FLOAT 100 · Watches · No. 13

Rolex Submariner Ref. 116610LN (modern ceramic)

The steel Submariner that swapped an aluminum bezel for scratchproof ceramic and a slim case for a broad-shouldered one became, for a decade, the watch people waited months to buy at retail and paid more than retail to skip the line.

Year: 2010-2020
Maker: Rolex
By price in watches: 67 of 100

Realized at auction · Mar 29, 2022$17,640A realized sale: somebody paid it.

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Maker: Rolex, Geneva
Reference: 116610LN, Oyster Perpetual Submariner Date ('LN' for lunette noire, black bezel)
Produced: 2010 to 2020; shown at the 2010 Basel show and replaced in September 2020
Case: 40 mm 904L steel 'Super Case' with broader lugs and larger crown guards
Bezel: Unidirectional, black Cerachrom ceramic insert with a 60-minute scale
Movement: Rolex caliber 3135, automatic chronometer with blue Parachrom hairspring
Water resistance: 300 m / 1,000 ft
Bracelet: Solid-link Oyster with Glidelock, adjustable about 20 mm in 2 mm steps without tools
U.S. retail price: $7,250 in 2010; $8,950 by August 2020
Sibling: 116610LV, green dial and green ceramic bezel, launched alongside it and nicknamed the 'Hulk'

Replacing a twenty-year bestseller

The Submariner arrived in 1953 as a purpose-built diver's watch, rated to 100 meters at launch. By the 2000s its depth rating had reached 300 meters, and the steel, black-dial Submariner Date had become the model's default. The reference 16610, made from 1988 to 2010, held that position for more than two decades and is described as the most successful model in the collection over that span.

Replacing it was a conservative business. Rolex did not redesign the Submariner so much as rebuild it in harder materials. The changes reached the steel Submariner Date last: precious-metal versions came first, the steel watch two years after them.

The steel model, reference 116610, was presented at the Basel show in 2010. Rolex launched it in two forms: the 116610LN with a black dial and black bezel, and the 116610LV with a green dial and a green ceramic bezel, the first green dial in the Submariner line.

The ceramic bezel arrives

The headline was the bezel. Aluminum inserts had defined the Submariner for half a century; they scratched and faded, which collectors of vintage Rolex learned to love but owners of new ones did not. Rolex's answer was Cerachrom, a patented ceramic first shown publicly on the 2005 yellow gold GMT-Master II reference 116718LN, made for that model's 50th anniversary.

Cerachrom is extremely hard and its color is not affected by sunlight. The numerals and graduations are engraved into the ceramic, coated with a very thin layer of gold or platinum by physical vapor deposition, and then diamond polished so that the metal stays only in the engraving.

The first Submariners to get it were three solid gold Submariner Date models in 2008: the yellow gold 116618LN and 116618LB and the white gold 116619LB, the first white gold Submariner, nicknamed the 'Smurf.' Two-tone Rolesor versions followed. The 116610LN brought the same bezel to the steel black Submariner Date, the configuration that had defined the model since the beginning.

The Super Case, the Maxi dial and the clasp

The case kept a nominal 40 mm diameter but was squarer, with thicker lugs and larger crown guards, a design collectors call the 'Super Case.' It had first appeared on the 2005 GMT-Master II and was Rolex's answer to the big-watch trend of the period. Measured, one review found the 116610 at 40.2 mm across, 12 mm thick and 47.6 mm lug to lug, with 20 mm between the lugs.

The dial is the 'Maxi' layout, with larger hour markers and broader hands, first used in the line on the 2003 anniversary Submariner. The markers are outlined in 18k white gold and filled with Chromalight, Rolex's luminous material with a blue glow. An anti-reflective coating was applied to the inner side of the sapphire crystal.

The bracelet changed as much as the head. Links became fully solid, and the Oysterlock clasp gained Glidelock, a rack that extends the bracelet about 20 mm in 2 mm steps without tools, meant for wearing the watch over a wetsuit. Case and bracelet are 904L steel, which Rolex markets as Oystersteel.

Inside is the caliber 3135, a 31-jewel automatic chronometer movement with an instant date change at midnight. In this generation it was fitted with Rolex's blue Parachrom hairspring for resistance to shocks, magnetic fields and temperature changes.

The waitlist decade

In 2010 the 116610LN retailed for $7,250. By August 2020 the list price was $8,950, an increase of about 23 percent over a decade in which U.S. inflation ran about 19 percent. One dealer history quotes a retail price of $8,550 while the watch was still in production, a figure that appears to predate a 2020 list increase.

The list price was hard to get. While the watch was in production, buying one new usually meant a long wait on an authorized dealer's list, and pre-owned 116610LNs traded above their new retail price because people paid to skip the line. One dealer's review put the approximate pre-owned price at $10,000 to $12,500.

