Rolex Daytona Ref. 116500LN (white 'Panda' dial)

Sixteen years, then a ceramic bezel

Rolex introduced the reference 116500LN at the Basel watch fair in March 2016. It replaced the steel reference 116520, which had been in the catalog since 2000, the year Rolex first fitted its own chronograph movement, the caliber 4130, to the Daytona. One reviewer at the launch noted that the outgoing model was old enough to be applying to college.

The headline change was the bezel. The 116520 had an engraved steel tachymeter bezel. The 116500LN replaced it with a single-piece bezel in black Cerachrom, Rolex's name for its ceramic, coined from 'ceramic' and the Greek word for color. The graduations are molded into the ceramic before it is fired at about 1,500 degrees Celsius, then coated with a thin layer of platinum by a PVD process. The tachymeter numerals were also redrawn to follow the curve of the dial rather than sitting horizontally.

Ceramic had reached the Daytona before, but only in precious metal. Rolex first put a single-piece Cerachrom bezel on an Everose gold Daytona in 2011, and the 50th-anniversary Daytona of 2013 was platinum with an ice-blue dial and a chestnut-brown ceramic bezel. Many collectors had expected a steel ceramic Daytona that year. It took three more years.

The LN in the reference denotes the black ceramic bezel, a suffix that sits on top of the six-digit numbering Rolex has used for Daytonas since 2000.

What is inside and how to read it

The caliber 4130 is a self-winding chronograph with a column wheel and a vertical clutch, designed with fewer parts than the outside-sourced movement it replaced. It beats at 28,800 vibrations per hour, carries a blue Parachrom hairspring that Rolex says resists magnetism, temperature swings and shocks, and stores about 72 hours of power. From 2016 the watch was certified as a Superlative Chronometer, regulated to within plus or minus two seconds a day.

The layout is the one every 4130 Daytona shares: a 30-minute counter at 3 o'clock, running seconds at 6 o'clock and a 12-hour counter at 9 o'clock. The 3 and 9 o'clock sub-dials sit slightly above the line between the 3 and 9 o'clock markers, and the word 'Daytona' is printed in red above the lower sub-dial. The chronograph is said to read to an eighth of a second, yet the dial has only four notches between seconds markers.

Two dials were offered: black with silver sub-dial rings, and white with black rings. The white version, reference 116500LN-0001, drew the 'Panda' nickname because it echoes the contrasting dials of early Daytonas. Hour markers and hands are 18-karat white gold.

The steel case hides a quirk. On steel and two-tone Daytonas until 2023 the lugs were asymmetrical: the left-hand lugs were drawn wider to balance the visual weight of the crown, pushers and crown guards on the right. Rolex calls the watch 40 mm, but measured between 8 and 2 o'clock without the pushers the 116500LN case is 38.88 mm. The 2023 replacement measures 39.88 mm on the same line.

The waiting-list watch

Demand outran supply from the first day. Retailers worldwide sold out at launch and kept waiting lists for years, and a new 116500LN routinely changed hands on the secondary market for two to three times its retail price. Rolex does not publish production figures.

The list price climbed while the waiting lists grew. The watch launched at 11,800 Swiss francs. By early 2023 the U.S. list price was reported at $14,550 in one account and $14,800 in another.

The open-market price became a barometer. According to a November 2022 market report citing a secondary-market tracker, the price of an unworn white-dial example rose from about $33,000 in October 2021 to about $45,000 in April 2022, then was estimated at about $31,500 by early November 2022, a third off the peak but still more than double retail. The same report noted that an unworn 2021 steel Daytona with full box and papers had sold at an online auction in the United Kingdom on October 21, 2022, for £24,500, about $28,080.

As of September 30, 2026, a market tracker estimated a pre-owned white-dial 116500LN at $29,382. That is an estimate, not a sale.

Where it sits in the Daytona line

Rolex became official timekeeper of Daytona International Speedway in 1962 and introduced the Cosmograph reference 6239 in 1963, named for the racing tradition of Daytona Beach, Florida. The first watches did not carry the word 'Daytona' on the dial; it was added in 1964. Screw-down pushers arrived with reference 6240 in 1965.

A second series with a modified outside-made automatic movement and a 40 mm case arrived in 1988. The third series, beginning in 2000, brought the in-house caliber 4130 and six-digit references. The 116500LN is the last steel watch of that third series.

