Replica Rolex Submariner 116613LB Blue Dial Two-Tone Automatic Watch

Series: SUBMARINER

Model Number: 116613LB8DIA

Movement: Automatic

Product Power Reserve: Not Independently Verified

Genuine Reference Movement: Rolex Calibre 3135

Case Diameter: 40mm

Case Thickness: 13mm

Factory: Clean Factory / VSF(VS Factory)

Mirror Material: Resistant Sapphire Crystal

Dial Colour: Blue

Strap Colour: Silver & Gold

Product Strap Material: Stainless Steel with Gold-Tone Elements

Genuine Reference Material: Yellow Rolesor, Combining Oystersteel and 18 ct Yellow Gold

Clasp: Folding Clasp

Gender: Unisex

The first thing to establish about this watch is its generation. The 116613LB belongs to the 40mm ceramic Submariner Date generation, preceding the current 41mm 126613LB. That distinction affects far more than the reference number. Most importantly, Rolex equipped the genuine 116613LB with calibre 3135, not the newer calibre 3235 found in the 126613LB. Rolex’s own technical literature for the 116613LB confirms the 3135 movement.

This makes the original “Caliber Rolex 3235, 70Hours” specification inappropriate for a genuine 116613LB comparison. The current 126613LB does use calibre 3235 with approximately 70 hours of reserve, but transferring that specification backward would turn a generation difference into a factual error.

The generation distinction is visible from the outside as well. Genuine-owner discussions comparing different Bluesy references repeatedly focus on the broader, more squared-off case and lug proportions of the 116613 generation. Owners moving among the older 16613, 116613 and current 126613 often describe them as noticeably different wearing experiences rather than interchangeable versions of the same blue-and-gold Submariner.

The blue dial deserves even more careful treatment because there is not just one 116613LB blue.

Early examples of the 116613LB are well known among collectors for a flatter blue dial, while later examples returned to a sunburst blue appearance. Owner discussions generally place that transition around 2013, and collectors still specifically distinguish “flat dial” and sunburst 116613LB examples when evaluating used watches.

That history changes how a replica should be compared. A photograph of one genuine 116613LB is not automatically the correct dial-color reference for every 116613LB-style replica. The intended dial generation needs to be established first, particularly because direct light can dramatically increase the saturation and radial reflection of a sunburst blue dial.

For replica versions, blue hue and gold tone interact rather than functioning as two separate cosmetic details. The 116613LB derives much of its identity from the contrast between blue and yellow gold, so a slightly violet or overly dark dial can change the perceived gold tone, while an excessively yellow or copper-colored coating can make an otherwise convincing blue appear wrong.

This relationship has been a recurring subject in replica comparisons. In a direct Clean-versus-genuine 116613LB discussion, participants disagreed over small details but repeatedly returned to dial hue and gold color; some perceived a slight purple tendency in the Clean dial, while others preferred Clean’s gold treatment over VSF. The same discussion also raised construction differences around the end links.

Older and later community discussions show why these observations should not become permanent factory rules. Clean has often been preferred by individual owners for the gold appearance on this reference, while VSF has received favorable comments for other components such as the crystal, bezel or dial depending on the comparison and production period. Even in 2024, owners were still describing gold-tone accuracy as an unresolved replica issue rather than something every factory had completely solved.

The material distinction behind that color difference is more important than the cosmetic comparison alone. A genuine two-tone Submariner uses Rolex’s Yellow Rolesor construction, combining steel with actual yellow gold. The current equivalent remains officially specified as Oystersteel and yellow gold, including a blue Cerachrom bezel whose numerals and graduations are coated in gold.

The supplied replica Rolex specification, however, should not automatically be described as “18kt Gold & Steel” unless the product actually contains verified solid 18 ct gold components. A steel bracelet with gold-colored plating or coating is materially different from genuine Yellow Rolesor, regardless of how close its surface color appears in photographs.

That difference also introduces a long-term consideration that a fresh QC photograph cannot answer. Surface color can be evaluated when the watch is new, but photographs cannot establish how a gold-tone coating will respond to abrasion on bracelet links, clasp contact points and exposed edges over months or years. Visual similarity at delivery and material equivalence are two different claims.

The bezel provides another reference-specific comparison point. The genuine 116613LB uses a blue Cerachrom 60-minute diving bezel, and Rolex specifies a unidirectional system with a luminescent zero marker. For a replica, bezel evaluation is more useful when it considers the blue relationship between bezel and dial, numeral appearance and actual rotational behavior rather than generic statements about polished surfaces.

There is also a genuine functional distinction that the original source barely addresses: this is a Submariner Date. The genuine architecture includes a date complication and Cyclops magnification, so date alignment, date change, magnification and crown-setting behavior are legitimate areas of inspection here. That is very different from forcing a generic complication checklist onto a watch that does not have those functions.

Taken together, the most useful way to evaluate this 116613LB-style watch is to establish the intended generation first and then examine the elements that define that generation: 40mm case architecture, the correct blue-dial era, blue-and-gold color relationship, Yellow Rolesor versus replica coating, and the correct movement baseline.

Those points reveal substantially more about a 116613LB than a generic checklist of case photographs and surface finishing. The Bluesy may be instantly recognizable by color, but accurate comparison depends on knowing which Bluesy generation is being reproduced in the first place.