Rolex
Oyster Perpetual 36
116000
The purist's Rolex — 36 mm of unadorned Oyster permanence.
An estimate from current market data — not an offer. Your actual value depends on condition, completeness, and authentication.
Get an instant offerFree insured shipping. Paid within 48 hours of inspection.
Overview
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual ref. 116000 represents the marque's foundational proposition in its clearest form: a 36 mm Oystersteel case, no date complication, and a self-winding movement presented without distraction. Produced across roughly a dozen years from 2008 to 2020, it occupied the entry point of the modern Oyster Perpetual line while carrying the same construction standards applied throughout the catalogue. Its rotating cast of dial colours — ranging from restrained silver and black to the vivid "red grape" — gave collectors a degree of chromatic choice unusual for so architecturally spare a reference.
History
The 116000 succeeded earlier 36 mm no-date references as Rolex consolidated its Oyster Perpetual line in the late 2000s, bringing the case and bracelet finishing in line with the aesthetic language of the era. Calibre 3130, a movement with a lineage stretching back through several decades of Rolex no-date development, provided the mechanical foundation, featuring a Parachrom hairspring and Paraflex shock absorbers in its later state of tune. The reference ran continuously until 2020, when it was replaced by the ref. 126000, which introduced a slightly updated case profile and an expanded palette of bold dial colours that attracted considerable collector attention at launch.
Notable points
- Powered by Calibre 3130, a no-date automatic movement featuring a Parachrom blue hairspring for improved resistance to shocks and magnetic fields.
- The 36 mm Oystersteel case sits at the historical centre of Rolex sizing, a diameter the brand has employed for the Oyster Perpetual across multiple generations.
- Dial options spanned conservative choices such as silver and black alongside the distinctively named 'red grape', a deep aubergine tone that became one of the reference's most discussed variants.
- The absence of a date complication — and the clean dial architecture it permits — has long made the no-date Oyster Perpetual a touchstone for collectors who prioritise visual symmetry.
- Production ran from approximately 2008 to 2020, making the 116000 one of the longer-lived iterations of the modern 36 mm no-date Oyster Perpetual.