The early exotic-dial Daytonas, later called 'Paul Newman' dials, are the line's most famous collectibles. Paul Newman's own reference 6239 sold at auction in New York on October 26, 2017, for about $17.75 million. The black bezel of the 116500LN recalls the black acrylic bezels of vintage references such as the 6241 and 6263.

Replaced, and missed

In 2023, the Daytona's 60th anniversary year, Rolex replaced the 116500LN with reference 126500LN. The new watch uses caliber 4131, the first publicized revision of the 4130, with more ball bearings in the winding system, Paraflex shock absorbers and the Chronergy escapement, while keeping the quoted 72-hour reserve. A small crown printed below 6 o'clock marks the new movement.

The case changed more than many expected. The 126500LN dropped the pointed asymmetric lugs for flatter, symmetrical ones, widened the case and crown guards, slimmed the hour markers and added a thin metal frame around the ceramic bezel. Its U.S. list price was $15,100. One long-form comparison concluded that its writers preferred the proportions of the outgoing 116500LN.

That verdict is the watch's legacy in short: the 116500LN is now a discontinued reference whose design many enthusiasts consider the cleanest steel Daytona of the modern era, and whose market run from 2016 to 2023 tracks the rise and cooling of the modern watch boom.

The numbers

Reference

116500LN (white dial 116500LN-0001)

Caliber

Rolex 4130, self-winding, column wheel, vertical clutch, 28,800 vph, about 72 hours

Precision

Superlative Chronometer, plus or minus 2 seconds a day

Case

40 mm (38.88 mm measured 8-to-2 without pushers), steel, 100 m

Bezel

Monobloc black Cerachrom, platinum-coated tachymeter

Bracelet

Oyster, solid links, Oysterlock clasp with Easylink extension

Production years

2016 to 2023

Production numbers

Not published by Rolex

Timeline

1. 1962

   Rolex becomes official timekeeper of Daytona International Speedway.

2. 1963

   The first Cosmograph, reference 6239, is introduced.

3. 1964

   The word 'Daytona' is added to the dial.

4. 1965

   Screw-down chronograph pushers arrive with reference 6240.

5. 1988

   The second series, reference 16520, brings an automatic movement and a 40 mm case.

6. 2000

   The third series begins with Rolex's in-house caliber 4130 in reference 116520.

7. 2005

   Cerachrom ceramic bezels debut on the GMT-Master II.

8. 2011

   An Everose gold Daytona becomes the first Rolex with a single-piece Cerachrom bezel.

9. 2013

   The 50th-anniversary Daytona is platinum with a chestnut ceramic bezel, not the steel model many expected.

10. Mar 2016

    Reference 116500LN is introduced at the Basel watch fair in steel with a black Cerachrom bezel, at 11,800 Swiss francs, and sells out immediately.

11. Oct 2021

    A market tracker prices an unworn white-dial example at about $33,000, per a later market report.

12. Apr 2022

    The tracked price peaks at about $45,000 for an unworn white-dial example.

13. Nov 2022

    The tracked price falls to about $31,500, a third off the peak.

14. 2023

    Reference 126500LN with caliber 4131 replaces the 116500LN in the Daytona's 60th anniversary year.

15. Sep 30, 2026

    A market tracker estimates a pre-owned white-dial 116500LN at $29,382.

The world in 2016

• Jun 23, 2016

  The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union.

• Jul 6, 2016

  Pokémon Go is released and breaks sales and revenue records.

• Aug 2016

  The Summer Olympics are held in Rio de Janeiro, the first in South America.

• Sep 3, 2016

  The United States and China formally join the Paris climate agreement.

• Nov 2, 2016

  The Chicago Cubs win the World Series for the first time since 1908.

• Nov 8, 2016

  Donald Trump is elected president of the United States.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Rolex Daytona Ref. 116500LN (white 'Panda' dial) is number 49 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (8 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• On steel Daytonas until 2023, the left-hand lugs were wider than the right to balance the visual weight of the crown and pushers.
• Rolex calls the case 40 mm, but the 116500LN measures 38.88 mm across from 8 to 2 o'clock without the pushers.
• The chronograph is said to read to an eighth of a second, but the dial shows only four notches between seconds markers.
• The bezel numerals are molded into the ceramic, fired at about 1,500 degrees Celsius and then coated with platinum.
• Cerachrom combines 'ceramic' with the Greek word for color.
• The first Cosmograph of 1963 did not say 'Daytona' on the dial; the word was added in 1964.