in 20136,7,8. At Baselworld 2016 it reached steel. The 116500LN was the first steel Daytona with a ceramic bezel2,3,6, and it replaced the 1165202,5,12,26,28. At Baselworld, though, SJX reported Rolex's line that the ceramic model was an addition and the 116520 would continue29.
Rolex itself drew the line back further. Its page for the watch said the black bezel recalls the 1965 model with a black Plexiglas bezel insert1,5,25.
Rolex's site still showed the 116500LN in February 202330. At the end of March 2023 the whole Daytona range was renewed, and the steel version became the 126500LN with calibre 41318,11,25.
The bezel and the dials
The bezel is a single piece of black Cerachrom, Rolex's name for its ceramic1,10. Its graduations are recessed into the ceramic and coated with a thin layer of platinum by PVD5,6,11. Ceramic is far harder to scratch than the polished steel bezel it replaced6,10. The scale measures average speeds up to 400 kilometres or miles an hour4,31.
There were two dials. The white one is lacquered, with black counter rings, which gives it what collectors call the «Panda» look; the black one has silver-grey counter rings5,6,10,12. The black rings on the white dial were new in 2016; the black dial kept the snailed silver rings of the 1165206.
Luxury Bazaar says Rolex added an anti-reflective coating under the crystal around 2021 and improved the Chromalight lume in 20222. That is one source; Rolex's own specification lists Chromalight in 2022 but not in 20171,4.
The movement
Calibre 4130 was Rolex's own chronograph movement, introduced in 20008,25. It uses a column wheel and a vertical clutch, runs at 28,800 vibrations an hour and holds about 72 hours of power reserve1,6,7. It has 44 jewels and a paramagnetic blue Parachrom hairspring4,7,9.
The 116500LN is certified as a Superlative Chronometer: within two seconds a day either way, after casing4,5. Rolex redefined that standard in 2015, the year before the 116500LN arrived6,32. It keeps the COSC test and adds Rolex's own after casing4,6.
116500LN or 126500LN
The two look alike from across a room. Up close, the case gives it away. The 116500LN has pointed, asymmetrical lugs and a bezel that overhangs the case; the 126500LN has symmetrical lugs, broader crown guards and a thin band of steel around the ceramic2,11,16.
On the dial, the 126500LN has slimmer counter rings and narrower hour markers11,16, and a small crown below 6 o'clock marks its calibre 41317,16. Monochrome puts the new case about half a millimetre thinner11. Rolex gives both as 40 mm1,13, though aBlogtoWatch found the new one wears larger16. Both backs are solid steel3,11.
What it cost new
The archived Rolex pages for the 116500LN that we read carry no price, so the figures below come from the press and from dealers, not from Rolex's price lists1,30.
At launch in 2016 the price was CHF 11,800 in Switzerland5,10 and, according to Monochrome, EUR 11,3006. In January 2020 aBlogtoWatch reported USD 13,150 in the US18, and in May 2021 Monochrome wrote of about EUR 12,400 or USD 13,50033.
The last price is less certain. aBlogtoWatch gives USD 14,550 as the last known price, Luxury Bazaar USD 14,800, and WatchGuys about USD 15,1002,3,16. USD 15,100 was the 126500LN's launch price16,34. In euros, Monochrome put the 126500LN at EUR 14,950, «300 euros more than the 116500LN in early 2023», which makes about EUR 14,65011. From EUR 11,300 in 2016 that is a rise of about 29.6 per cent over seven years, on one publication's figures.
What it asks now
Pre-owned, we can only measure asking prices, and asking prices are not sale prices. We took the median of the first page of Chrono24's 116500LN listings from five archived copies. It was USD 29,500 in June 2024, USD 26,995 in December 2024, USD 28,497 in June 2025, USD 28,997 in October 2025 and USD 30,405 in February 202617,19,20,22,23.
The window decides the story. From June 2024 to February 2026 the median rose 3.1 per cent. From December 2024 it rose 12.6 per cent, because the median fell 8.5 per cent in the six months before that17,19,20. Both end higher; only one looks like a rally. Luxury Bazaar, reading its own sales rather than asking prices, says 2026 prices are about where they were in 20232.
Against the successor, the gap narrowed in the second half of 2024 and has held since. A new 126500LN listed at USD 15,100 in July and December 2024, USD 16,000 in June and November 2025 and USD 16,900 from January 202634,35,36,37,38. Set against the nearest list price, the old watch's median asked about 95 per cent more in mid-2024 and 78 to 81 per cent more at each of the four later points. In plain terms, a pre-owned 116500LN asks between 1.8 and 1.95 times what Rolex charges for the new one, if you can get the new one at that price.
The dial matters. In all five copies, listings titled as the white dial asked more than those titled as the black, by about USD 2,600 to 4,100 at the median17,19,20,22,23. Monochrome put the white dial «about 3K» higher in 2021, in a passage quoting both euros and dollars, and WatchGuys says USD 2,000 to 3,0003,33.
It has been higher. In May 2021 Monochrome reported asking prices of about 2.6 times retail33, and WatchGuys says white dials traded near USD 50,000 in early 20223.
How many were made
We found no production figure for the 116500LN, or for any modern Daytona reference; the only per-reference figures in our sources are rough ones for vintage models, such as «roughly 3,000» for the 62417,27. Monochrome's 2021 analysis spoke of «several thousands of pieces a year» for the steel Daytona, without a source for the number33. For the whole company, Morgan Stanley and LuxeConsult estimate Rolex's 2025 volume at about 1.1 to 1.15 million watches, as Revolution and Monochrome report it39,40. Monochrome notes that those figures were not provided by the brands40.
The dubious part
In 2016 Rolex changed the bezel on its steel chronograph and very little else2. By 2021 the market was asking about 2.6 times the list price for it33. It is the most expensive piece of ceramic most of its owners will ever buy, unless they have also redone the kitchen.