Every Rolesor sports Rolex owes something to this one. When the 16713 arrived in 1989, it was the first two-tone GMT-Master II ever made — steel and 18k yellow gold, a gold bezel over an aluminium 24-hour insert, gold center links down the bracelet — and it set the template that runs unbroken to the two-tone GMTs Rolex sells today. It's also the reference that carried the Root Beer name through the nineties: brown-and-gold inserts over brown or champagne dials, plus the black-bezel configurations and the famous Serti dials set with diamonds and rubies. Behind it all ran the caliber 3185, and above the dial sat the aluminium bezel that faded and mellowed in a way ceramic never will.
Today the 16713 is one of the most affordable routes to a gold GMT-Master II, trading well under both its ceramic successors — which means these get bought to be worn. This guide covers exactly that: the right strap fit, and the best rubber for a two-tone travel watch that's now thirty-plus years into its career.
Which size fits the GMT-Master II 16713?
The 16713 is a 40mm case with a 20mm lug width. On our GMT-Master II rubber straps, select the GMT-Master II (40mm / 20mm) option on the product page — that's the correct fit for this reference, and the same selection its steel twin the 16710 uses. Spring bars are included.
Two useful notes. First, the whole five-digit GMT family shares this case and this selection — the 16710, the 16700, the full-gold 16718 — so siblings order identically. Second, if your two-tone GMT is a later generation, it's a different watch: the ceramic-bezel 116713LN introduced the thicker "Super Case," and the current Everose Root Beer is different again — we cover that one in our 126715CHNR Root Beer guide.
One bonus for owners of earlier examples: 16713s built before the turn of the millennium have drilled lug holes. If yours does, the spring bars push out straight through the side of the lugs and the swap takes about a minute with no risk to the case.
A short history of the 16713
The GMT-Master II launched in 1982 in steel only. Two-tone had been part of the GMT story for generations, but it took until 1989 for Rolex to build a Rolesor GMT-Master II — and when it did, the 16713 landed squarely in the middle of the era that loved it most. Steel-and-gold was peak nineties luxury, and this watch wore it without apology: gold bezel, gold crown, gold center links, gold hour markers.
The details tell you which era an example comes from. Tritium indices ran until the late nineties before Luminova took over, then Super-LumiNova around 2000 — the moment the dial signature changed and, shortly after, the drilled lug holes disappeared. Many examples wear a green 24-hour hand, a small detail collectors specifically hunt on this generation. And the bezel inserts age individually: brown Root Beers fade toward tobacco, blacks go grey-charcoal, and no two are quite alike after three decades of sun.
Now the part that matters for a strap. This is a five-digit bracelet — hollow center links, early examples with hollow end links and stamped clasps — which means stretch, and the loose rattle that comes with it. It cannot be reversed. Worse, on a two-tone bracelet the soft component is doing the structural work: 18k gold center links wear and thin faster than the steel around them, and they're the first thing a buyer inspects. Rolex's own successor tells the story plainly — when the ceramic generation arrived, it came with completely solid links and a redesigned clasp. They fixed it because it needed fixing.
The market treats these two kinds of aging in opposite directions. A beautifully faded bezel adds value; a stretched, worn two-tone bracelet subtracts it. A rubber strap lets you keep collecting the first while stopping the second — and since the gold bezel, crown and markers stay on the watch, the two-tone identity doesn't go anywhere.
The best rubber straps for the Rolex GMT-Master II 16713
Three picks chosen for gold, aluminium and faded bezels.
1. Black — the traveler's uniform. The black rubber strap is the most popular choice for this model, and on a two-tone GMT it does the disciplined thing: it lets the gold and the bezel do all the talking. Black works with every insert this reference wore — black, brown, faded, original — and it pulls a nineties luxury watch straight into the present. If you fly with it, sweat in it, or simply wear it daily, this is the one.
2. Brown — the Root Beer's own recipe. Nothing else pairs with a brown-and-gold bezel like a brown rubber strap. Warm on warm on warm — brown strap, tobacco insert, yellow gold — it's the full Root Beer statement, and it flatters the brown and champagne dials this reference is known for even harder than a bracelet does. On a faded insert, the match is genuinely uncanny.
3. Green — the hand you already own. Here's the insider pick: many 16713s carry a green 24-hour hand, and a green rubber strap picks that single detail up and amplifies it. Deep green against yellow gold is a rich, unexpected combination, and because the color already exists on the dial, the whole thing reads deliberate rather than decorative. Check your GMT hand before you order — if it's green, this is your strap.
Yellow, navy, grey and the LuxLine two-tone options all live in the GMT-Master II collection, in both deployant and pin buckle versions. And if you also own the steel version of this case, our GMT-Master II 16710 guide covers the same fit with different color logic.
The first Rolesor GMT, still traveling
The 16713 started a tradition Rolex is still building on — it deserves to keep working rather than sit still. Helvetus straps are built for a precise fit on the GMT-Master II case, and every rubber strap comes with a lifetime warranty, free worldwide shipping and no import costs. Over 50,000 customers already trust Helvetus, a leading global brand for aftermarket watch straps. Retire the stretching two-tone bracelet while it's still tight, keep the bezel fading exactly as it should, and let the original steel-and-gold GMT do the only thing it was ever built for: go somewhere.
