Rolex 116506 Daytona

A checked version of this page, approved on 28 September 2026, was based on this revision.

Daytona › 116506

116506 resting on its box and papers, ice-blue dial and chestnut Cerachrom monobloc bezel visible, guarantee card confirming model 116506 — 116506 resting on its box and papers, guarantee card confirming the reference

The 116506 is the platinum Cosmograph Daytona introduced at Baselworld 2013 for the model’s 50th anniversary. It uses a 950-platinum case and bracelet, an ice-blue dial, a chestnut-brown Cerachrom bezel with platinum-coated tachymeter graduations, and caliber 4130. Rolex replaced it in the 2023 generation with the 126506 and caliber 4131. The Everose 116515LN had already introduced a ceramic-bezel Daytona; the 116506 applied the ceramic and platinum combination to the anniversary model.

The blue-and-brown color scheme was the focus of contemporary launch coverage. It is a catalogue description, not a claim that every 116506 dial or bezel detail remained unchanged throughout the run.

Core facts

detail	value
reference	116506
family	Daytona (Cosmograph)
production	2013 to 2023
anniversary launch	Baselworld 2013, Daytona 50th anniversary
case	40mm 950 platinum, ~12.5mm thick
crystal	flat sapphire, no Cyclops
bezel	monobloc Cerachrom in chestnut brown, tachymeter graduations in platinum PVD
crown	Triplock screw-down, twin-O-ring
pushers	screw-down, 950 platinum
movement	caliber 4130, in-house chronograph
frequency	28,800 vph (4 Hz)
jewels	44
power reserve	72 hours
water resistance	100m
bracelet	950 platinum Oyster
clasp	Oysterlock with Easylink 5mm comfort extension
dial	ice-blue lacquer, contrasting silver-grey-on-chestnut subdial rings, applied 18k white-gold indices
dial sub-references	116506-0001 (standard ice-blue), 116506-0002 / 0008 (baguette-diamond hour markers), 116506-0004 (Arabic-Indic numerals, Middle East)
caseback	solid 950 platinum (sapphire caseback first appears on the 126506 successor)
predecessor	none in platinum; sits alongside the steel 116520, Rolesor 116523, yellow gold 116528
successor	126506 (2023, caliber 4131, sapphire caseback)
sibling diamond ref	116576TBR (pavé dial + baguette-set bezel, separate reference)

Where it sits in the line

The 116506 belongs to the later 4130 Daytona generation alongside the steel 116520, yellow-gold 116528 and white-gold 116519. It was the first Daytona reference in a solid-platinum case. The 126506 replaced it in the 2023 generation with caliber 4131 and a display caseback.

The chestnut Cerachrom and ice-blue dial combination is the configuration documented for this reference. Other 4130 Daytonas used different bezel and dial treatments, so comparisons should be tied to the specific reference and catalogue year.

Production outline

The documented production window runs from the 2013 launch to the 2023 successor. Standard ice-blue, diamond-marker and regional Arabic-numeral dials appear in catalogue and auction records, but their availability and suffix numbering should be checked against the period catalogue. The public record does not prove that every case, bracelet or service component was unchanged for ten years; small differences need individual evidence.

Movement notes

Caliber 4130 is the same in-house chronograph movement Rolex launched in 2000 on the 116520, carried across every cal-4130-generation Daytona reference for twenty-three years. A column wheel handles start-stop-reset, a vertical clutch engages the chronograph, and the balance runs on a blue Parachrom hairspring at 28,800 vph across 44 jewels with a 72-hour reserve. CaliberCorner records the 290-part construction and ceramic reversing-wheel bearings; Colin A. White's The Vintage Rolex Field Manual (Morning Tundra) catalogues the cal 4130 as the longest-running modern Rolex chronograph caliber by a wide margin.

The solid platinum caseback hides the movement, as on every cal-4130 Daytona; Rolex never produced a sapphire-caseback variant in this generation. Set against twenty-three years of closed backs, the 126506's display caseback reads as a generational reset rather than a routine refresh, which is how Fratello's side-by-side comparison treats it.

