By TEEEMPUS · Published
Rolex has a name for nearly every part of the Submariner Date. The steel is Oystersteel, the black ceramic bezel is Cerachrom, the magnifier over the date is the Cyclops and the bracelet is the Oyster. Under the names, the 126610LN is a 41 mm steel dive watch with a black dial, round and baton hour markers, Mercedes hands and a bezel that turns one way. It's water resistant to 300 metres and runs on Rolex's automatic calibre 3235, with about 70 hours of power reserve. In the US it lists at $11,350.
The look is easier to come by than the names. We went through watches like the Rolex Submariner on sale in the US today and kept five with its black dial and black bezel, from $175 to $5,225. Each one comes with what it gets wrong. Prices are regular US list prices, not sale prices, checked on 24 October 2026. Invicta's and Tudor's come from elsewhere, and their sections say where. The photos are to scale, so if a watch looks smaller here, it is.
Two of the five are marked as homages, the watch world's word for a watch that follows a famous design on purpose, under its own name. Retailers often sell for less than the list prices here. Where we couldn't confirm that Amazon lists the exact watch, its Amazon button runs a search instead.
This is the watch every pick is measured against, the Submariner Date, reference 126610LN, on six points:
Nothing below matches all six. Only the Tissot and the Longines are rated to 300 metres, only the Longines lists a ceramic bezel, and none of the five makers lists a magnifier over the date. The Tudor is the nearest relative, and the only one without a date.
| Watch | US list price | Case | Water resistance | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pagani Design PD-1639 (homage) | $175 | 43 mm | 100 m | Automatic |
| Invicta Pro Diver 8926OB (homage) | $180 | 40 mm | 200 m | Automatic |
| Tissot Seastar 1000 | $515 | 40 mm | 300 m | Quartz |
| Longines HydroConquest | $2,200 | 42 mm | 300 m | Automatic |
| Tudor Black Bay 58 | $5,225 | 39 mm | 200 m | Automatic |
| Rolex Submariner Date, for comparison | $11,350 | 41 mm | 300 m | Automatic |
Of the five, this is the closest copy of the Submariner's face, and it's also the cheapest. Pagani lays the dial out as Rolex does: round markers, batons at 6 and 9, a triangle at 12, Mercedes hands and a date at 3, inside a black bezel, on a three-link Oyster-style bracelet. The 316L steel case is 43 mm across and 13.01 mm high, under a sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating, and it's water resistant to 100 metres. Pagani names a Miyota 8215 automatic, with 42 hours of power reserve.
What you give up: the case is 2 mm wider than the Rolex's, and the dial says Pagani Design. Pagani doesn't say what the bezel is made of or publish the lug-to-lug length. The photo is Pagani's render, and it shows a magnifier over the date, but Pagani's spec list doesn't mention one, so don't count on it. It's rated to 100 metres against the Rolex's 300, and the power reserve is 42 hours against about 70. It costs $175, a sixty-fifth of the Rolex.
Pick this one if you want a homage at the Rolex's size. At 40 mm it's a millimetre narrower than the Rolex, where the Pagani is 2 mm wider. The black dial has round markers and batons, a triangle at 12, Mercedes hands and a date at 3, and its black insert sits in a coin-edge steel bezel that turns one way. The crown screws down, the case and the Oyster-style bracelet are steel, and it's water resistant to 200 metres. Inside is TMI's NH35A automatic.
What you give up: there's no magnifier over the date, and Invicta doesn't publish the thickness, the lug-to-lug length, the power reserve or what the crystal is made of. When we checked, Invicta's live store sent us to its European site, so the price comes from an archived copy of its US page from 31 August 2026: $180, a few dollars more than the Pagani. Beside it was a "compare at" price of $299, which is Invicta's own figure.
We'd call this the best value here. It's water resistant to 300 metres, the same as the Rolex, under a sapphire crystal that's anti-reflective on both sides, and Tissot's US store had it in stock. The black dial has round markers, batons at 3 and 9 and a triangle at 12, with sword hands, inside a black bezel ring that Tissot calls a "mineral bezel ring". The 316L steel case is 40.0 mm across and 9.97 mm thick, on a steel bracelet.
What you give up is the Rolex's movement and some of its face. It runs on quartz, and Tissot doesn't name the calibre or publish the battery life. The date sits at 6 rather than 3, the hands are swords rather than Mercedes, and Tissot doesn't publish the lug-to-lug length. It costs $515, a twenty-second of the Rolex.
On paper, this is the Rolex's spec sheet at about a fifth of the price. Like the Rolex, it has a black ceramic bezel, a sapphire crystal, a date at 3 and 300 metres of water resistance, and Longines' L888.5 automatic has 72 hours of power reserve, a little more than the Rolex's 70 or so. The black lacquered dial has applied indexes and a triangle at 12, with sword hands. The steel case is 42.00 mm across, 11.70 mm thick and 51.20 mm from lug to lug, on a steel bracelet.
What you give up is mostly the face. Longines uses applied baton indexes where the Rolex has round markers, and the hands are swords rather than Mercedes, there's no magnifier over the date, and the case is a millimetre wider. It lists at $2,200, but Longines' US site shows "Notify me when available" rather than a buy button, so it wasn't for sale there when we checked.
If 42 mm is more than you want, Longines makes a 39 mm version, the L3.779.4.56.6, at the same price and also marked "Notify me when available". It's 11.70 mm thick and 48.10 mm from lug to lug.
Tudor is Rolex's sister brand, and this is the pick if you'd like your Submariner look to come from inside the family. The matt black domed dial has the Submariner's marker layout, dots, batons and a triangle at 12, with gilt print, a snowflake hour hand and no date. The 39 mm steel case is 11.7 mm thick, with a domed sapphire crystal and a black aluminium bezel insert with a red triangle at 12, on a three-link rivet-style bracelet. It's water resistant to 200 metres. Inside is Tudor's MT5400-U automatic, certified by both COSC and METAS, with 65 hours of power reserve.
What you give up is the date, and some of the Rolex's black and white: the gilt print and the red triangle make it a warmer-looking watch. The bezel insert is aluminium rather than ceramic, the case is 2 mm narrower, and it's rated to 200 metres against the Rolex's 300. The power reserve is about 5 hours shorter, and Tudor doesn't publish the lug-to-lug length. Tudor shows prices by where you are, so the US price here is from Bucherer's US site: $5,225, about half of the Rolex's price. On a five-link bracelet, as M7939A1A0NU-0001, it costs a little more there.
