Rolex Releases An Upsized Submariner With Updated Movement And New Color Ways

Traditionally every March, watch collectors and enthusiasts keep their eyes peeled to Rolex’s social media and digital channels to catch a glimpse at the crown’s novelties the second they’re released. While the brand has always managed to eschew traditional industry gimmicks, the one constant has been Rolex’s annual appearance at Baselworld.
 

However, with the current global health crisis disrupting all of the usual watch fairs, Rolex decided to leave Baselworld in April of this year (read HERE) in favor of a new format based in Geneva starting in 2021. Rolex fans were left to wonder what this would mean for the brand’s 2020 releases. At first, it seemed that Rolex would hold off on any announcements until 2021, then came the teaser…
 

In the brand’s “Out Of The Blue” teaser, we see the arrow-style 12 o’clock index marker from the brand’s iconic tool watches. Many were left pondering what this could mean. Since the teaser’s release, the rumor mill has run rampant with more conservative guesses pointing towards a new Submariner of some kind.
 

The newly released Submariners also bring changes to the color combinations available in the collection. The long-rumored discontinuation of the all-green ref. 16610LV a.k.a. “Hulk” has been realized, as well as the discontinuation of the white gold ref. 116619LB a.k.a. “Smurf.” Both pieces have been discontinued in favor of updated models with black dials, new movements, and redefined case dimensions.
 

Visually, the new Submariners look almost identical to previous iterations of the model. However, Rolex has added two new models to the Submariner collection each with colored Cerachrom bezels, introducing the ref. 126610LV (steel with a black dial with green bezel) and ref. 126619LB (white gold with a black dial and blue bezel). The iconic black bezel and black dial Submariner is still available with date (ref. 126610) or without date (ref. 124060).