Reference:gmt-master-ii-5digit-ceramic-family: Difference between revisions

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 === The two-colour ceramic patent story ===
-The real technical break is the two-colour insert. The 2013 Batman proved Rolex could produce blue and black on a single Cerachrom ring, and the 2014 white-gold Pepsi proved the same process could handle red and blue. That manufacturing step made the later ceramic GMT catalogue possible.
+The real technical break is the two-colour insert, and it forced a change of material as well as process. The single-colour Cerachrom of 2005 was zirconia-based, the ceramic most watchmakers prefer for its density and resistance. European patent EP2746243B1, filed by Rolex in 2013, describes why zirconia would not do for a second colour: the fix was an alumina-based ceramic instead, by weight 96.7-97.9% aluminium oxide and 1.5-2.9% chromium oxide with small traces of rare-earth metals, first sintered into a solid red body at 850-1300°C. A second pigment — cobalt, zinc, or iron, depending on the shade of blue wanted — is then infused into the still-porous surface before a second firing locks the colour in. Because the pigment soaks into the material rather than sitting on it, the boundary between the two colours stays sharp and the colour itself cannot wear off. The 2013 Batman proved the process at blue-and-black; the 2014 white-gold Pepsi proved it again at red-and-blue, a deliberate callback to the 1955 GMT-Master's original bezel. That manufacturing step made the later ceramic GMT catalogue possible.
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 The 5-digit ceramic era splits cleanly by dial-and-bezel identity rather than by mechanical variation.
-* Black bezel, steel: [[Reference:116710LN|116710LN]]. One dial configuration — glossy black with a green "GMT-Master II" signature line and a green 24-hour hand. Two documented institutional-commission dials (Sotheby's Khanjar circa 2010, Bonhams Sea King 2014) sit outside standard production.
+* Black bezel, steel: [[Reference:116710LN|116710LN]]. One dial configuration — glossy black with a green "GMT-Master II" signature line and a green 24-hour hand. Two documented commission runs sit outside standard production: a Sultanate of Oman piece (Sotheby's, circa 2010) with the Khanjar dagger engraved on the caseback and a Khimji Ramdas retailer stamp on the papers, and a 123-piece batch made for personnel associated with the Royal Navy's Westland Sea King helicopter, numbered against the Sea King engraving and the motto "Fear God Honour the King" and sold only to Sea King-associated buyers rather than through normal retail.
 * Blue-black bezel, steel: [[Reference:116710BLNR|116710BLNR]]. One dial configuration — the 116710LN dial minus the green signature line, with a blue 24-hour hand. The Batman is a bezel variant of the 116710LN rather than a separate case platform.
 * Red-blue bezel, white gold: [[Reference:116719BLRO|116719BLRO]]. Two dial configurations by production window — black lacquer -0001 (2014-2018), matte blue -0002 (2018-2019). Same case, same bezel, same movement across both.
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 The Pepsi [[Reference:116719BLRO|116719BLRO]] carries the same pattern in white gold. Sotheby's has moved multiple examples through Fine Watches and Important Watches sales from 2023 through 2025, with a circa-2014 -0001 selling for EUR 35,560 at Fine Watches 2023. Period retail was about GBP 25,600, which puts the post-discontinuation auction result comfortably above launch.
-The all-black [[Reference:116710LN|116710LN]] is quieter. It tracks neither the Batman nor the aluminum-bezel [[Reference:16710|16710]], trading in a band of its own above the neo-vintage aluminum Pepsi and below the two-colour Cerachrom siblings. Fratello's 2021 comparison against the 126710GRNR frames it as the last all-black-bezel steel GMT-Master II, and that is the claim the market has settled on.
+The all-black [[Reference:116710LN|116710LN]] is quieter. It tracks neither the Batman nor the aluminum-bezel [[Reference:16710|16710]], trading in a band of its own above the neo-vintage aluminum Pepsi and below the two-colour Cerachrom siblings. Fratello's January 2025 comparison against the 126710GRNR — the newest steel GMT-Master II — traces the same point: Rolex went straight from the monochrome-black 116710LN to two-tone Cerachrom bezels and has not brought a plain-black insert back to the steel case since.
 The [[Reference:116713LN|116713LN]] is the narrowest branch by auction footprint. Sotheby's has catalogued a 2014 direct-sale listing and Bonhams offered a 2017 example in its Fine Watches sale; beyond that the reference moves through the secondary market rather than the salerooms.
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 * [https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2023/fine-watches-8/gmt-master-ii-pepsi-reference-116719blro-montre GMT-Master II 'Pepsi', 116719BLRO, circa 2014] — Sotheby's
 * [https://www.phillips.com/detail/rolex/CH080224/172 Rolex 116710BLNR GMT-Master II Batman — Geneva Watch Auction XIX lot 172] — Phillips
+* [https://phillips.com/detail/rolex/139413 Rolex Ref. 116710LN GMT-Master II "Sea King" — The Geneva Watch Auction XI] — Phillips
+* [https://www.bonhams.com/press_release/40979/ Rolex 116710LN Sea King] — Bonhams
+* [https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2024/important-watches/reference-116710ln-khanjar-gmt-master-ii-a Reference 116710LN 'Khanjar' GMT-Master II] — Sotheby's
+* [https://watchesbysjx.com/2024/11/in-depth-rolex-gmt-master-ii.html In-Depth: The Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II, Materials and Mechanisms] — JX Su and David Ichim, SJX Watches
 * [https://watchcharts.com/watch_model/53-rolex-gmt-master-ii-116710/overview Rolex GMT-Master II 116710 Price Overview] — WatchCharts
 * [https://watchcharts.com/watch_model/739-rolex-gmt-master-ii-batman-116710blnr/overview Rolex GMT-Master II Batman 116710BLNR Price Overview] — WatchCharts