Rolex "Hulk" Review: A Deep Dive Into the Green Submariner

The Rolex “Hulk” Submariner is today one of the most collectible luxury sport watches on the secondary market, despite the fact that its green-on-green colorway was quite polarizing when it first hit retailers' shelves in 2010. The watch’s rise to legendary status, interestingly enough, followed a similar path to that of the Marvel character from which it derives its nickname. Here we explore the story of the Rolex “Hulk” and why it occupies a special chapter in the lore of iconic Rolex watches.

Rolex Submariner Origins

The Rolex Submariner famously arrived on the scene in 1953 but its roots reach much farther — to the historical, waterproof Oyster case that Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf introduced way back in 1926. Named for its pioneering structure —  which combined two threaded, hermetically sealed “shells” that clamped tight to keep water from penetrating, along with a crown that screwed securely into the side of the case — the case achieved a water resistance never before achieved in watches. The Rolex Oyster case made its debut on a watch of the same name (below), and its waterproof design was improved over subsequent decades. Rolex supplied a version of its Oyster case to the Florence-based firm Panerai in the 1930s and ‘40s for use on the Radiomir, one of the very first wristwatches purpose-built for underwater use, worn by Italian military divers. 

Fast forward to the early 1950s, and the growing popularity of scuba diving as a recreational pursuit (rather than just a military or industrial one) for the post-World War II generation. Rolex, along with a handful of other Swiss watchmakers including Blancpain and Zodiac, responded to the cultural shift, and the accompanying consumer demand, by developing the first “modern” dive watches. Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms debuted first, in 1953, boasting an array of now-familiar utilitarian features and a water resistance matching its name: 91.44 meters, or 50 fathoms. The Rolex Submariner rolled off the production line in that same year but wasn’t introduced to the market until 1954. Significantly, it was the first commercially made watch that was tested to be waterproof to a full 100 meters — overtaking Blancpain’s depth rating by a small but substantial margin. The original Ref. 6204 Submariner (below) established the template that the watch would adhere to even to this day — the most upgraded version of Rolex’s Oyster case, in stainless steel (measuring 37mm in this first model), a black dial with an inverted triangle at 12 o’clock, alternating circle and bar indexes at the hour markers, and a rotating dive-scale bezel (originally a bidirectional one) with a 60-minute scale that a diver could set to keep track of his time underwater.

Subsequent references of the Submariner, starting with the Ref. 6205, added the familiar Mercedes handset and even more robust water-resistance ratings, of 200 meters, and eventually 300 meters, which is the standard for the model today. In 1979, the Submariner acquired one of the features most strongly associated with it, a dive-scale bezel that rotated in one direction rather than two. This was a practical and potentially life-saving innovation — first used by Blancpain for its Fifty Fathoms models  — which prevented a diver from accidentally jarring the bezel in the wrong direction for an inaccurate reading of how much time he’d spent underwater and thus miscalculating how much oxygen he had left in the tank. Submariners have been equipped with this type of bezel ever since. In 1987, with the Ref. 16610, the Submariner attained the 300-meter water resistance that is today the standard. Over the years, it has become not only the much-emulated gold standard of dive watch design but also one of the most popular and coveted watches in the world, from Rolex or any other maker.

Rolex Submariner “Kermit” - Midcentury Milestone 

All of this considered, it should not be surprising that Rolex wanted to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its trend-setting, genre-defining divers’ watch in a big way in 2003. And that year’s release was really where the origin story, if you will, of the Rolex “Hulk” truly begins. The Submariner Ref. 16610LV that Rolex introduced that year was noteworthy in several respects. One was its use of the so-called “maxi dial,” with larger, more prominent hands and hour markers; another was the presence of an aluminum insert for the divers’ bezel in bright green — the actual inspiration for the “LV” in the reference number (“Lunette Verte” or “green window”) — matched with a traditional black dial.

The eye-catching green colorway was no doubt shocking to some at the time, coming  from über-traditional Rolex, but it shouldn’t have been: dark green has been a signature Rolex logo color since nearly the beginning, reportedly chosen by the marketing-savvy Wilsdorf for its connection to wealth and success (i.e., cash). This was the first use of the color, for any element or detail, on a Submariner watch, and it garnered the model the nickname that it still carries today — “Kermit,” a reference to the beloved (and famously green-skinned) Muppets character, Kermit the Frog. 

