Reference:16700: Difference between revisions

| bidirectional 24-hour aluminium insert. Pepsi (red/blue) and all-black are the only factory configurations. Coke (red/black) on a 16700 is not factory — aftermarket or service swap (Bob's explicit)

Production began in 1988 — unanimous across every consulted source. The end year is contested: Sotheby's complete GMT-Master guide, the Sotheby's Pepsi key-references guide, Bonhams Lot 4 (Aug 2020), Fratello, WatchBase, Lange Dyk Vintage, Bob's Watches, Gray & Sons, and Everest Bands all converge on 1999. The Vintage Rolex Field Manual closes the run at 1998 — minority view. Late examples in the market circulate as "1998" or "1999" depending on papers dates rather than any agreed cutoff.

Total production output is not published in any consulted source. Bonhams reads the 16700 as "notably fewer units produced than its counterpart [the 16710]"; Sotheby's says "smaller quantities despite its decade-long run"; Gray & Sons positions it as the affordable steel-only alternative to the 16710 throughout production. The 16700 is directionally rarer than the 16710, with no number to attach.

Caliber 3175 is the final GMT-Master movement — a one-reference caliber exclusive to the 16700. Specifications converge across Bonhams Lot 4 (2020), Sotheby's Lot 10 (Geneva 2019), Millenary Watches caliber guide, Fratello, and the chrono-shop archived listing: 31 jewels, 28,800 vph (4 Hz), 48-hour power reserve, hacking seconds, quickset date, Breguet hairspring, Glucydur balance with Microstella screws, Kif shock protection, COSC chronometer-rated, adjusted to 5 positions and temperature.

The 3175 is the last fixed-GMT movement that did not have an independently adjustable GMT hand (Millenary). The independently set GMT hour hand belongs to the 3085 (16760, 1983–1989) and the 3185 / 3186 (16710, 1989–2019) — not the 3175. Sotheby's collector guide line about an "independently adjustable flying GMT hand" on the 16700 is a published error rather than an interpretive contradiction; the 16700 caliber 3175 is unambiguously a caller GMT in every primary, secondary, and auction-house source surveyed.

Glossy black with applied white-gold-surround indices is standard across the run (Bob's, Gray & Sons, Sotheby's guide, Lange Dyk). Two evolutions on the dial side and one factory-controversy.

Period-correct delivery is the Oyster 78360 with 501 (early) or 580 (mid-run) end-links and a folding clasp through most of the production window. Bulang & Sons documents a 1990 E-serial example with 78360 / P4 clasp / 501 end-links — clean period-correct fitment. Bonhams Lot 4 (1988) carries a 78360 Oyster with signed folding clasp stamped RS11 (the RS11 clasp code is unusual; most published examples use 580 / 501).

Later production transitions to the Oyster 78790A with Oysterlock — Bob's Ultimate Guide and Lange Dyk both document the configuration on late-1990s examples. The Jubilee 62510H with 502B end-links was the optional dressy fitment (SwissWatchExpo notes the option; Bob's confirms).