Rolexopedia

Rolex 116500LN Daytona

This is a checked version, approved on 22 September 2026. New changes may have been made.


Daytona › 116500LN

Rolex Cosmograph Daytona 116500LN, black dial
Rolex Cosmograph Daytona 116500LN, black dial

The 116500LN is the 40mm steel Daytona made from 2016 until the 126500LN replaced it in 2023. It uses caliber 4130, a black Cerachrom tachymeter bezel, and contrasting white or black dials. The case and movement remain close to the preceding 116520; the bezel and dial treatment are the visible changes.

Core facts

detail value
reference 116500LN
family Daytona
production 2016 to 2023; succeeded by 126500LN in March 2023
movement caliber 4130
case 40mm 904L Oystersteel, about 12.2mm thick, screw-down pushers
crystal sapphire, flat, no Cyclops
water resistance 100m
bezel Cerachrom monobloc ceramic, black tachymeter with platinum PVD numerals
bracelet Oyster with Oysterlock and Easylink 5mm toolless extension
lume Chromalight
dials white with black subdials ("Panda", 116500LN-0001) or black with grey-silver subdials (116500LN-0002)
launch price CHF 11,800 / EUR 11,300 / USD about 12,400
predecessor 116520
successor 126500LN (40mm, caliber 4131)

Where it sits in the line

 
116500LN and 126500LN Panda side by side

The 116500LN replaced the 116520 after its sixteen-year run. Both use the 40mm steel case family and caliber 4130; the 116500LN changes to a black Cerachrom bezel and contrasting subdial layouts. Allocation and resale demand varied over the production period and are market context rather than a reference specification.

At Baselworld 2016 Rolex presented the ceramic-bezel 116500LN alongside the existing steel-bezel model. The 116520 was then discontinued as the new reference reached the market; published histories do not give a long production overlap.

The 126500LN took over in March 2023 with the same ceramic bezel, a slightly thinner 11.9mm case, a reworked Oysterlock clasp, and the new caliber 4131. Rolex reshaped the bezel geometry around the platinum PVD numerals and thinned the subdial rings, but the reference stayed a 40mm steel ceramic Daytona. That leaves the 116500LN holding the older case proportions and the caliber 4130 Rolex had been refining since 2000, a combination now closed off by the end of production.

The 116500LN retains the earlier steel-case profile and unframed monobloc ceramic bezel. The 126500LN revised the lug and bezel geometry and added a metal bezel surround while remaining a 40mm steel Daytona.

The precious-metal siblings on the same case generation are the two-tone Rolesor 116503, the yellow gold 116508, and the white gold 116509, all three keeping engraved gold bezels while the parallel LN references carried Cerachrom. The 116500LN is the steel member of that generation and the first steel Daytona reference with a Cerachrom bezel.

What changed from the 116520

feature 116520 116500LN
bezel aluminum tachymeter, engraved and painted Cerachrom ceramic monobloc, platinum PVD numerals
tachymeter numerals straight-line geometry around the bezel shifted to a curved-axis layout for ceramic fitment
lume Super-LumiNova (green glow) Chromalight (blue glow)
dial white or black with colour-matched subdials on late production, and contrasting subdials on the 2000 launch white with black subdials, or black with grey-silver subdials, both contrasting throughout the run
case finishing brushed/polished contrast retained same, with Oystersteel 904L unchanged
movement caliber 4130 caliber 4130, unchanged

The 116500LN keeps the 116520's case, movement, bracelet architecture, and most of the dial printing. Bezel material, lume formula, and subdial treatment are the whole of the change.

Production outline

Published sources treat the 116500LN as one production generation. The two dial layouts, caliber 4130, Cerachrom bezel, and Oyster bracelet remain consistent; minor printing differences in collector photographs are not an established factory variant system.

Rolex introduced the 126500LN at Watches & Wonders Geneva in March 2023. Auction catalogues and reference histories therefore use 2023 as the end of the 116500LN production run; later retail deliveries do not establish later assembly.

Movement notes

 
Caliber 4130, rotor side

Rolex introduced caliber 4130 in 2000 on the 116520. It powered the steel Daytona through the 116500LN run, with a 72-hour reserve and the same core architecture.

The architecture uses a column wheel and vertical clutch with a stated 72-hour power reserve. The 116500LN uses the same caliber as the 116520 without a reference-specific movement change.

The 4130 replaced the Zenith-based caliber 4030 with a longer reserve, a full balance bridge, a free-sprung Microstella balance, and a Parachrom hairspring. Hodinkee also records construction details such as a hairspring protection block and playless chronograph-train gears. These are caliber features shared with the 116520, not 116500LN variant markers.

The 4131 succeeded it on the 126500LN, keeping the column wheel and vertical clutch and adding the Chronergy escapement Rolex had rolled across the three-hand sport lines through the late 2010s and early 2020s. The 4131 keeps the column wheel and vertical clutch and remains rated at roughly 72 hours; its escapement and other details differ from the 4130.

Dial map

Panda (white dial)

 
The 116500LN-0001 Panda, catalog press shot

The 116500LN-0001 is the white-dial option. It has black snailed subdials at 3, 6, and 9, applied white-gold hour markers with Chromalight, and a red DAYTONA signature above six. There is no date display.

Panda is collector shorthand for a white face against contrasting dark subdials; Rolex does not use the term in its catalogues.

