Two green Rolex Submariners are currently available at the Amplitude Boutique. From a distance, they look like the same watch. Up close, they are two very different machines, made almost twenty years apart.
Collectors call them the Kermit and the Starbucks. Here is how to tell them apart, and what changes once you put them on.
Rolex launched the Kermit in 2003, for the 50th birthday of the Submariner. It stayed in the catalogue until 2010. It was the first Submariner with a green bezel.
The aluminium bezel is the whole story of this watch. Ceramic holds one flat colour. Aluminium does not. Move your wrist and the green shifts — bright and almost lime under a lamp, deep and dark in the shade. Every Kermit also ages in its own way, so no two used examples look exactly alike.
That is the charm. It is also the weak point: aluminium marks and scratches far more easily than ceramic.
The Starbucks arrived in 2020. Green bezel again, black dial again — but almost everything underneath is new.
The ceramic bezel is glossy, hard and very resistant to scratches. The colour stays the same in every light, and it will not fade with the years. The case is one millimetre wider, with slimmer lugs than the older 40 mm Submariners, so it wears cleaner and more modern.
The movements are separated by a generation.
The Kermit’s calibre 3135 gives you about 48 hours. Take it off on Friday evening, and by Sunday morning it has stopped. You wind it and reset it before you go out.
The Starbucks’ calibre 3235 gives you about 70 hours. Take it off on Friday evening, pick it up on Monday morning, and it is still running on time. Collectors call this weekend proof.
| Kermit (16610LV) | Starbucks (126610LV) | |
|---|---|---|
| Years made | 2003–2010 | 2020 to today |
| Case | 40 mm | 41 mm |
| Bezel | Green aluminium | Green ceramic (Cerachrom) |
| Colour in the light | Shifts and changes | Stays constant |
| Movement | Calibre 3135 | Calibre 3235 |
| Power reserve | ~48 hours | ~70 hours |
| Water resistance | 300 m | 300 m |
There is no wrong answer. It depends on what you want from the watch.
Choose the Kermit if you like character. The bezel plays with the light, the watch has a real story behind it, and production stopped sixteen years ago. It is a watch you look at.
Choose the Starbucks if you want to wear it hard. Ceramic that will not scratch, a bracelet you can adjust on the fly, and three days of running time. It is a watch you forget you are wearing.
Whichever one you choose, the movement is what you are really buying. A calibre 3135 that has not been serviced in ten years will not keep its 48 hours, it will drift, and the wear happens quietly, long before you notice it on the dial.
We service both generations in our own workshop in Hong Kong, on site, with our own watchmakers. If you own a Submariner and cannot remember its last service, that is usually a sign.
Both watches are in our boutique in Sheung Wan. Come in, try them on the wrist, and see the difference in the light for yourself. That is something no photo can show you.
Renaud-Louis Chavanis – Founder – Amplitude – Watch Experience Sheung Wan, Hong Kong