The 116689 is the odd one out, and it's odd in the most interesting way. Every other Yacht-Master II — the steel 116680, the Everose Rolesor 116681, the yellow gold 116688 — wears a blue Cerachrom bezel insert. This one doesn't. Rolex made the white gold version's insert out of platinum.
It was also there from the start. When the Yacht-Master II launched in 2007 it arrived in exactly two versions: 18k yellow gold, and this one. Steel didn't turn up for another six years.
Strap size and fit for the Yacht-Master II 116689
The 116689 is a 44mm case with a 21mm lug width.
Twenty-one catches people out, since 20mm and 22mm are far more common. At Helvetus there's no size to select — everything in the Yacht-Master II collection is cut at 21mm for this case:
→ All rubber straps for the Rolex Yacht-Master II
Scope note. These straps are made for the 116xxx generation — the 116689, 116688, 116681 and 116680, all 44mm and all 21mm. Rolex discontinued that generation and brought the Yacht-Master II back in 2026 with a redesigned case using a wider lug width. If yours is a 2026-generation watch, don't order from this guide.
The quickest way to tell: if you program the countdown by rotating the bezel, this guide applies. The new generation uses pushers.
On buckles: the deployant version works with your original Rolex deployant clasp. The pin buckle version includes its own steel buckle, which on a watch with a solid white gold Oysterlock means that clasp never gets handled again.
What the 116689 is
The Yacht-Master II was Rolex's first chronograph since the Daytona, and the only one built around a regatta countdown rather than elapsed time. You program it from one to ten minutes, it has mechanical memory, and it can be resynchronised on the fly when a start sequence shifts.
The bidirectional Ring Command bezel does that programming. It isn't a scale printed on a ring — it rotates 90 degrees and physically engages with the movement.
Case and Oyster bracelet are solid 18k white gold. The dial is white, as it is on every Yacht-Master II, and the crystal is flat sapphire with no date window and no Cyclops. The movement was built specifically for this complication and Rolex updated it partway through the line's life, so early and later examples differ inside.
In 2017, for the model's tenth anniversary, the applied markers and hands were redesigned while the reference number stayed the same.
On the secondary market the 116689 sits somewhere around the low-to-mid forty thousands, which puts it below the yellow gold 116688 despite being the rarer watch.
Why the platinum bezel changes the argument
Here's what makes this reference different from every other guide on this site.
On every other Yacht-Master II, the bezel is the one component you never have to worry about. Cerachrom is ceramic. It doesn't scratch, it doesn't fade, and it will outlive the watch. So the usual advice writes itself: the bezel stays perfect, protect the bracelet.
That isn't true here. Platinum is soft — softer than steel, softer than the gold in the case — and it's the surface you physically grip and turn every time you use the countdown. On the 116689, the signature component is also one of the most vulnerable ones on the watch.
You can't do much about that; it's how the watch works. But it does change the maths on everything else. When the part that defines your watch is already accumulating marks, there's a stronger case than usual for not adding to the total everywhere else — and the solid white gold Oyster bracelet is by far the largest surface area, the softest big component, and the one taking every desk edge and door frame.
And the platinum bezel is also the reason the strap costs you nothing. This is the inverse of what you'd expect from a white gold watch. Normally white gold announces nothing — it reads as steel to everyone. But the 116689 is instantly identifiable to anybody who knows the model, because it's the Yacht-Master II whose bezel isn't blue. That identity lives entirely in a component that never leaves the watch. Take the bracelet off and it is still, unmistakably, the platinum-bezel one.
Then the weight. Forty-four millimetres in solid white gold, on a solid white gold bracelet. White gold is dense, and this is one of the heaviest watches Rolex has ever built. A strap removes most of that, and it stops the watch rotating on your wrist, which anything this heavy does on a bracelet that isn't sized perfectly.
Three straps for the 116689 — and one to avoid
A word on what not to buy first, because it matters here.
The best-selling straps in the Yacht-Master II range are the ones with a blue line — white with blue, black with blue. They sell because they answer the blue Cerachrom bezel that every other Yacht-Master II has. Your watch doesn't have one. On a 116689 those straps introduce a colour that appears nowhere on the watch, and it looks like an accident rather than a choice.
The 116689 is monochrome: white gold, platinum, white dial. Three straps respect that, and they're below.
1. Black — the one that makes white metal read as white metal
Black is the correct hero on this reference for a specific reason: white gold and platinum are both cool, pale metals, and against a black strap they separate and brighten instead of blending into the background the way they do against light colours.
It also visually shortens a 44mm case, which on a watch this size is worth having. If you buy one strap, buy this one.
→ Black rubber strap for the Yacht-Master II — deployant · pin buckle version
2. Black with a white LuxLine® — the only strap that matches this watch exactly
A black base with a single white line running down the centre. On any other Yacht-Master II this is a stylish alternative; on the 116689 it's the literal match — the white line answers the white dial, and the whole combination stays inside the watch's own two-tone palette of pale metal and white.
This is the strap I'd argue is made for this reference, and it's the one almost nobody buys for it because they're looking at the blue-line versions instead.
→ Black with white LuxLine® for the Yacht-Master II
3. Navy — the one that adds depth without adding colour
Navy is dark enough to function as a neutral. It gives you an alternative to black without introducing an actual colour to a watch that doesn't have one, and it makes the case look slightly warmer and less clinical under a sleeve.
The option for wearing a very expensive white metal watch somewhere you'd rather it didn't shout.
→ Navy blue rubber strap for the Yacht-Master II
The rest of the range is in the Yacht-Master II collection if you'd rather judge for yourself.
Same case, same 21mm fit
- 116688 — 18k yellow gold, blue Cerachrom bezel. The other launch reference.
- 116681 — Oystersteel and Everose gold.
- 116680 — Oystersteel.
- 2026-generation Yacht-Master II — wider lugs, pusher-operated. Not this guide.
- Yacht-Master 37, 40 and 42 — a different model line, three different widths.
Quick answers
What lug width is the Rolex Yacht-Master II 116689? 21mm, on a 44mm case.
Do I need to select a size? No. Yacht-Master II straps are made at 21mm for this case.
Why is my bezel not blue? Because you have the white gold reference. Rolex used a platinum insert on the 116689 rather than the blue Cerachrom fitted to every other Yacht-Master II.
Should I buy the white-and-blue LuxLine® strap? Not for this watch. It's the range's best seller because it matches the blue bezel on the other references — the 116689 doesn't have one.
Before you order
The 116689 is the rarest Yacht-Master II and the one whose signature part can't be protected. The bracelet can be, easily, and it's the biggest, softest, most exposed surface on the watch.
Helvetus straps for the Yacht-Master II are cut for the 44mm case at 21mm, come with a lifetime warranty on rubber, ship free worldwide with no import costs, and are worn by 50,000+ customers. Black first — and then look at the white-line version, which nobody thinks to try on this reference.
