Values & guides
Buyers comparing the all-steel 116610LN and two-tone 116613LB are really making three decisions at once: price gap, daily look, and resale audience.
The Submariner is one of those watches where buyers think the decision is made. They know they want a Sub. Then a second decision appears behind the first one. Steel or two-tone? The 116610LN and the 116613LB share the same 40mm case, the same Calibre 3135 movement, the same Cerachrom ceramic bezel technology, and the same Oyster bracelet construction. They are not, however, the same watch to wear, to price, or to sell.
Most buyers comparing these two are actually making three separate calls without fully realizing it.
On paper, the gap looks narrow. Both references run 40mm, use the Cerachrom ceramic bezel insert, and ride on Oyster bracelets with the same basic case proportions. The 116613LB adds yellow gold to the bezel, crown guards, center bracelet links, and the case sides. That addition shifts everything: the price going in, the look on your wrist, and the audience when you eventually sell.
Blue dial and blue ceramic bezel are the standard configuration on the 116613LB, not merely a color option. The two-tone Submariner has always come this way as standard, and that blue-on-gold combination is what most people picture when they say "gold Submariner," even though the watch contains substantially more steel than gold.
Flat black and all steel, the 116610LN reads as a tool watch in essentially any context: suit, jeans, or dive gear. The dial and bezel have a functional severity that pairs with almost anything, and on a plain steel bracelet there is nothing to visually clash with whatever else you might be wearing.
Steel and yellow gold changes the calculus. The 116613LB's gold accents on the bracelet and case give it warmth, and paired with the blue dial, the watch has a presence the all-steel version simply does not. Some buyers want exactly that. Others find it limits what they can wear the watch with. If your wardrobe skews cool-toned, yellow gold can feel like a mismatch. A warmer-toned or sports-casual wardrobe and it fits naturally.
Neither version is wrong. They target different preferences, and talking yourself into one when you actually prefer the other rarely ends well.
Two-tone costs more than all-steel. That has been consistent throughout the production run of both references and it holds in the secondary market today. The gap comes from the gold content in the case and bracelet, which is real and adds material cost. When you pay more for the 116613LB, you are paying for metal that is physically present in the watch.
Both references sit at the more accessible end of Submariner ownership compared to full yellow gold versions, which is worth keeping in mind if you are weighing whether the step up from all-steel makes sense for your budget.
Since Rolex updated the Submariner line in 2020, both the 116610LN and 116613LB have been out of production, so pre-owned examples are the only route for either reference. All-steel Submariners in black generally attract a broader pool of buyers. The all-black steel Sub is one of the most widely recognized sport watches ever made, and that breadth of demand tends to support resale liquidity. Two-tone pieces appeal to a slightly narrower audience, and secondary market pricing tends to reflect that difference.
Papers matter on both. Neither box nor papers is technically required to sell a watch, but having papers firms up the offer you will receive when the time comes.
The Rolex Submariner 116610LN here is a 2015 example in 40mm steel with a black standard dial, black ceramic bezel, and Oyster bracelet. Used condition, papers present, no box. This is the all-steel, all-black configuration that reads as a tool watch in any context and carries no stylistic constraints. Among the three watches featured here, it is the one most likely to draw the broadest buyer pool at resale, simply because the all-steel black Submariner has near-universal name recognition across buyers of every background.
Two examples of the Rolex Submariner 116613LB are in stock, both in steel and yellow gold with blue standard dials, blue ceramic bezels, and Oyster bracelets, papers present, no box. One is a 2016 example; the other, a Rolex Submariner 116613LB from 2017, is a model year newer. Both are used. The year gap between them is minor for this reference at this age. What matters is condition and the presence of papers, both of which apply here. The blue-and-gold configuration is precisely what defines the two-tone Submariner line, and either example delivers that look in a 40mm package running the same Calibre 3135 movement as the all-steel version.
If the choice between steel and two-tone still feels unresolved after reading specs, getting both configurations on your wrist is more useful than any written comparison. Papers on both watches keeps the resale conversation clean whenever that day comes.
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