Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681 Review

THE FIRST LOOK

Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681 First Impressions

What hits you the moment you pick up the 116681.

The Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681 does not ease you into anything. Pull it out of the box and the first thing you register is mass. It is heavier than almost every other watch in the Rolex watches catalog, and the Everose center links are doing most of that work. The second thing you register is the bezel. Blue Cerachrom, raised Everose numerals running one through ten, and a printed countdown scale that makes zero attempt to be subtle. Photographs consistently undersell how much rose gold is actually on this watch. In person, the crown, the two pushers, the bezel numerals, and the full center link run all read warm against the cool blue ceramic and the flat white lacquer dial. It is a genuinely handsome combination and, to my eye, the best looking of the four Yacht-Master II references.

Then you turn it over, feel the thickness against your palm, and the second impression arrives: this is a lot of watch. Not in a bad way, but there is no ambiguity about what you have strapped on. The Ring Command bezel has a weight and resistance to it that no other Rolex bezel does, because it is not just a bezel, it is a mechanical input device wired into the movement. Rotating it feels less like a click and more like engaging a mechanism, which is exactly what it is. If you are coming from a Submariner or a Datejust, the first sixty seconds with the 116681 will feel alien. That is the point. Rolex built exactly one watch like this in its history, and then in April 2024 it stopped building it.

THE WEARING EXPERIENCE

On the Wrist

How the 116681 actually wears, day in and day out.

The Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681 measures 44mm across, roughly 53mm lug to lug, and about 16.8mm thick, and unlike some large watches that hide their dimensions with clever lug geometry, this one does not. It wears every millimeter. My working recommendation after handling plenty of these: 7 inch wrists and up. On a 7.25 inch wrist it sits properly, the lugs land where they should, and the proportions make sense. Below 7 inches the lugs start to overhang and the watch reads as a cuff rather than a wristwatch. This is not a case where I tell you the short lugs save it. They do not. The 116681 is a big watch and it is honest about it.

Weight is the other thing you adapt to. The Everose gold center links on the 116681 add real heft over the all-steel version, and for the first week the watch announces itself every time you move your arm. After that it settles, and the Oyster bracelet with its Oysterlock clasp distributes the load well enough that a full day is comfortable. Cuff clearance, though, is where you have to be realistic. At 16.8mm this watch does not slide under a fitted dress shirt. It will catch, and you will spend the evening tugging your sleeve. Treat the 116681 as a polo shirt, jacket sleeve, or open-cuff watch, and it is a pleasure. Try to wear it under a tailored French cuff and it will fight you every time.

SHOP THIS WATCH

Shop the Yacht-Master II

Browse authenticated Rolex Yacht-Master II watches available now at WatchGuys.

If the wrist presence and the Everose execution sound like a match, here is what we currently have available. Every example is authenticated in house and backed by the WatchGuys 2 Year Warranty.

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BUILD QUALITY

Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681 Specifications

Breaking down the 116681 from every angle.

Case

The Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681 case is a 44mm Oystersteel Oyster shell with 18k Everose gold on the crown and both chronograph pushers, rated to 100 meters and sealed by a Triplock screw-down crown. Finishing is standard modern Rolex, which is to say it is excellent within its idiom: brushed case flanks, a polished chamfer running the length of the lugs, and transitions between the two that are sharp and consistent. The crown guards are pronounced, the pushers are large and screw-down, and the whole thing feels like it was engineered for someone wearing sailing gloves. Unscrew the pushers and they release with a firm, positive action, then depress with a heavier, more deliberate travel than a Daytona pusher. That is the vertical clutch and the countdown module you are feeling.

The one thing worth flagging on the pre-owned market is polishing. The Everose crown and pushers are solid gold, and gold polishes away faster than steel. A 116681 that has been through a careless refinish will show softened crown guards and a crown that has lost its sharp fluting. Compare the case profile against a known-original example before you commit.

Dial and Bezel

The Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681 dial is a matte white lacquer with a blue chronograph seconds hand and a countdown display that dominates the upper half of the face. Post-2017 examples carry Mercedes-style hands with a triangular marker at 12 and a rectangular marker at 6. Pre-2017 examples use straight stick hands and square markers. Most buyers prefer the Mercedes configuration, and the market prices it accordingly, so know which era you are looking at before you negotiate. Legibility in daylight is excellent, and the white dial against the blue ceramic is a genuinely well-judged contrast.

The bezel is the whole story. Blue Cerachrom, unidirectional, with raised Everose gold numerals from one to ten set into the ceramic. Cerachrom does not fade and does not scratch in normal use, and the gold numerals still look factory-fresh on decade-old examples, which is more than you can say for painted bezel markings on most other brands. But this bezel is not decoration. It is the Ring Command, a mechanical bezel that rotates and physically engages the movement to switch the watch between timekeeping, countdown setting, and countdown sync. Rotating it takes real force, deliberately so, and it should feel firm and precise. If it feels loose, gritty, or vague on a watch you are inspecting, walk away.

