Some watches are the default answer. In the early 2000s, the answer to «which Rolex should I buy first?» was often «just get a 16610»1. Ref. 16610 is the stainless steel Submariner Date of 1988 to 2010: 40 mm, black dial, black aluminium bezel, 300 metres1,6,11.
It is also the last steel Submariner Date before ceramic, which makes it either the final honest tool watch or a very well-made piece of nostalgia, depending on who is selling it. What follows is how it changed, what it cost and what to check.
How the Submariner got here
The Submariner went into production in 1953 and was shown at the Basel fair in 19546. The date came with ref. 1680, in 1966 or 1969 depending on the source, together with a Cyclops lens over the window6,11,12. Rolex had introduced the Cyclops lens in 1953 to make the date easier to read21.
In 1979 ref. 16800 added a sapphire crystal and a unidirectional bezel and took the rating from 200 to 300 metres11,12. Then came ref. 168000, made for only months around 1988, which differed from a late 16800 mainly in its 904L steel1,6,12.
The 16610 followed. From the outside it was nearly identical to the 168000; the change was inside, where calibre 3135 replaced the 30351,12. Most sources date it to 1988 and some to 19891,7,11,12. It stayed in the catalogue until 2010, when the 116610 replaced it5,7,11.
Twenty-two years of small changes
Rolex did not mark model years, so these changes crept in rather than arrived1. The lume went first. Until about 1998 the dial used tritium, marked «SWISS - T<25» below six o'clock. Luminova and then Super-LumiNova followed around the turn of the century, with the dial text changing to «SWISS» and then «SWISS MADE»1,3,4,10.
The bracelet changed next. Earlier 16610s have hollow end links, later ones solid end links; Luxury Bazaar dates the switch to 2000 and gives the bracelet references as 93150 and 932501,3,4. The diver's extension moved from a fold-out piece to a link-based design3,4.
The case lost its lug holes, the small holes drilled through the lugs for the spring bars. Luxury Bazaar dates this to 2003; SwissWatchExpo says around 20001,5. Dealers often list the later, hole-free watches as 16610T1,17. Finally, the rehaut was engraved with ROLEX and the serial number, which sources date between 2005 and about 20071,3,4.
In 2003, for the Submariner's fiftieth anniversary, Rolex added the 16610LV: a green aluminium insert and larger «maxi» hour markers1,4,6. Collectors call it the Kermit, and LV stands for lunette verte, green bezel1,4. It ran until 20106,11. The black-bezel watch is sometimes written 16610LN, for lunette noire1,6.
Inside: calibre 3135
Calibre 3135 has 31 jewels, runs at 28,800 vibrations an hour and holds about 48 hours of power reserve8,9. It is a chronometer movement with a quickset date3,8. In practice: take it off on Friday evening and it will usually have stopped by Monday morning.
The 16610 most likely has the older hairspring, not Rolex's blue Parachrom. Bob's Watches and SwissWatchExpo's comparison credit the 116610 with bringing Parachrom to the Submariner Date, and the calibre databases put Parachrom in the 3135 from around 2007 to 2009, in other models5,7,8,9. SwissWatchExpo's 16610 guide says otherwise; see «Where the sources disagree».
The 3135 stayed in the Submariner Date after the 16610, in the 116610, until calibre 3235 arrived with the 126610LN in 20205,6,9.
What came after
The 116610 of 2010 kept the 40 mm diameter but looks larger, with lugs and crown guards nearly twice as wide5,7. It brought a Cerachrom ceramic insert, larger «maxi» markers, Chromalight lume and the Glidelock clasp5,7,11. Bob's Watches adds that the 16610's bezel turned on a single click spring, against four on the 1166107.
In 2020 the 126610LN went to 41 mm with slimmer lugs and calibre 32355,6,12. Next to both, the 16610 is the slim one: under 47 mm lug to lug, by WatchGuys' measure2.
What it cost, and what it costs
Rolex publishes no historic price list for the 16610, and rolex.com no longer shows it. The best record we found is a US-dollar retail price table that began as a handout a Rolex dealer gave the site's author in 2005 and was later extended by its publisher, Minus4Plus613. Its steel Submariner Date line shows USD 2,500 in February 1989, for the 16610 or its short-lived predecessor, and USD 4,525 in February 2005, a rise of 81 per cent, and USD 5,850 in March 200813. It is not a Rolex document, and the line names the 1680, 16610, 116610 and 126610 together, so which generation each year belongs to is our reading of the production years.
Pre-owned, we can measure asking prices. Chrono24 blocks direct reading, so we used archived copies of its 16610 page. We leave out listings whose titles point to another reference, mostly the green 16610LV, and listings titled as modified or special-order watches: iced-out, PVD-coated, custom-bezel and Comex examples, the last asking USD 137,736 to USD 208,87115,16,22,23. On that basis the median asking price on the first page went from USD 9,484 in August 2025 to USD 9,989 in August 2026, about 5.3 per cent15,16. Over two years, from July 2024, it rose about 3.2 per cent, after falling about 5.0 per cent in the first six months16,18,24.
Counting every listing gives a flatter picture: up 0.5 per cent over the year and down 3.8 per cent over two years, mainly because the July 2024 page carried 23 listings titled as Kermits or other references and the August 2026 page none15,16,18. Asking prices are not sale prices. For sale prices, Bob's Watches reports a median of USD 10,995 for the 16610 across its own sales from October 2025 to September 2026, with the middle half between USD 10,795 and USD 11,99514. That is one dealer's sales, not the market.
Buying one pre-owned
A 16610 is at least sixteen years old, so you are buying its history as much as the watch. Among the things Bob's Watches says move the price of a five-digit Submariner are documented service, bracelet stretch, and originality, since a swapped insert, dial or hands changes the watch's identity14. WatchGuys puts early tritium examples with folded end links at the lower end of its range and complete sets with papers towards the top2.
The aluminium insert scratches more readily than ceramic, and many collectors like the patina it develops2. Inserts also get swapped, so look at it as a part, not as proof of age14.
Nobody can tell you how many 16610s exist. Wikipedia says Rolex has disclosed about four million Submariners made from 1953 to 2020, but we found no Rolex statement, and nothing breaks it down by reference6. Analyst estimates cover the whole brand, about 1.15 million watches sold in 2025 by Morgan Stanley and LuxeConsult's count20, and are not provided by the brands19.
The dubious part
For years the 16610 was the standard answer to «which Rolex should I buy first?». It turned out to be a dangerous answer. The question has the word «first» in it.