Servicing follows the same intervals and procedures as the rest of the cal-4130 line, and nothing in the caliber changed for the platinum case. For the full caliber lineage see Reference:Movements#cal-4130.

Dial map

The cited 116506 dials use an ice-blue lacquer ground with chestnut-toned subdial rings, white-gold applied markers and the standard Daytona subdial arrangement. Rolex uses ice blue on its platinum models, but dial color and marker fitment should still be checked against the reference, suffix and period catalogue.

Straight-on view of the ice-blue dial and chestnut Cerachrom bezel, showing the standard 116506-0001 configuration

sub-reference	variant	distinguishing features	notes
116506-0001	standard ice-blue	applied white-gold indices, no diamond markers	Launch configuration documented in period catalogues; availability through the run should be checked by year
116506-0002	baguette-diamond hour markers	baguette-cut markers on the ice-blue ground	Listed in earlier catalogue and auction records; exact introduction date is not established here
116506-0008	baguette-diamond hour markers	diamond-marker dial in later listings	Auction listings identify this suffix; the relationship to 0002 should be read from the period catalogue and watch documentation
116506-0004	Arabic-Indic numerals	Eastern-Arabic numeral layout on the ice-blue ground	Regional listing reported in catalogue material; confirm fitment and market from the watch and papers

The diamond-set 116576TBR is a separate platinum Daytona reference with a diamond bezel and more extensively gem-set dial. Its existence does not make those components standard 116506 fitments.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown

The case is 950 platinum at 40mm, around 12.5mm thick, brushed across the top surfaces and polished on the flanks. SJX's launch piece records how the metal behaves — heavier than the steel and gold cases of the 116520 and 116528 generation, more malleable than steel, softer to surface marking than gold. Bexsonn's coverage from the same week notes that Rolex finished the platinum to the same brushed-and-polished tolerances as the steel 116520, so the case reads in proportion to its siblings instead of as a differentiated profile. Lug geometry and case dimensions match the 40mm Daytona case Rolex had been refining since 2000.

The Cerachrom bezel is the headline material change. Rolex fires the chestnut ring as a monobloc, tachymeter graduations included, then deposits the numerals and graduations as a thin layer of platinum through PVD. The ceramic color is produced during manufacture; Rolex describes Cerachrom as resistant to UV-related fading and corrosion. Condition still has to be checked on the individual bezel. The tachymeter scale runs around the upper case, framed by polished platinum casework at the bezel edge. Logan Baker's Phillips editorial places the 116506 third in the Cerachrom rollout, behind the GMT-Master II and the precious-metal Daytona references that took the material before it.

The crystal is flat sapphire, no Cyclops, in the same proportions used across the cal-4130 Daytona line. The crown is the Triplock screw-down with three-gasket sealing, at the standard Rolex 700-series geometry. The chronograph pushers are screw-down 950 platinum and follow the same operating routine as the rest of the modern Daytona line: unscrew the pusher, operate the chronograph, screw it back down to seal the case. Water resistance is rated to 100m, consistent with every cal-4130 Daytona reference.

The aBlogtoWatch hands-on review records on-wrist weight as the 116506's defining tactile feature: solid platinum at 40mm on a platinum bracelet carries well beyond the gold or two-tone references of the same generation. Rolex never adjusted the case or bracelet construction to compensate, so the weight holds across the run.

Bracelets, end links, and clasps

The bracelet is a 950 platinum Oyster, three-link, with brushed centre links and polished outer links, fitted with solid end links integral to the case. Rolex did not produce the 116506 on a strap; every example shipped on the matching platinum Oyster, and that bracelet is what gives the watch its on-wrist mass. The Sotheby's 2020 Important Watches lot of a 2013-production 116506 (case 288CN710) records the platinum Oyster as the original delivery configuration, and every subsequent Sotheby's lot of the reference confirms the same bracelet pairing.