The Rolex Kermit, despite debuting to decidedly mixed reactions — remember, green and other now-ubiquitous colors were still outliers in the luxury watch world in these early years of the new millennium — found an avid core of fans and remained in production for seven years. Its attributes included a 40mm case in 904L stainless steel (which Rolex brands as “Oystersteel”), with a Triplock screw-down crown and crown guards, a flat sapphire crystal with a magnifying “Cyclops” lens over the 3 o’clock date window, and a 300-meter depth rating. The movement behind the Kermit’s solid, screwed-in caseback was Rolex’s in-house Caliber 3135, with a COSC chronometer certification and a 48-hour power reserve. (Also, just to be clear, the Rolex “Kermit” has no officially licensed connection to the eponymous Muppets character, unlike the more recently released Oris watch that uses the same name, and even puts Kermit’s face on the dial.)

Kermit the Frog once lamented in song that, “it’s not easy being green.” Perhaps Rolex initially agreed, as the Submariner reference that would come to carry Kermit’s name used green only for the bezel, leaving the dial to its more familiar, traditional black coloration. But a bolder, riskier, and much more monochromatic execution was on the horizon, and it would take its nickname from another green-skinned character that had become a pop cultural institution. 

Rolex Submariner “Hulk” — Meaner and Greener

Photo: Phillips

In 2010, concurrently with the quiet discontinuation of the Ref. 16610LV “Kermit,” came the next generation of green-dominant Submariners: the Ref. 116610LV — just one digit longer than its predecessor but also different from it in several respects, both aesthetically and technically. This new model retained the bright green insert on the unidirectional diver’s bezel but added a “maxi dial” in the same verdant color — another first for a Submariner. Significantly, the watch was one of the first Rolex models to use Cerachrom, a proprietary ceramic material, for its bezel insert, replacing the aluminum insert used on the “Kermit” and other previous models. Cerachrom, which Rolex touts as being more scratch-resistant than other ceramics as well as exceptionally resistant to fading, debuted in 2005 on a GMT-Master model and made its way to the Submariner in 2008, initially only on precious-metal versions. 

Photo: S. Song Watches

The Ref. 116610LV, on the other hand, was a classic Submariner in Oystersteel, 40mm in diameter and 12.5mm thick. Inside its 300-meter water resistant case it carried the same chronometer-certified movement as its predecessor, Caliber 3135. Its sunburst green dial — which can appear bright and shiny or dark and sober, depending on how it catches light — featured the classical handset and hour markers of previous Submariners, here coated with ChromaLight, Rolex’s proprietary luminous paint, which imparts to them a gleaming, light-blue glow in darkness. In another nod to legibility, the date window at 3 o’clock is magnified by a Cyclops lens, another Wilsdorf invention that first appeared on the original Datejust in (that year again) 1953. The steel Oyster bracelet included another patented feature, the Glidelock mechanism that enables the bracelet to be adjusted up to 20mm in length, without tools, for wrist comfort — an indication by Rolex that the Sub retains its bonafides as a tool watch for divers even though the model has indisputably attained luxury-item status.

Photo: Sotheby's

The nickname for the new reference was “Hulk,” a reference to Marvel’s green-tinted man-monster, who’s been rampaging through the comics since 1962 and on the silver screen since 2003 (though his first appearance in the acknowledged Marvel Cinematic Universe didn’t technically occur until 2008). It was an apropos moniker in several regards, especially since this generation of the Submariner was also one of the first to be outfitted with Rolex’s so-called “super case,” which had a beefier profile, broader lugs, more angular facets, and larger crown guards than its predecessors. 

Photo: Bonhams

Marvel Hulk vs. Rolex Hulk: A Parallel Path

Despite the Hulk’s well-known catch-phrase of rage — “Hulk Smash!” — the Submariner “Hulk” was not an unqualified “smash” when it first hit the market. Consumers weren’t quite sure what to make of this big green machine; the prevailing vibe at first was that maybe extending the green from the bezel to the dial was overkill, that the “Kermit’s” black dial still offered a more versatile look. Shortly after the model’s debut, at Baselworld 2010, some retailers were even selling it at a discount.  It would take a while for the Rolex “Hulk” to catch on with collectors and aficionados, and the embrace of green dials throughout the rest of the watch world in the following years most certainly helped in that regard: once again, Rolex was ahead of a trend well before it reaped the rewards of it. 

