Rolex Cosmograph Daytona 116518

Daytona › 116518

The 116518 is the yellow gold, leather-strap Daytona of the in-house cal 4130 generation, the strap-and-deployant counterpart to the bracelet-mounted 116528 and the successor to the Zenith-era 16518. Produced from 2000 to roughly 2015, it shares the 40mm 18k yellow gold case, engraved gold tachymetre bezel and caliber 4130 movement that run through the rest of the in-house first-generation Daytona line. Its documented factory configuration is a gold case on alligator leather with a yellow-gold deployant clasp; the reference was not sold with the Oyster bracelet used on the 116528.

The 116518 is often compared with its post-2017 successor. Rolex replaced the engraved-gold-bezel leather-strap Daytona with the 116518LN in 2017, using a Cerachrom bezel and Oysterflex strap. This article covers the engraved-gold-bezel leather-strap reference.

Core facts

detail	value
reference	116518
family	Daytona (Cosmograph, automatic)
production	2000 to c. 2015
case	40mm, 18k yellow gold
crystal	sapphire (flat)
bezel	engraved 18k yellow gold tachymetre
crown	Triplock, screw-down, gold
water resistance	100m / 330ft
movement	Rolex cal 4130 (first in-house chronograph)
frequency	28,800 vph
jewels	44
power reserve	72 hours
chronometer	COSC certified
strap	alligator leather (factory original); 18k yellow gold deployant buckle
siblings	116520 (steel), 116523 (Rolesor), 116528 (yellow gold bracelet), 116519 (white gold leather)
predecessor	16518 (Zenith cal 4030, 1988–2000)
successor	116518LN (Cerachrom + Oysterflex, 2017)

Where it sits in the line

The 116518 occupies the leather-strap full-gold slot in the cal 4130 launch lineup. Rolex announced five configurations at Baselworld 2000, split by case material and by bracelet-or-strap: the steel 116520 on Oyster, the Rolesor 116523 on Oyster, the yellow gold 116528 on Oyster, the yellow gold 116518 on leather, and the white gold 116519 on leather. The 116518 is the gold-case watch sold on alligator from the factory, with no standard Oyster bracelet option.

The predecessor is the 16518, the Zenith-based cal 4030 yellow gold Daytona on leather that ran from 1988 to 2000. The 2000 transition brought the in-house movement, the 72-hour power reserve and a modernised dial-printing programme, while the case profile, the gold engraved bezel and the leather-strap-with-deployant configuration carried over untouched. The catalogue successor is the 116518LN, which arrived in 2017 with a Cerachrom monobloc black ceramic bezel and an Oysterflex strap. That leaves the 116518 as the last engraved-gold-bezel yellow gold Daytona Rolex delivered on leather.

Production outline

The 116518 ran for roughly fifteen years across the same case-serial chronology as the rest of the cal 4130 family. Pre-2010 production used the Rolex letter-prefix system shared across the catalogue; from mid-2010 onward case serials switched to the random eight-character alphanumeric format that has no public year mapping. See Reference:Serial-numbers for the full key.

The 116518 follows the 116528 chronology, with Luminova at launch, later Super-LumiNova, and Chromalight on later examples. Published sources place the end of production around 2015, before the 116518LN announcement in 2017.

The 116518 does not carry the APH-error dial found on part of 116520 black and white dial production around 2009 to 2010. Phillips's Logan Baker frames the APH misprint as specific to the steel reference's dial-printing batch, and the 116518 catalogue does not record it.

Movement notes

Cal 4130 sits inside every 116518, the same movement that powers the 116520, 116523, 116519 and 116528. It runs at 28,800 vph on 44 jewels with a 72-hour reserve and COSC certification, switches through a column wheel, couples the chronograph with a vertical clutch, and carries a blue Parachrom hairspring on later production. Hour and minute counters share a single side of the movement, and the mainspring can be replaced without uncasing.

Cal 4130 is Rolex's first wholly in-house chronograph movement. Thirty-seven years of bought-in chronograph bases — the Valjoux 72 family from 1963, the Zenith El Primero base from 1988 — ended when the 4130 launched in 2000 across the five-configuration Daytona family. The 116518 is the leather-strap entry into that transition.

The vertical clutch couples the chronograph with less start-up disturbance than a lateral-clutch design. Dial layout and register positions follow the 4130 architecture, while the 16518 uses the Zenith-based 4030.

For the full caliber lineage and the 4030-to-4130 architecture comparison, see Reference:Movements#cal-4130.

Dial map

The 116518 dial catalogue runs broader than the steel 116520's, with the gold case carrying decorative finishes the steel reference never offered.

Dial	Period	Distinguishing features
Champagne with gold markers	2000–2015	Most common 116518 layout; gold-tone sub-dial rings; applied gold five-minute markers
Black with red Daytona script	2000–2015	Black base with red "Daytona" above the 6 o'clock sub-register; applied gold markers
White "Panda" with gold markers	2000–2015	White base, three sub-dials in contrasting tone, applied gold markers
Mother-of-pearl, white	mid-to-late production	White iridescent MOP base with applied gold or Roman markers
Mother-of-pearl, black	mid-to-late production	Dark iridescent MOP base with applied gold or Roman markers
Mother-of-pearl, Tahitian	mid-to-late production	Dark Tahitian MOP base with diamond hour markers on most documented examples
MOP with diamond markers	mid-to-late production	White, black, or Tahitian MOP base with applied factory diamond hour markers
Champagne with diamond markers	mid-to-late production	Champagne base with applied factory diamond hour markers; sub-registers gold-tone
Black with diamond markers	mid-to-late production	Black base with applied factory diamond hour markers
Roman numeral indices	sub-variant	Applied gold Roman numerals at hour positions; available on MOP and standard layouts
Pavé and pavé-with-coloured-stones	late production	Factory pavé with ruby or sapphire accents — case-by-case authentication required