The clasp is the modern Oysterlock with the Easylink 5mm comfort extension — the same lever-and-keeper micro-adjustment system Rolex rolled across the cal-4130 Daytona line in the early 2000s, executed here in 950 platinum. The Glidelock toolless extension that arrived on the ceramic Submariner generation in 2010 never crossed onto the Daytona, so Easylink is the only on-bracelet adjustment the 116506 ever offered. The 126506 reworked the Oysterlock mechanism, which leaves the 116506 as the last platinum Daytona carrying the older clasp design. End-link references and clasp date codes follow the modern Daytona conventions catalogued at Reference:Bracelets.

The bracelet reference to record is 78596; the steel Daytona 78590 is a different bracelet and turns up in mislabelled listings. Some warranty cards show the bracelet reference, and the platinum folding clasp carries platinum-specific hallmarks, including the St. Bernard head, a balance mark, and 950PT alloy marking. Gold and platinum deliveries also used the larger Rolex presentation box rather than the smaller steel-model box, so box size is a period-and-material clue rather than a proof of any particular sub-reference.

Special branches

Every documented departure from the launch watch is a dial change. The case, bracelet, bezel, and caliber are the same across the 0001, the diamond-marker 0002 / 0008, and the Middle East 0004. The Sotheby's 2022 lot of a c.2019 diamond-set example is the public-record anchor for the 0008, and the Sotheby's 2024 Fine Watches lot of a late-production diamond-marker example carries the variant through to the wind-down.

The 116576TBR is the platinum Daytona's diamond-bezel sibling — pavé dial, baguette-diamond bezel in place of the Cerachrom — on its own reference number, not a 116506 sub-variant.

Double-signed and retailer-engraved 116506 examples have surfaced occasionally, but the reference's high retail and the 950 platinum mass kept the special-order branch narrow. Production volumes for any of the sub-references are not published by Rolex, and no collector census has surfaced.

Auction record

The 116506 entered the auction record at the same Geneva sale where Rolex marked the Daytona's fiftieth anniversary in public.

sale	date	lot detail	result
Christie's, "Lesson One", Geneva	10 November 2013	lot 50, 'The Nine-Fifty Tribute', full-set; estimate CHF 80,000-120,000	hammer CHF 197,000 (approx. USD 217,000 at the day's rate). The first 116506 to cross an auction block; placed the platinum Daytona at roughly twice its retail on the day it became publicly tradeable. Per Watchonista and Richard Lee (SJX).
Sotheby's Important Watches	2020	case 288CN710, c.2013 production, standard 116506-0001 with full-set documentation	Anchors the early-production ice-blue / chestnut configuration in the auction record.
Sotheby's Important Watches	2021	brand-new 116506 with full-set documentation; estimate USD 100,000-150,000	Sold during the Daytona allocation-premium peak.
Sotheby's Important Watches I	2022	c.2019 116506 with baguette-diamond markers (sub-reference 0008)	Anchors the diamond-set ice-blue variant in the auction record.
Sotheby's Fine Watches	2024	late-production diamond-marker 116506	Documents the variant carrying through to the 2023 discontinuation.

The auction table documents a small number of full-set and diamond-marker examples. Results depend on condition, completeness, provenance and venue; the cited records do not support a reference-wide price range or a universal premium for one dial suffix. The 126506 comparison is technical, chiefly the 4131 movement and display caseback.

Related references

Daytona 3525 ("Monoblocco", WWII chronograph, 1939–1945)
Daytona 6234 (Pre-Daytona, 1955–1961)
Daytona 6238 (collector “Pre-Daytona” chronograph)
Daytona 6239 (first Cosmograph; Paul Newman dials)
Daytona 6240 (first screw-down-pusher Daytona, 1965–1969)
Daytona 6241 ("John Player Special", 14k gold, 1966–1969)

Gallery

Platinum 116506 with ice-blue dial and chestnut bezel
Standard ice-blue dial
Auction example with provenance

Auction example with provenance