Bracelet

The Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681 bracelet is a wide-profile Oyster in Everose Rolesor, brushed Oystersteel outer links with polished 18k Everose center links, closed by an Oysterlock safety clasp with the Easylink 5mm comfort extension. The bracelet is scaled to the case and it needs to be. A standard-width Oyster would look ridiculous under a 44mm head. Articulation is good, the taper is modest, and the Easylink is genuinely useful on a watch this heavy, because a warm day will change how you want it to sit.

Two pre-owned notes. First, check for stretch at the end links and mid-bracelet. Solid link Oyster bracelets do not stretch the way older folded links did, but a heavy watch worn loose for a decade will show play. Second, the polished Everose center links are the highest-wear surface on the entire watch. They will pick up hairline scratches and, on a hard-worn example, edge softening. That is not a defect, that is a two-tone bracelet doing its job, but it should be reflected in the price you pay.

EXPERT TIP | Robertino Altieri | WatchGuys CEO

What to Check on a Pre-Owned 116681

"Three things, in this order. One, work the Ring Command bezel through all three positions and make sure the countdown actually engages and the pushers respond. A dead countdown module on a 116681 is an expensive problem. Two, look hard at the Everose center links under a loupe. Heavy polishing on gold links is the fastest way to spot a watch that has been cosmetically refreshed to hide wear. Three, ask for the service history. Nobody asks, and on a Caliber 4161 it matters more than on any other Rolex."

UNDER THE HOOD

Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681 Movement Review

How the movement performs where it matters: on the wrist, every day.

The Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681 runs the in-house Caliber 4161, a column wheel chronograph with vertical clutch that traces its architecture directly back to the Caliber 4130 in the Rolex Daytona, then adds the regatta countdown module, the mechanical memory, and the flyback function on top. It runs at 28,800 vph, holds roughly 72 hours of reserve, uses the blue Parachrom hairspring and Chronergy escapement, and is certified to Superlative Chronometer standards of minus 2 to plus 2 seconds per day. In practice, every example I have handled has run comfortably inside that window, usually a second or two fast, which is where you want a chronometer to sit. Wind it by hand from stopped and the crown feels dense and mechanical, noticeably more resistance than a three-hand Rolex, and the rotor is close to silent in daily wear.

What you actually need to know before buying is service. This is the most complicated movement Rolex ever mass produced, and it is now an orphan: the Caliber 4161 exited the catalog with the 2024 discontinuation and will never appear in another Rolex. Service intervals remain roughly the standard 10 year recommendation, but the cost is not standard. A chronograph plus a countdown module means more parts, more labor, and a longer bench time, and a full Rolex service on a 4161 typically lands well above what you would pay for a Submariner. Budget accordingly, and treat a 116681 with recent documented service as worth a real premium over one with an unknown history. That is not a scare tactic, it is arithmetic.

EXPERT TIP | Robertino Altieri | WatchGuys CEO

Service Costs for the Caliber 4161

"People buy a 116681 thinking of it as a Rolex service bill and then get quoted like it is a chronograph, because it is one, with an extra module bolted on. My advice is simple. If you are choosing between two 116681s and one has a service receipt from the last three or four years, pay the extra for that one. You are not paying for paperwork, you are pre-paying a bill you would otherwise get later."

REGATTA COUNTDOWN

The Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681 Countdown in Use

The complication that justifies the entire watch, and what it is like to actually operate.

The Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681 countdown is operated through the Ring Command bezel, and the sequence is more intuitive than the mechanism deserves to be. Unscrew the crown, rotate the bezel 90 degrees counterclockwise, and the movement disengages from timekeeping and hands control of the countdown duration to the crown. Set anywhere from one to ten minutes, rotate the bezel back, screw the crown down, and the watch remembers that duration permanently. That is the mechanical memory, and it is the part that makes horologists sit up: the watch physically stores your chosen countdown and returns to it every time, with no electronics involved.

Using it is straightforward. The top pusher starts the countdown. The bottom pusher is the flyback sync, which snaps the countdown hand back to the nearest whole minute so you can align with a race committee's gun signal on the fly, which is exactly the problem it was engineered to solve. When the countdown expires, the chronograph seconds hand takes over and starts running elapsed time. The whole flow works, and it works cleanly. Here is the honest part: unless you race sailboats, you will demonstrate this to people at dinner four or five times and then never use it again. That is not a criticism of the engineering. It is just the truth about who this watch is for, and you should be clear-eyed about it before spending $20,000.

MARKET VALUE

Current Market Snapshot

What the 116681 costs right now on the secondary market.

The Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681 currently trades between roughly $19,000 and $24,000 on the secondary market, which places it exactly where you would expect: a clear step above the all-steel 116680 in the $15,000 to $18,000 range, and less than half the ask on the solid yellow gold 116688. That spread is the single most important fact about this reference. You are paying a few thousand dollars over steel to get 18k Everose on the crown, the pushers, the bezel numerals, and the center links, and in return you get the visual identity that makes the Yacht-Master II look like a deliberate design rather than a large steel sports watch. For most buyers that is the best value proposition in the lineup.

The post-discontinuation dynamic is worth understanding. Rolex retired the entire Yacht-Master II collection in April 2024 with no successor, which means the supply of 116681s is now permanently fixed and will only decline as examples get worn, damaged, or absorbed into long-term collections. Pricing has been stable to gently firming since. This is not a hype model and it will not behave like one, so do not buy a 116681 as a flip. Buy it because you want it. But the structural setup, a genuinely unique complication, a movement that will never be built again, and a fixed supply, is about as sound a long-term hold as Rolex offers outside the obvious names. Complete sets with box and papers carry a real premium here, more than on a standard sports model, because the buyer pool for a $20,000 discontinued chronograph skews toward collectors who care about completeness.

HEAD TO HEAD

Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681 Comparison

The 116681 against the alternatives buyers actually cross-shop.

Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681 vs. Rolex Yacht-Master II 116680 (Oystersteel)

This is the decision almost every Yacht-Master II buyer actually faces, and it comes down to one variable: metal. The 116680 and the 116681 share an identical 44mm case, identical white dial, identical blue Cerachrom Ring Command bezel, and the identical Caliber 4161. Nothing about how the watch functions changes. What changes is that the 116681 adds 18k Everose to the crown, the pushers, the bezel numerals, and the center bracelet links, and asks roughly $4,000 to $6,000 more for it. The steel 116680 is the value play and the more wearable one, because it is meaningfully lighter and it disappears into a casual wardrobe more easily. The 116681 is the one that looks like it was designed on purpose. My honest read is that the Yacht-Master II is already a loud watch, and the Everose is what makes the loudness feel intentional rather than accidental.

Robertino's Take

"I have sold both, and the 116681 is the one people come back for. Here is why. The steel 116680 is a 44mm white-dialed sports watch that a lot of buyers eventually decide is just too big for what it gives them. The 116681 gives you a reason for the size. The Everose against that blue ceramic is the whole point of the watch. If you are already spending Yacht-Master II money on a watch you will wear on weekends, spend the extra five grand and get the version you will not talk yourself out of."

Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681 vs. Rolex Yacht-Master 126621 (Yellow Rolesor)

These two watches share a name and almost nothing else, and buyers cross-shop them constantly because the search results collapse them together. The Rolex Yacht-Master 126621 is a 40mm time-and-date sports watch with a bidirectional 60-minute bezel and the Caliber 3235, and it is genuinely wearable seven days a week under any cuff. The Yacht-Master II 116681 is a 44mm regatta chronograph that is a specialist instrument first and a wristwatch second. If you want a two-tone Rolex sports watch you can live in, buy the 126621 and do not look back. If you want the most mechanically ambitious watch Rolex ever put into production and you accept the size, that is the 116681. They are not competitors so much as answers to completely different questions.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The Verdict

Is the 116681 worth your money?

Buy it. The Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681 is the reference to own out of the four, and at roughly $19,000 to $24,000 it is the only sensible way into the Caliber 4161 unless you genuinely want an all-steel 44mm watch or you are prepared to spend $35,000 and up on solid gold.

This watch is perfect for the buyer who already owns the obvious Rolex sports watches and wants something in the box that nobody else at the table has. It is for people who value mechanical ambition over broad approval, who like that the Ring Command bezel is a genuinely strange piece of engineering, and who are comfortable wearing a watch that gets noticed. It rewards you every time you show someone the countdown, and it will never be built again. Those two facts carry a lot of weight over a ten year ownership horizon.

Who should skip it: anyone with a wrist under 7 inches, anyone who needs one watch that does everything, and anyone who wears a fitted dress shirt to work. The 116681 is 16.8mm thick and it does not apologize. If you need a two-tone Rolex you can wear every single day, the Rolex Datejust or the 40mm Yacht-Master will serve you far better for less money. And if you are buying purely as an investment, look elsewhere. This is a stable asset, not a rocket. The single strongest reason to buy the 116681 is also the simplest: it is the most complicated watch Rolex ever mass produced, it is permanently discontinued, and the Everose Rolesor version is the best-looking way to own it.

Robertino's Take

"The Yacht-Master II was never the watch that sold itself off a shelf, and that is exactly why the 116681 is interesting now. Rolex killed it in 2024 and there is no version two coming. What is left is a fixed number of Everose Rolesor regatta chronographs with a movement that walked out the door with them. Do not buy it to flip it. Buy it because in fifteen years it will be the only watch in your box that you have to explain, and you will enjoy explaining it every time."

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