Black dial

The 116500LN-0002 is the black-dial option. Layout matches the Panda: three subdials at 6, 9, and 3, applied white-gold indices, no date. The subdials are finished in a silver-grey snailed treatment that reads as a softer contrast against the black base than the crisp black-on-white of the Panda. The DAYTONA signature stays red, and the minute track sits in white printing.

  •  
    Black-dial 116500LN
  •  
    Black dial macro: lacquer base, silver-grey snailed subdials, red DAYTONA


The two dials are distinct catalogue options. Auction comparisons vary with condition, papers, and sale date.

Dial printing drift

Forum threads track small printing differences across the run on both dials. Slightly thinner font weight on some mid-run bottom-line text, minor spacing shifts in the lower half, and subtle subdial-texture variation all show up under macro lighting. None of it has hardened into a named variant, and no collector taxonomy for the 116500LN has formed. These observations remain descriptive; no named dial variant has been established for the run.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown notes

Case

The case is 40mm in 904L Oystersteel, about 12.2mm thick, with brushed top surfaces and polished flanks. Lug-to-lug runs at roughly 47mm, unchanged from the 116520. The ceramic bezel required no case tooling changes, so the two references wear identically save for the bezel material, and a 116500LN buyer was getting the case and bracelet the 116520 had carried since 2000.

Bezel

 
Monobloc Cerachrom: platinum PVD graduations on fired ceramic

The Cerachrom bezel is a monobloc ceramic ring with a moulded tachymeter scale. Platinum deposited by PVD forms the numerals and graduations. It replaces the aluminum insert used on the 116520.

Cerachrom reached the Daytona before this reference did. The Everose 116515LN carried a ceramic bezel from 2011 and the platinum 116506 from 2013. The 116500LN brought that bezel material to the steel Daytona for the first time.

The numeral geometry moved with the material. Aluminum-insert tachymeter scales sat on a flat radial layout; the 116500LN numerals follow a subtly curved axis matched to the ceramic's surface tension and firing tolerances. The difference is invisible in a wrist shot and obvious with a 116520 alongside.

Ceramic resists ordinary scratching and colour change, but it can chip or crack under impact. Inspect the bezel for chips, cracks, and damaged numerals rather than assuming it is indestructible.

Crystal

Flat sapphire, and no Cyclops, because the Daytona carries no date. Thickness and radius match the 116520 exactly. Rolex's published documentation specifies no anti-reflective coating.

Crown

 
Crown side: Triplock crown, guards, screw-down pushers

Triplock screw-down with crown guards, rated with the case to 100m. The crown is dimensionally identical to the 116520's, carrying the Rolex coronet and the three dots that mark Triplock sealing.

Pushers

 
Screw-down pushers and the Triplock crown flank

The chronograph pushers are screw-down, as on the 116520 and earlier screw-down Daytona references. Their operation and travel are part of the watch-specific inspection.

Bracelets, end links, clasps, and packaging notes

Bracelet

Oyster, 20mm at the lugs, solid links throughout, with solid end links coded into the case. Measurement and construction are identical to the 116520 bracelet.

Clasp

The clasp is Oysterlock with Easylink. Oysterlock is the locking safety flap Rolex uses across the modern Professional line; Easylink is the toolless extension, a flip-out internal tab that adds five millimetres in a single step. The Glidelock on the ceramic Submariner adjusts continuously across a wider range. Easylink gives one fixed increment, less travel but faster to deploy on the wrist.

Nothing in the bracelet system changed between the 116520 and the 116500LN. The 126500LN reworked the clasp architecture, which leaves the 116500LN as the last Daytona on the older Oysterlock.

Packaging

Standard Rolex green box of the 2010s-2020s era with warranty card, Superlative Chronometer tag, booklets, and hang tags. Warranty format during the 116500LN run was the credit-card-style card rather than the earlier paper card. Full-set examples in the market carry the card, tag, and both booklets; the earliest examples from 2016 may carry transitional hang-tag formatting.

Special editions

 
Asprey red-dial 116500LN limited edition

Antiquorum catalogued an Asprey-customised red-dial 116500LN in 2025 as part of a stated 25-piece series, with a customised dial and caseback. The lot is evidence of a retailer-linked presentation branch, not a Rolex catalogue variant. Other customised or double-signed examples need the same lot-specific documentation.

Other 116500LN watches surface with engraved casebacks for institutional customers or double-signed dials for retailer anniversaries. Those are personalisation on a standard watch, not distinct reference variants.

Market and collector context

The reference drew strong demand after launch, and prices moved sharply during the 2020–2022 watch-market rise. Public asking prices and auction results should be read by date and condition; they do not describe a fixed value for every 116500LN.

Sale Lot Year Configuration Result / estimate
Phillips Geneva Sessions 80 2026 2018 black dial, box and papers CHF 24,130
Sotheby's New York 535 2025 circa-2016 black dial, box and papers est. USD 15,000–25,000
Antiquorum Geneva 788 2025 Asprey red dial, stated 25-piece series est. CHF 150,000–250,000
 
The Panda on the wrist

Prices softened after the 2022 peak, with later records varying by dial, condition, and papers. The 116500LN is the last steel Daytona on caliber 4130 and the first steel Daytona with a Cerachrom bezel; those are reference facts, separate from market cycles.

The 126500LN replaced it in 2023 with caliber 4131 and revised case details. Auction comparisons should keep the two references separate.

Related references

See also the Daytona family index, movement reference, bracelet & clasp guide, and serial numbers by year.

Sources


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