Interestingly, the Rolex “Hulk” and Marvel’s Hulk followed a similarly circuitous path to mainstream popularity. The character first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1, published in May 1962, almost a decade after Rolex introduced the first Submariner. (To add another level of comic-geekery to the conversation, Marvel also has a character called the Sub-Mariner — note the hyphen — who debuted years before the watch, in 1939, and who has also fought both against and alongside the Hulk over the years.) Some fans who only know the Hulk from his movie appearances (or are old enough to remember the hit 1970s TV show starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno) might be surprised to learn that his skin in that first story wasn’t green but an inconsistent shade of gray due to printer’s errors in the color separations. By issue #2, however, the Hulk was given the green skin that he has had (with some brief story-related interruptions) ever since. 

What might also be surprising, considering the jade giant’s enduring popularity, is that his first series wasn’t a hit — at least not one on the level of other Marvel titles that debuted during that era, like Fantastic Four (August 1961) and Amazing Spider-Man (December 1962) — and it was cancelled after only six issues. However, the Hulk’s absence apparently made fandom’s heart grow fonder. The character made frequent appearances in other Marvel titles for several years before once again headlining his own feature in the anthology series Tales to Astonish, beginning with issue #59 in June 1964. That title became the second volume of The Incredible Hulk starting with issue #102, in April 1968, kicking off a long publication run for the green behemoth that continues to this day and inspiring the TV and film adaptations that have made him a pop cultural icon. In a somewhat parallel vein, the Rolex Submariner “Hulk” reference — after its previously noted slow start — began rocketing to red-hot collectible status once the rumors of its own cancellation began circulating in the enthusiast community around 2019. By the time the model actually ceased production one year later, its place in the pantheon of legendary Rolex models was assured.

Today, the Rolex “Hulk” Submariner is still a powerhouse presence on the secondary market, though not yet in the realm of “unobtanium” (which, frankly, sounds like something the Hulk might encounter in one of Marvel’s big-screen epics). WatchCharts lists an average price of $17,823 for a pre-owned model, while a search on Chrono24 reveals a range of asking prices from roughly $19,000 to $25,000. Another online retailer of certified authentic, pre-owned timepieces, Atlanta-based SwissWatchExpo, currently has the model listed at $19,100. 

Rolex Submariner “Starbucks” - The New Generation

Rolex had yet another green-dominant Submariner waiting in the wings to essentially replace the "Hulk" model, and it made its debut in 2020, the same year that the production run of the green-dial model ended. The Rolex Submariner Ref. 126610LV — quickly nicknamed the “Starbucks” because of its colors’ evocation of the Seattle-based coffee chain — appears at first glance to be a full-throated return to the “versatile” green-bezel/black dial design of the “Kermit,” but there are a few key differences. Where the Kermit had an aluminum bezel insert, the Starbucks features the same green Cerachrom insert as the “Hulk,” Cerachrom having mostly supplanted aluminum in the bezels of most of Rolex’s Oyster Professional sport-luxury watches. While both the Kermit and the Hulk measured 40mm, the Starbucks is a smidgen bigger, at 41mm, the new standard size for Submariners that Rolex established in 2020. Inside the Oystersteel case, the Caliber 3135 has given way to the upgraded Caliber 3235, which boasts, among other features, an extended 70-hour power reserve; Rolex’s patented Chronergy escapement, Parachrom hairspring, and Paraflex shock absorption system; and the increased daily precision of -2/+2 seconds required by the Crown’s in-house Superlative Chronometer certification. The Submariner “Kermit” is currently the only green-bezel model in the catalog, priced at $11,200. 

Will Rolex ever bring the green-dialed “Hulk” back for a sequel? Perhaps another superhero-themed Rolex model holds a clue. But first, one more dip into Marvel Hulk history to set the stage: Jennifer Walters, the cousin of Hulk alter-ego Bruce Banner, became a female version of the rampaging green brute through an emergency transfusion of her cousin’s radioactive blood. Calling herself (of course), the She-Hulk, she starred in several of her own relatively short-lived comics series starting in 1980 and has since become a member of the Avengers in the MCU and headlined her own Disney+ TV series.

What does this have to do with Rolex? Perhaps nothing. But recall (or just read about it here) that Rolex made a blue-and-black-bezel version of the GMT-Master, on a three-link Oyster bracelet, that was nicknamed “Batman.” Shortly after taking that model out of production, Rolex introduced essentially the same watch but mounted it instead on its five-link Jubilee bracelet, spurring fans to rename it “Batgirl.” Hypothetically, following that template, a green-dialed Submariner on a Jubilee would be a “She-Hulk,” right? If it happens, remember — you read it here first. 

Lead Image: Christie's