At auction the plain black Sub has been a steady, modest lot. A 116610LN sold through a retailer in Oman, with a guarantee dated April 8, 2015, sold at an online auction in November 2017 for $10,000. A complete circa-2010 example sold at an online auction in Dubai in March 2022 for $17,640, above its $10,000 to $15,000 estimate. A complete 2015 example sold at an online auction in Geneva in December 2023 for 10,710 Swiss francs.

Superseded, not forgotten

In September 2020 Rolex replaced the whole generation at once with the 126610LN and its siblings. The new case was listed at 41 mm, with slimmer lugs and a 21 mm lug width, and the movement became the caliber 3235 with a 70-hour power reserve. On paper the new watch was 1 mm larger; measured, it was about 40.5 mm against the 116610's 40.2 mm.

That makes the 116610LN the only steel black Submariner Date with the Super Case. Owners still argue about it: some prefer its broad lugs, others the slimmer profile it lost. Either way, it was the watch that brought ceramic and the modern clasp to the most common Rolex sports watch, and its successor kept both.

The numbers

Reference: 116610LN (green sibling 116610LV)
Caliber: Rolex 3135, automatic, date, 31 jewels, chronometer, blue Parachrom hairspring
Case: 40 mm 904L steel 'Super Case' (measured 40.2 mm, 12 mm thick, 47.6 mm lug to lug, 20 mm lugs)
Bezel: Unidirectional, black Cerachrom ceramic, 60-minute scale
Water resistance: 300 m / 1,000 ft
Production years: 2010 to 2020
Production numbers: Not published by Rolex

Timeline

1953
Rolex introduces the Submariner, rated to 100 meters.
1988
The steel Submariner Date reference 16610 begins its run.
2003
The green-bezel 16610LV marks the Submariner's 50th anniversary and introduces the Maxi dial to the line.
2005
The yellow gold GMT-Master II 116718LN debuts the Cerachrom ceramic bezel and the Super Case.
2008
Ceramic bezels and the Super Case reach the Submariner on three solid gold Submariner Date references.
2010
The steel 116610LN and green 116610LV are presented at the Basel show; the 16610 is discontinued. Launch retail: $7,250.
2012
The no-date Submariner 114060 gets the same case and ceramic bezel.
Nov 14, 2017
A 116610LN sold through a retailer in Oman sells at an online auction for $10,000.
Aug 2020
The 116610LN lists at $8,950 in the United States.
Sep 2020
Rolex replaces the generation with the 41 mm 126610LN and caliber 3235.
Mar 29, 2022
A complete circa-2010 116610LN sells at an online auction in Dubai for $17,640.
Dec 12, 2023
A complete 2015 example sells at an online auction in Geneva for 10,710 Swiss francs.

The world in 2010

Jan 4, 2010
The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, then the tallest structure ever built, officially opens.
Jan 12, 2010
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake devastates Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Apr 3, 2010
Apple releases the first iPad.
Apr 14, 2010
Ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull begins disrupting air travel across northern and western Europe.
Apr 20, 2010
The Deepwater Horizon rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and starting one of the largest oil spills in history.
Jun 11, 2010
The FIFA World Cup opens in South Africa; Spain wins it on July 11.
Oct 6, 2010
Instagram launches publicly.

Price record

$1,000$10,000$100,000

Date	Price	Kind
2010	$7,250	Asking price, not a saleU.S. retail list price at launch.
Nov 14, 2017	$10,000	Sold at auction116610LN sold through a retailer in Oman, guarantee dated 2015, full set. Online sale; estimate $10,000 to $15,000.
Aug 2020	$8,950	Asking price, not a saleU.S. retail list price shortly before the model was discontinued.
Mar 29, 2022	$17,640	Sold at auctionCirca 2010, with guarantee, box and packaging. Online sale, Dubai; estimate $10,000 to $15,000.
Dec 12, 2023	$12,230	Sold at auctionAt an online auction run from Geneva: CHF 10,710 (including buyer's premium), shown in USD at the Federal Reserve rate on the sale date (1 CHF = 1.1419 USD).

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Rolex Submariner Ref. 116610LN (modern ceramic) is number 67 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 (13 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

Rolex's ceramic bezel numerals are engraved, coated in gold or platinum by vapor deposition, and then diamond polished so the metal stays only in the engraving.
The ceramic bezel reached the gold Submariners in 2008, two years before it reached the steel one.
The 116610LV launched alongside the black model and was the first Submariner with a green dial; collectors named it the 'Hulk.'
The Glidelock clasp lets the bracelet grow about 20 mm in 2 mm steps without tools, so it fits over a wetsuit.
Its successor is listed as 41 mm, but measured it is only about 0.3 mm wider than the 116610.

How this page is made

The figure: One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
Realized or not: A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
The story: Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 1, 2026.
Archive: Oct 5, 2026