New Submariner in 2026? Here's What Rolex Could Do

The last meaningful update to the Submariner came in 2020 — 41mm case, 3235 movement, refreshed bracelet. Since then, nothing. Watches & Wonders, where Rolex unveils most of the year's releases, comes around every April, and last year felt like the first in which a new Submariner was really plausible.

We put forward three predictions of varying confidence for the Sub in 2025 — a Serti Dial revival, a titanium variant, and a full yellow gold Sub with a green dial and bezel. None of them landed at W&W 2025. But that last one, the full gold 'Hulk' Submariner, feels like the most realistic of the three, and a certain 2025 GMT-Master II introduced an interesting variable to this discussion.

The Case for the Hulk

Rolex Submariner 116610LV 'Hulk' Image Source: Hodinkee

The 116610LV debuted at Baselworld 2010 and was initially met with indifference. For years you could buy one below the black-dial counterpart — conventional wisdom being that green was a harder sell. It was a slow burn. By the time Rolex discontinued it in 2020 and replaced it with the Starbucks (green bezel, black dial), the Hulk had earned its following. Secondary prices ran past $30,000 at peak and have since settled around $19,000 — a meaningful premium even over the current-gen Starbucks.

According to production estimates Rolex published in collaboration with Wallpaper* — which surprised basically every Rolex enthusiast given how guarded they typically are with figures like this — 228,710 examples of the 'Hulk' 116610LV were produced over its decade-long run. For a green-dial variant that started slow, that's a serious number: more than half of the black 116610LN's production estimate of 414,905. There's a market gap in the current lineup for collectors who want a green-dial Sub new, and the demand hasn't gone anywhere.

What's New in 2026

Rolex GMT-Master II 126729VTNR 'Sprite' White Gold

When Rolex introduced the white gold 'Sprite' GMT-Master II with a ceramic dial at W&W 2025, most attention went to the new green ceramic dial. And rightfully so — no one saw that watch coming (before the leaks), and a ceramic dial was particularly unexpected. What got less discussion was the bezel — it's ostensibly the same bezel as on the steel 'Sprite' GMT, and looking at the new green ceramic dial alongside it, the colors match. Not approximately. They match.

Rolex Submariner 126613LB

This little detail matters more than you might think. Consider this: the two-tone Submariner 126613LB has a sunburst blue dial and a blue ceramic bezel that read as two clearly different shades of blue. Our CEO Michael DiMartini owns one and noted it; I've noticed the same handling the watch. A lacquered metal dial and a ceramic bezel are different materials catching light differently — not saying it looks bad — but it's noticeable. Imagine if that watch had a ceramic blue dial — a perfect match to the ceramic blue bezel. That's what I'd love to see on a new Hulk.

Applied to a green Sub, that's a meaningful evolution of the Hulk concept. The question is: steel or precious metal? Gold does feel like a natural fit (maybe because the Sprite, the watch that introduced the ceramic dial, lives in a precious metal case — the material seems to belong there, though I can't fully rationalize it). But the 'Hulk' as we know it is a steel watch. That's part of the appeal.

Final Thoughts

This prediction sits in a different category than some of our prior calls. The Polar White Explorer, 'Coke' GMT, and 'Pepsi' discontinuation all have concrete supporting evidence. This one is an extrapolation from a capability Rolex has already demonstrated, applied to a demand gap that genuinely exists. A ceramic dial 'Hulk' feels more like a wish than a prediction, but sometimes wishes come true.