Rolex watches are world renown. In fact, they are one of the most recognized brands on planet Earth. Show someone their crown logo and they will instantly know you are talking about Rolex. And while they are considered a high end luxury brand, they also produce and sell millions of watches. According to Rolex, they produce upwards of 800,000 watches every year! And they have been around since 1920, so you can imagine how many watches there are out there in circulation.
But there are some rare models out there. Take for example some vintage Daytona’s or Submariner’s. They fetch huge premiums and regularly sell for more money than their modern day counterparts. Why is that? Because there is less of them. Scarcity helps create a demand, which pushes the prices higher. The less there is of something and the more people want it, the more the price will go up.
It is easy to see why vintage watches are rare. In the 60’s and 70’s Rolex didn’t make nearly as many watches as they do today, so there are just less of them. And back then, the Daytona wasn’t as popular as it is today. The high demand for the modern Daytona has pushed the price up for vintage because there aren’t that many available for sale. But why would modern Rolex watches be considered rare?
In an effort to create a larger demand for sport models, Rolex has limited the amount Authorized Dealers receive on an annual basis. Try going to your local AD today to buy a brand new Submariner, I bet they are sold out. But you might be saying, the Submariner is the quintessential Rolex watch, how can they be sold out? That’s like going to McDonald’s and they are out of hamburgers! But if McDonald’s one day decided to send 1/10th the supply of meat to the restaurants, it may cause a bigger demand for their burgers, thus allowing McDonald’s to sell burgers for $3 instead of $1.50.
So we all know most any stainless steel Rolex sports model at the moment is rare. AD’s are basically sold out of them constantly. Are there any rare precious metal models? The answer is yes. For example, the green dial gold Rolex GMT II.
Historically, green was Rolex’s color. Look at the 50th anniversary Submariner, or the 60th, both are green. Look at the boxes your Rolex comes in, green. Look at the warranty papers or card you get when buying a Rolex, it’s green! That’s why when the 116718 was introduced in 2005 it was cool to see it offered with a green dial as well. While Rolex doesn’t publicize how many of each watch it makes, it was rumored that the green dial version was super rare.
Flash forward almost 15 years and there are barely any green dial Rolex GMT’s for sale on the secondary market. The watch itself was discontinued by Rolex a few years ago but when you search for pre-owned models, you will only see a handful. And if you compare it with its black dial counterpart it fetches almost $5,000 more. The only difference between the two is the color of the dial.
So while the Rolex 116718 itself is not rare, the version with the green dial definitely is. We have one for sale at Boca Raton Pawn.
