The best Rolex Submariner, measured by what people actually buy rather than what gets argued about online, is the discontinued Ref. 16610. Sales data from Bob’s Watches from January 2025 through October 2026 place this model ahead of our other four best-selling models: the 126610LN, the two-tone 16613, the 126613LB, and the no-date 124060.
Key Takeaways
- A watch Rolex stopped making in 2010 outsells every Submariner in the current catalog, including at our counter.
- Two-tone is quietly huge: the 16613 and the 126613LB “Bluesy” rank third and fourth among every Submariner reference we sold in the period.
- About two of every three Submariners we sold were discontinued references, as of October 2026.
- Median sold prices rose across the top five from 2025 to 2026, led by the 16610 and the no-date 124060, each up roughly 7 to 8 percent.
- No Submariner guarantees a profit. Condition, originality, and box and papers do more for value than picking the “right” reference.
After years of buying and selling pre-owned Rolex Submariner watches, I know the debate over which is the “best” Submariner never ends at a watch gathering. Instead of adding yet another view, I reviewed our sales records. This is what the market says.
How I Ranked the Best Rolex Submariner Models
This ranking counts only one thing: completed Bob’s Watches transactions from January 1, 2025, through October 2026. Not asking prices, not auction headlines, not my taste. A reference moves up this list by selling, and the prices you’ll see are the medians of what those watches actually sold for.
Here are two points regarding the numbers. The pricing analysis is based on completed Bob’s Watches transactions up to October 2026, excluding any canceled or returned orders. It does not use current asking prices. Instead of order counts, we provide medians and ranges. Also, a median is simply the middle value, not a quoted figure; for instance, a 16610 with sharp lume, its original bezel insert, and the full set of papers sells well above the median, while one that has been polished sells below it. If you would like the more detailed reference-by-reference history, our Submariner guide has that information.
The 5 Best-Selling Rolex Submariner Models
Here’s the list, ranked by completed sales over the period. Three of the five surprised even some of our own staff. The details on each follow the table.
| Reference | Median sold price | Status |
| Submariner 16610 | $10,995 | Discontinued |
| Submariner Date 126610LN | $15,495 | Current production |
| Submariner 16613 | $12,595 | Discontinued |
| Submariner 126613LB | $19,295 | Current production |
| Submariner 124060 | $13,895 | Current production |
Bob’s Watches transactions from January 1, 2025, through October 2026
“What stands out in our sales data is how consistently buyers gravitate toward older Submariner references, even with newer models available. The 16610 is a great example. It has been discontinued for more than 15 years, yet it continues to outsell every other Submariner reference we carry. It shows that buyers aren’t necessarily chasing the newest Rolex. They’re looking for the right combination of design, value, and everyday wearability.”
Carol Altieri, COO of Bob’s Watches
Rolex Submariner 16610 (1988 to 2010)
The Ref. 16610 is the best-selling Submariner available at Bob’s Watches, with a median selling price of $10,995 based on completed transactions from January 2025 to October 2026. Rolex stopped making it in 2010, and it has sold more than any other model since then.
Why does a watch nobody can buy new beat the entire current catalog? It’s one of the most affordable ways to get a sapphire-crystal Submariner Date from the brand’s best-loved era. It wears slimmer than the current models, and the aluminum bezel develops a certain appearance that a ceramic insert never can. People who try it side by side with a modern Sub usually cease to ask which is “better”.
The market has noticed. The 16610’s median moved from $10,795 in 2025 to $11,595 in 2026, up about 7 percent.
Rolex Submariner Date 126610LN (2020 to present)
The 16610 is the model the public has chosen, while the Rolex 126610LN is favored by the establishment and is our second-best-selling watch. This is the present-day 41mm Submariner with a black dial, a Cerachrom bezel, and movement Caliber 3235. If you ask ten friends who own watches to name ‘the Submariner,’ most of them will identify this watch.
On the pre-owned side, it sold at a median of $15,495 during the period, up about 3 percent from $15,195 in 2025 to $15,695 in 2026. Steady rather than dramatic, which fits the watch. People don’t buy a black-dial Sub to be surprised.
Rolex Submariner 16613 Two-Tone (1988 to 2009)
The watch model 16613 is not included on any best-of lists. When our buyers ranked it, it came in third and didn’t drop far from that position. The steel-and-gold Submariner Date from the five-digit era achieved a median price of $12,595, with no significant change from one year to the next. As a result, it is one of the very few Submariners that you can still purchase in 2026 using 2025 prices.
For that, you get real 18k gold, the same slim case the 16610 is loved for, and dial options the modern catalog doesn’t offer, including the diamond-and-sapphire serti dials that have developed a following of their own.
Rolex Submariner 126613LB “Bluesy” (2020 to present)
The two-tone model currently bears the nickname, featuring a blue dial, a blue bezel, and a steel and yellow gold combination, and it ranks fourth on the list. The Bluesy is our best-selling current-production two-tone watch, with a median selling price of $19,295, a figure that has increased by about 3 percent from 2025 to 2026.
