The Kermit is the Rolex Submariner Date reference 16610LV, produced from 2003 to 2010. Launched at Baselworld 2003 to mark the Submariner’s 50th anniversary, it paired a green aluminium bezel insert with a black Maxi dial on the classic 40mm case — the first green bezel ever fitted to a Submariner.
Why is it called the Kermit?
The green bezel earned the watch its nickname within the collecting community: Kermit, after the most famous green frog on television. The colour was an anniversary statement rather than a routine catalogue addition — the first Submariner appeared in 1953, and the green insert arrived exactly 50 years later. Underneath, the watch was deliberately conventional: the same case and calibre 3135 as the standard black 16610, with 300 metres of water resistance.
Two details set it apart beyond the bezel. The 16610LV introduced the Maxi dial to the Submariner, with oversized luminous plots that later spread across the sports range, and its earliest bezel inserts carry the collectable “Flat Four” — a flat-topped figure 4 in the 40 marker that Rolex revised early in production. Flat Four examples are now the scarcest and most valuable Kermits. Production ran for seven years before the all-green 116610LV “Hulk” replaced the reference at Baselworld 2010.
References
The Kermit began a green lineage that Rolex has kept in the catalogue, in one form or another, ever since:
| Reference | Years | Key spec | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16610LV “Kermit” | 2003–2010 | 40mm, green aluminium insert, black Maxi dial, calibre 3135 | Discontinued |
| 116610LV “Hulk” | 2010–2020 | Green Cerachrom bezel, green dial, Super Case, calibre 3135 | Discontinued |
| 126610LV “Starbucks” | 2020–present | Green Cerachrom bezel, black dial, 41mm, calibre 3235 | In production |
Super clone availability
Grand Watch Club does not currently list a super clone of the 16610LV itself; the reference has been out of production since 2010, and clone factories concentrate on the current ceramic-bezel models. The closest match in stock is the Starbucks 126610LV super clone, which revives the Kermit’s green-bezel, black-dial formula on the modern 41mm case — collectors call the genuine version the “Cermit” for precisely that reason. If green is the point rather than the anniversary layout, the Hulk 116610LV clone with its green dial and bezel is also listed.