Is this the End of the Rolex Hulk?

In 1953, the first Submariner was released. In 2004. Rolex released a 50th anniversary submariner to celebrate the first 50 full years of Submariner success. The Submariner 16610LV, or “the Kermit” uses Rolex’s brand color on just the bezel - sporting a black dial. 

The Rolex Submariner 11610LV followed the Submariner 1610LV model in 2010. The model was nicknamed the “Hulk” by the watch community. It garnered the nickname the “Hulk” with its sunburst green dial and ceramic green bezel in combination with the maxi case. The “Hulk” has been viewed as the continuation of the 50th anniversary model because the Kermit was discontinued the same year the Hulk debuted.

Over the past couple years, it has been rumored the Hulk will be discontinued - even to the extreme of suggesting the possibly the entire line of Submariners will disappear. That speculation has vamped up its volume due to the prediction of an overhaul of the Submariner line, which we discuss here. At Everest, we don’t believe the Rolex Submariner line will completely vanish. 

The potential cancellation of the steel Rolex Submariner 11610LV stems from the fact that the Submariner line did not receive an expected update at Baselworld 2019. In anticipation of an overhaul of the Sub line up, one of the big rumors circulating is that there will be a fully gold, green Submariner to replace the Hulk. This would follow Rolex’s past moves with the anniversary green dial GMT 116718LN - released in 2005. This all gold model laid the foundation for the new GMT line.

The 116718LN was the beginning of Rolex super case sports watches. With a chunkier case and a maxi dial, the model featured a solid gold bracelet. It was also the first to have a triple lock crown, and the first model to receive a ceramic bezel. 

The Submariner line with the reference numbers beginning with 11 has been in production for more than a decade, so we can anticipate the new movement 3235 to replace the old generation 3135 in any new Submariner model released.

With the overhaul of the Submariner line, will we see an all-gold Submariner to be the first released? Will it sport a green lacquer dial like the GMT 116718LN? Will we see game-changing new features on the Submariner to completely change the watch industry as we did with the GMT 116718LN? Time will only tell.

We anticipate the reveal in New York! 

*NOTE: some of the pictures you see above have been modified by Everest and others on the internet to show what could happen. These are just to show predictions and are not to be assumed as actual images from Rolex or any other watch brand.