Rolex Explorer 1016 Price & Value

Price by condition

“Prices” counts how many of the 71 sold prices from 69 sales behind the headline fall in each condition. 62 prices have no recorded condition and count only toward the headline range. All of these observations are sold prices. Method version fv-2.0.
Condition	Box and papers	Range	Typical	Prices
Excellent	Any	$12,700–$20,600	$17,100	9

Price history

Monthly median of recorded sold results, before any adjustment for condition or box and papers.

Show price history as a table

Month	Median	Observations
Nov 2024	$14,700	2
Dec 2024	$10,600	6
Jan 2025	$8,650	2
Feb 2025	$6,600	2
Mar 2025	$7,750	5
Apr 2025	$10,000	3
May 2025	$11,000	3
Jul 2025	$16,000	5
Sep 2025	$14,300	3
Oct 2025	$14,100	3
Nov 2025	$14,500	4
Dec 2025	$12,900	4
Feb 2026	$13,600	2
Apr 2026	$10,700	7
May 2026	$12,500	3
Jun 2026	$12,500	3
Jul 2026	$10,300	4
Sep 2026	$10,200	5
Oct 2026	$9,500	2

Explorer 1016 price history over the years

Our price records for the Explorer 1016 go back to 1999. In 1999, auction results had a median of $3,750 (4 sales). In the 12 months to October 26, 2026, the same median was $13,100 (8 sales), up 249% on 1999. The highest quarterly median was $25,200 in Q4 2020 (3 sales), and the lowest was $3,700 in Q2 2004 (3 sales).

All5Y1Y

Auction sold, quarterly, 102 sales
Forum (listed price when marked sold), quarterly, 50 posts
eBay sold (from 2023), quarterly, 85 sales

Median price per month or quarter. A point needs at least 3 records in its month or quarter; a gap in a line means too few records, and nothing is filled in. Forum prices are the price a seller listed on Reddit r/Watchexchange, RolexForums or WatchUSeek when the post was marked sold, not a confirmed sale price. Historical context only: these series do not feed the price shown above.

Show long-range history as a table

Auction sold, quarterly, 102 sales
Quarter	Median	Sales
Q4 1999	$3,750	4
Q2 2004	$3,700	3
Q4 2012	$6,950	3
Q4 2017	$14,300	4
Q4 2020	$25,200	3
Q4 2021	$19,400	5
Q2 2022	$17,100	6
Q3 2022	$14,400	3
Q2 2023	$19,200	5
Q4 2024	$11,400	3
Q3 2025	$17,100	3
Q4 2025	$18,700	4

Forum (listed price when marked sold), quarterly, 50 posts
Quarter	Median	Posts
Q2 2014	$6,250	3
Q2 2017	$10,500	3
Q4 2024	$10,800	3
Q1 2025	$17,800	5
Q1 2026	$23,000	4

eBay sold (from 2023), quarterly, 85 sales
Quarter	Median	Sales
Q4 2023	$10,500	8
Q1 2024	$11,900	8
Q2 2024	$10,700	8
Q3 2024	$15,800	3
Q4 2024	$10,000	9
Q1 2025	$7,750	9
Q2 2025	$10,000	5
Q3 2025	$11,200	6
Q4 2025	$13,300	7
Q2 2026	$12,500	11
Q3 2026	$8,350	8

About the Explorer 1016

The Rolex Explorer 1016 is a reference in the Rolex Explorer collection. Rolex made it from 1963 to 1989. From our catalog: a 36 mm case in Stainless steel; dial: Black: glossy gilt early, matte with white print from about 1967; movement: Calibre 1560, then calibre 1570 (from about 1967). The specifications below list every fact we have sourced for this reference; anything we could not source is marked as not known.

What the sales say

Our record for the 1016 covers about 35 months of sales, October 2023 to October 2026, and 71 of those results stand behind the current figure (54 eBay sales and 17 auction results). The peak month for transactions was March 2025 (9). Auction results here come from Loupe This, Antiquorum and Phillips. We rate it moderate confidence; most later sales should fall in the range, though not all. The last recorded result is 25 days old, recent enough to anchor the figure. With a spread of about 35% across 9 recent sales, it is labelled Volatile: expect offers to vary. A fair price for the 1016 can sit anywhere from about 35% below to 35% above the midpoint. It trades at a regular pace, and a sale's weight halves every 180 days.

Year on year, the median sale is up 17.5% (35 sales against 36). Since 1999, the first year we can measure from auction results, the median is up 249% on that year, with its high in 2020 and its low in 2004. Auction buyers have paid more than eBay buyers for the 1016 recently: a gap of about 14% between the medians, from 27 eBay sales against 8 auction results.

Without box and papers, the same 1016 is worth about 13% less on the ratio we measured for its collection (from 19 watch-only sales). Set details where stated: 15 with box and papers, 6 without, 14 with one or the other. At the bottom of the list is a sale from March 28, 2025, on eBay, good condition, set not stated, about 55% below the worth-about figure; at the top, September 6, 2025, on eBay, set not stated, about 159% above the worth-about figure.

To compare it with siblings at a similar level, see Explorer 6150 price, Explorer 6298 price and Explorer 124273 price.