Reference:gmt-master-ii-6digit-family: Difference between revisions

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 The 6-digit family is the current GMT-Master II generation, running from the 2018 reset through to today's catalogue. It starts with the steel Pepsi [[Reference:126710BLRO|126710BLRO]] and the Root Beer pair in 2018, adds the Jubilee Batman in 2019, the left-handed [[Reference:126720VTNR|126720VTNR]] in 2022, the yellow-gold GRNR pair in 2023, the steel GRNR in 2024, and the Tiger Iron stone dials in 2025.
-The platform is simple: caliber 3285, a slimmer 40mm case than the Super Case, and a two-colour Cerachrom catalogue that now runs across five colourways.
+The platform is simple: caliber 3285, the same 40mm Super Case dimensions the previous ceramic generation already used, and a two-colour Cerachrom catalogue that now runs across five colourways.
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 * [[Reference:126710GRNR|126710GRNR]] (2024-present): steel grey-and-black ceramic GMT; "Bruce Wayne"
-Robb Report has the steel Pepsi dropped from the catalogue at Watches &amp; Wonders 2026, with the white-gold Pepsi going at the same time. The rest of the family is current production.
+Robb Report has the steel Pepsi dropped from the catalogue at Watches &amp; Wonders 2026, with the white-gold Pepsi (126719BLRO, in the catalogue since 2014) going at the same time; secondary-market prices for the steel watch had already pushed past $30,000 before the announcement, with unworn examples trading above $40,000. The rest of the family is current production.
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 === Case proportions vs. 5-digit ceramic ===
-The most immediately visible generation change is the case. Fratello puts the 126710-generation case at 40mm wide and 12.5mm tall against the Super Case geometry of the 116710 references, with narrower lugs and less blocky crown guards. Across the family the figures run roughly 11.9 to 12.5mm thick depending on case material and reference, all of it under the Super Case height.
+The case carries the 5-digit ceramic generation's proportions forward almost untouched. Monochrome's hands-on with the 126710BLNR measured it at "exactly the same" as the discontinued 116710BLNR — a 40mm case and a 12.5mm height, the Super Case dimensions the ceramic generation had used since the 116710LN in 2008. What Rolex did redesign is smaller than the numbers suggest: fitting the new five-link end-links meant reshaping the lugs, which Monochrome describes as a bit shorter and more curved, and that is the only part of the case profile the review found altered.
-The dimensional change is the reason the 126710BLNR launched on Jubilee rather than Oyster in 2019. A slimmer case drapes differently on the five-link bracelet, and that bracelet was the headline at launch. Time+Tide's 2020 Batman versus Batgirl comparison reads the drape difference as the main thing the generation shift changed on the wrist.
+The move to Jubilee wasn't a response to a case change either. Fratello's 2019 hands-on reports Rolex discontinuing the Oyster option across every steel GMT-Master II outright, framed as a consolidation of the collection with no case-fit rationale given. Whatever drape difference exists between the two bracelets comes from the bracelets themselves. Time+Tide's 2020 Batman versus Batgirl comparison reads that drape difference as the main thing the bracelet swap changed on the wrist.
 The case architecture is otherwise shared: a monobloc middle case with screw-down caseback, a Triplock screw-down crown, 100m water resistance, and a sapphire crystal with Cyclops over the date window. The only reference that departs from this layout is the [[Reference:126720VTNR|126720VTNR]], which mirrors the crown and date window to the left side without changing the underlying dimensions.
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 The Jubilee is fitted with the Oysterlock folding clasp and the Easylink 5mm comfort extension. It drapes differently from the Oyster on every reference that offers both, and launch coverage split on whether that was the headline or the complaint. Bracelet choice is now the main configuration decision inside the family.
-The 2023 pair, the Rolesor [[Reference:126713GRNR|126713GRNR]] and the solid-gold [[Reference:126718GRNR|126718GRNR]], ship on Jubilee only. The 126718GRNR is the first full-gold Jubilee on a GMT-Master since the early 1980s. The predecessor [[Reference:116718LN|116718LN]] shipped exclusively on Oyster across its fourteen-year run.
+The 2023 pair, the Rolesor [[Reference:126713GRNR|126713GRNR]] and the solid-gold [[Reference:126718GRNR|126718GRNR]], ship on Jubilee only. Full-gold Jubilee GMT-Masters have a long history — the [[Reference:16758|16758]] carried one as its most-documented bracelet through the 1980s, and its 1989 successor [[Reference:16718|16718]] kept Jubilee as a standing option for the whole of its own run. The real gap is shorter and more recent: the predecessor [[Reference:116718LN|116718LN]] that replaced the 16718 in 2005 shipped exclusively on Oyster across its fourteen-year run, making the 126718GRNR the first full-gold Jubilee GMT-Master in eighteen years.
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 Rolex never catalogued the jewellery GMT-Master II, which is why it is missing from the branch maps above. It exists anyway, and it runs across both six-digit generations: the caliber 3186 references of the [[Reference:gmt-master-ii-5digit-ceramic-family|ceramic era]] first, then the current 3285 platform.
-The 116769TBR is the extreme case. Nicknamed "Ice", it takes the 40mm GMT-Master II case in solid 18k white gold and buries it in stones — pavé diamonds across the dial, baguette-cut diamonds around the bezel in place of the 24-hour Cerachrom insert, and further diamond setting on the case, lugs and bracelet. Underneath all of it sits a standard caliber 3186 GMT-Master II, date at three, 24-hour hand working as it does on the steel references. The documented record puts the introduction at 2007 and surviving examples between 2008 and 2014. Because the reference was sold off-catalogue, no Rolex-published production figure or specification sheet exists for it.
+The 116769TBR is the extreme case. Nicknamed "Ice", it takes the 40mm GMT-Master II case in solid 18k white gold and buries it in stones — pavé diamonds across the dial, baguette-cut diamonds around the bezel in place of the 24-hour Cerachrom insert, and further diamond setting on the case, lugs and bracelet. Underneath all of it sits a standard caliber 3186 GMT-Master II, date at three, 24-hour hand working as it does on the steel references. The documented record puts the introduction at 2007 and surviving examples between 2008 and 2014. Because the reference was sold off-catalogue, no Rolex-published production figure or specification sheet exists for it. The Keystone Watches estimates the run at "just a handful of pieces" — an editorial estimate, unconfirmed by Rolex.
 Two further gem-set references sit below the Ice. Sotheby's GMT-Master collector's guide records the 116759SANR and the 116758SANR as white-gold and yellow-gold cases respectively, each set with diamonds and black sapphires. Sotheby's is the only documented source for the pair, and it gives no production dates or caliber for either — a thin record for two references that plainly exist.