Its buyer skews a little different from the steel crowd. This is the Submariner people choose when it’s going to spend more time under a dinner jacket than a wetsuit, and the blue-on-gold combination reads dressier in person than any photo suggests. Between this watch and the 16613, two-tone accounted for roughly a third of all our completed Submariner sales. The internet talks steel; the market buys gold more often than the internet thinks.
Rolex Submariner 124060 No-Date (2020 to present)
Rounding out the five is the purist’s Submariner: 41mm, black dial, no date, no cyclops, nothing on the dial that doesn’t need to be there. The 124060 sold at a median of $13,895 in the period.
It also showed the steepest price increase among the top five, with the median price rising from $13,595 in 2025 to $14,645 in 2026, a rise of around 8 percent. This fits what we see at the counter: the no-date Sub has become the favored choice among connoisseurs, and customers now ask for it by name after reading about it. It is the version in the current range that comes closest to the founding 1953 tool-watch concept, and is approximately $1,600 cheaper at median than its dated counterpart.
The Best Sellers That Just Missed: Hulk, Starbucks, and 116610LN
Here’s the part that’s likely to cause controversy. The 116610LV ‘Hulk’ and the 126610LV ‘Starbucks’, the two green Submariners who dominate all the comment sections, both finished just outside our top five by volume, just as the 116610LN, the black ceramic Sub from the 2010s, did.
Yet volume only tells half the story. The Hulk recorded the highest price appreciation of any Submariner reference in our data. Its median increased from $20,095 in 2025 to $21,995 in 2026, up about 9 percent, and stood at a median of $20,595 over the entire period. The discontinuation in September 2020 had the same effect on the Hulk as it had on the 16610 ten years earlier, merely at twice the price. The Starbucks collection, which is the current-production successor to the Rolex Hulk watch, sold at a median of $15,995, and the 116610LN at $12,495, which, in a quiet way, makes the earlier-generation ceramic Sub one of the better value investments on this page.
The takeaway: hype and demand overlap, but they aren’t the same thing. The green watches get the headlines. The black and blue ones get bought. If you’re weighing the two greens against each other, our Hulk vs. Starbucks comparison goes deeper.
Which Rolex Submariner Is the Best Investment?
Among Submariners that Bob’s Watches sold in both 2025 and 2026, the discontinued 116610LV Hulk had the highest median price increase, reaching about 9 percent year over year by October 2026. The currently produced 124060 followed at about 8 percent, and the 16610 at nearly 7 percent. Those are the facts. Now, the fine print: watches aren’t index funds, and I won’t pretend they are.
No Submariner guarantees a profit. The references that have held value best share traits you can check: they’re discontinued or scarce, they’re in honest condition with original parts, demand for them is broad rather than trendy, and they come with box and papers. A full-set Hulk and a polished, papers-less Hulk are two different assets that happen to share a reference number.
Based on two years of our own sales figures, discontinued models with well-known nicknames tend to increase in value the most. Existing steel sports models retain their value quite well, and two-tone watches are currently trading at a flat rate, which is why patient value seekers are looking at them. You should buy the watch that you would wear regardless. The watches that cause you trouble are those you buy simply as a bet.
And if you’re on the other side of this trade, holding a Submariner and wondering about the numbers above, you can find out what your Submariner is worth today buy filling out our Sell Rolex page.
Current Retail vs. the Pre-Owned Submariner Market
A mistake I constantly see is comparing a dealer’s selling price with the retail list price as if they were part of the same market. They aren’t. The current retail price is the amount Rolex charges at an authorized dealer, on the condition that you are offered the watch. The pre-owned market price is what the same model is fetching today, with no waiting list. You should keep the two types of price separate in your mind, and then the table below will make sense; if you mix them together, it will not.
| Reference | Current retail (Oct 2026) | Bob’s median sold (Oct 2026) |
| 126610LN | $11,350 | $15,495 |
| 126613LB | $19,450 | $19,295 |
| 124060 | $10,050 | $13,895 |
| 126610LV | $11,900 | $15,995 |
Where the pre-owned median sits above retail, you’re looking at the price of skipping the authorized-dealer wait. Where it sits below, the secondary market is handing you the discount. Both situations exist in the current lineup, which is exactly why the comparison deserves its own table.
Frequently Asked Questions
Finding the Most Popular Rolex Submariner
The most popular Rolex Submariner isn’t the one with the loudest fanbase. It’s a 15-year-old discontinued workhorse, followed by the modern flagship, two two-tone watches the internet barely discusses, and a no-date purist’s piece climbing fast. The market votes with money, and its ballot looks nothing like the comment sections.
My honest advice is to use the ranking as a shortlist, not a verdict. Every reference on this page came through Bob’s Watches repeatedly over the last two years, which means you can compare most of them side by side, in the metal, and let your wrist overrule my data. It does that more often than you’d think.
