How collectable are the SEA DWELLER 4000 ref.116600 (SD4000)?
2017 marks the 50th Anniversary for the Sea Dweller. Originated as the upgrade version of the Submariner, in collaboration with COMEX; it is goes on to become an entire linage by itself.
Ref. 116600 was unveiled at 2014 Baselworld. To the surprise of many, it was discontinued this year (2017) making way for ref. 126600 (43mm with cyclope). Ending a brief and unremarkable production run. A smaller case (comparing with Submariner and Deepsea) coupled with a higher price tag, make sales reasonably slow. Perhaps, these are the real factors that made Rolex decide to kill this reference, for good…
On the hindsight, this create an interesting scenario for Rolex collectors:
1) Shortest production span for any of the pure stainless steel sports Rolex, no different dial variants discovered so far, homogenous batch.
2) First Rolex professional watch in the “ceramic bezel” era to be discontinued.
3) Most importantly, how many 116600 really existed?
Already the price for 116600 in the preonwed market is already surging. Collectors and dealers have realize its potential. Value of watches is always a balancing act between the supply and demand. We now know the 116600 supply is now finite and dwindling. How high it will go perhaps will depend on the future demand….