Karyn Orrico's "Vintage Rolex Daytona: The Gold Standard" (Sotheby's, 2024) catalogues white Panda and diamond-set hour-marker examples on the cal 4030 16518, and the same dial families carry forward to the 116518 with the in-house movement underneath. MOP-with-Roman-numeral 116518s turn up consistently enough across the production run in forum and auction documentation to read as a regular catalogue option. Gem-set layouts are the murkier end. The late cal 4130 era saw both factory and aftermarket setting on yellow gold Daytonas, and the line between them is not always documented.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown

The 116518 case is 40mm in 18k yellow gold, the same nominal dimension as the steel 116520. Lugs and case flanks carry the cal 4130 family profile, with crown guards integrated into the case and the 700-series Triplock screw-down crown at 3 o'clock. Water resistance is 100m / 330ft, identical to the steel reference. Case thickness on documented examples runs to roughly 12.4mm, marginally thicker than the steel 116520's measured profile, which is put down to the gold-forging tolerances Rolex used through the cal 4130 run.

The bezel is engraved 18k yellow gold with the tachymetre scale, and it stays that way through the full production. Cerachrom did not reach the yellow gold leather Daytona until the 116518LN in 2017. The bezel font matches the wider cal 4130 family, with the tachymetre numerals running from 60 to 400 around the ring.

The crystal is flat sapphire with no Cyclops, and the running-seconds sub-dial sits at 6 o'clock. The Triplock crown handles the 100m water rating. Screw-down chronograph pushers flank the crown and must be unscrewed before the chronograph starts. Finishing is mixed, with polished bezel and case flanks and brushed lug tops. Heavy polishing should be recorded when assessing an individual case.

Bracelets, end links, and clasps

The 116518 is a leather-strap reference. Every documented original-equipment example shipped on alligator leather with an 18k yellow gold deployant buckle. The 116518 was sold on leather; the factory Oyster-bracelet configuration is the 116528. Gold Oyster conversions appear on individual watches and require separate fitment and service-history evidence.

The preceding 16518 used fixed gold end pieces between case and strap, a precious-metal Daytona detail the steel references never carried. The 116518 inherits the same originality burden. A correct watch head can sit on a replaced strap, end-link or deployant, so each component has to be verified on its own.

The deployant buckle is 18k yellow gold throughout the run, in the standard Rolex deployant geometry of the period. Strap material was always alligator from Rolex, with black, brown and burgundy as standard colours and other tones available through the catalogue. Straps wear out. Owners typically replaced them several times across a watch's life, so a 116518 surviving with its Rolex-stamped strap and untampered original deployant is the period-correct configuration; a later aftermarket strap on the original deployant is the more common surviving form, and a fully refurbished strap-and-deployant set with no original Rolex components is normal at the dealer tier.

Third-party rubber strap sets are common on owned-and-worn 116518s and affect nothing on the watch head, only the wearable kit. Some auction lots note the rubber alongside the original Rolex deployant; others present only the rubber.

For the wider Daytona bracelet and clasp reference chronology, see Reference:Bracelets. The 116518's leather-and-deployant configuration is documented inside David Boettcher's broader Daytona bracelet reference at vintagewatchstraps.com.

Special branches

Tiffany & Co. and other double-signed dials

Published evidence for double-signed 116518 dials is sparse. A six-digit signature should be supported by original-sale documentation or a major-house catalogue. Tiffany, Cartier and Vacheron signatures are better documented on earlier Daytona references; no 116518-specific lot in the cited sources provides a comparable anchor.

Beach dial sub-branches

The pastel mother-of-pearl "beach dial" family that runs on the cal 4030 16518 — pink MOP, salmon MOP, pale blue MOP — carries forward into early 116518 production according to some dealer and auction catalogue copy, though the cal 4130 layouts read as a narrower set than the Zenith-era variants. Per-dial volume on the 116518 beach-dial branch is not documented in the major-house literature, so individual examples have to be authenticated against period documentation.

Diamond, pavé, and gem-set layouts

Diamond hour markers are documented on champagne, black and MOP 116518 dials. Pavé and pavé-with-coloured-stone layouts are also reported, but the cited material does not consistently distinguish factory setting from later work. Any pavé example needs case-by-case authentication against a named lot or original-sale record.

Auction record

The cited auction record contains four Antiquorum lots. A mother-of-pearl dial (case P594357, circa 2001) sold for EUR 16,250 against a EUR 14,000–18,000 estimate in July 2019. A black dial with diamond indexes (case 963L4944) brought HK$225,000 against an HK$180,000–280,000 estimate in June 2023. A white “Panda” dial (case M227027, 2011) made EUR 24,700 against a EUR 15,000–25,000 estimate in July 2023. A black dial (case Y942608, 2003, with a 2022 Rolex service warranty) sold for CHF 23,750 against an CHF 18,000–24,000 estimate in May 2024. Each lot is recorded with the factory leather-and-yellow-gold-deployant configuration.

The 116518LN arrived in 2017. The four cited 116518 results span 2019–2024 and are not enough to infer a relationship between the two references or a general premium for any dial branch.

Related references

Daytona 116520 (Steel, Cal. 4130, 2000–2016)
Daytona 116528 (2000–2016)
Daytona 116505 (Everose Gold, 2008–2023)
Daytona 116500LN (Ceramic bezel, 2016–2023)
Daytona 116508 (Yellow gold, Cal. 4130, 2016–2023)
Daytona 16519 (White gold Zenith, 1989–2000)

Sources