Rolex updated their most popular watch, the Submariner for 2020. The new model number is now 126610LN. Keen submariner fans will notice this is still a six digit Sub, but instead of the 116610, it’s now incremented a digit. What do we get with this new number?
First of all, a big break with tradition. For decades, the Submariner has had a 40mm diameter. The big watch trend that Tudor has capitalized on has finally reached the parent brand, and the new Sub is 41mm. It may not sound like much, but small changes can have big impacts on the way a watch feels on the wrist.
The rest of the dimensions have been modified slightly as well, giving an overall impression of a narrower bezel insert, thinner bezel, and thinner lugs.
What’s really interesting is the 3235 movement, which has been around in the Datejust and Day Date models for a while. It has 70 hours of power reserve, +2/-2 seconds per day, and breaking with Rolex tradition, a ball bearing on the automatic winding rotor. Historically, Rolex always used a metal post in an artificial jewel as a sleeve bearing.
For those of us who like the smaller sized Submariner, this is it: those days are over. The era of the fat Sub is here. Not that Rolex has ever had any trouble selling out watches, but the fat watches sell in retail – it’s only watch nerds like you or I that like a watch sized like the Sub always was.
In what feels like a slight change, Rolex now publishes the retail price for the watches on their website. The no-date Sub, a 124060LN is $8100 USD. The Submariner Date in steel is $9150. The green LV ceramic bezel watch in steel is $9550, and if you want a Blue Smurf bezel, the watch is going to come in white gold, for a total of $39,650. Suppose you wanted the two-tone steel and gold model? That’ll take $14,300 of your dollars. rolex.com
