TeeJay

As long as the gasket hasn't been damaged, and the caseback is securely screwed all the way down again, then it certainly should* be still waterproof

*Nothing is 100% in this game but the odds're definitely in your favor

Hmm, not sure, Asian ETA clone with GMT mod, it wasn't clicking into place on the hour before, but inbetween, now after re fitting the hands, it clicks onto each hour and inbetween correctly

And the mark you would need to look for it pretty hard, certainly doesn't bug me, certainly not when compared to the 12 marker position before I opened up the watch!

Excellent work on all counts

Thanks, I think a tiny spec is on the dial between the 8-9 marker, but otherwise it looks pretty clean. Clone movement inside, and before I fixed the markers, the GMT hand was out of sync, so I fixed that too, the GMT hand jumps on this piece when set

It's certainly not a visible mark, it all looks pretty clean Nice work on sorting the movement too Is it independantly settable, or just in keeping with the 24 hour sweep?

Thanks guys, I was so scared I would mess it up, but thankfully everything went to plan!

I think the results speak for themselves I know how you must have felt though, I'm feeling the same about my planned 16610 to 16800 conversion project

Looks fantastic A while back, Ubi posted a white matte dial DayDate, which really caught my attention, I've wanted a matte dial DJ ever since, and this just reinforces that

Fantastic news :tu:

Not a model I like, but the mod work looks spot on

Thanks for the clarification, amigos

When the 16610 came out in 1988 it had a tritium dial- 'Swiss- T<25' with the white gold hour marker surrounds, drilled lugholes and a 93150 bracelet with 501B end pieces. First SN was an Rxxx,xxx.

Tritium dials went away in 1998-9, replaced by 'Swiss' first and a year later by 'Swiss Made'

SEL bracelets came out shortly thereafter

Lugholes in the case went away around 2003-4.

I happily stand corrected Out of curiousity, would there actually be any visual differences between say the circa 1984 16800/0, and the circa 1988 16610, or would it only have been a difference in movement caliber and maybe a different clasp?

First of all, kudos on the case mods

I may be wrong, and am always happy to be corrected, but I didn't think that the 16610 ever had lug holes Maybe the earliest incarnation of the 16610? If so, I'm not sure what kind of bracelet would go with it, but I'm guessing the dial would be a standard 16610 dial As you've drilled the lugs, you always have the option of going for a 16800, which is certainly my favorite modern vintage For the circa 1981 look I'm going for, I'm going to re-finish the dial for the 'flat marker' look (assuming my plan will work...) but another easy option, would be to remove all the dial markers, matte varnish the dial, then replace the markers, and you'd have a circa 1984 Best of luck with the project

Have to agree with Freddy, nothing really 'jumps out' at me about it, but that is good, that gives it that 'below the radar' stealth factor, I bet it wears much better than it models

PS I was actually going to say swap in a new insert, that one looks a bit over-faded, but then saw it's a naturally-faded gen

I'm not sure how transferable the datewheel would be, but the budget 16610 I bought on CQout for a 16800 conversion, has an a21j movement, and the datewheel has curved-topped 3s, and open 6s and 9s, which I've been told is correct for an early 80s 16800 I'm keeping the rest of the build strictly budget/rep, with a pieced together bracelet I've had a few years, and will be re-finishing the 16610 dial to achieve a 16800 dial (other than the SwissMade/T25 text, which is obviously unchangeable ) The only 'quality' part I'm going to use, is a Yuki pearl Best of luck with your build, really looking forward to seeing the results

I didn't like the attitudes/humor on RWG1, so stopped visiting it altogether several years ago. I have an account on RWI, but found it to be a very slow and inactive forum, so equally don't view it anymore. RG, I have even less time for than RWG1, and couldn't care less if my account there gets banned, I have no plans to ever visit it again. RWG has the perfect blend (IMHO) of expertise and humor, rather than just juvenile bullshit

+1

I do not even grease mine they have gone from the mail to my wrist and then to the water. I still do not understand why popel keep saying that rep are poor at waterproof

+1 I think it's the rep myth which annoys me the most to see perpetuated...

Reps are ultimately assembled by hand. Most lower end gens are by machine. In fact the lower end gens have mechanized QC. There are a dozen other reasons - potentially inferior parts, etc. What I am curious to know is whether folks who buy reps advertised as water resistant and don't open the case have had problems.

Very very rarely... Maybe two watches in probably 20+ purchasses have had an issue. My latest 16610 only developed a fogging issue after I popped the crystal to re-align it. Out of the box, it was fine. Since re-sealing it properly, it is fine once more

With regards the topic question:

For the most part, they don't! I remember reading a comment a while back where some chump a buyer had paid a TD for 'waterproofing', and said watch leaked like a seive on delivery Okay, yes, statistically, there may be occasional leaks (as mentioned above, which happens to gens too!) but in the majority of instances, even with chronos, these watches do not have to come off the wrist for swimming/showering/bathing...

The only one of my watches I don't wear in water, is my black dialled DateJust on the black leather strap. By extension of that rule, I don't like to wear watches on NATO in water, as I hate how the straps feel when wet once I'm out of the water Other than that, my Tudor Sub, my Snowflake Sub, my 16610, my silver dialled DateJust, my Tudor Heritage, my 1655 and my quartz Sub are all watches I have no reservations about getting wet. While I can understand the rationale of checking and maintaining seals and gaskets, I do feel people who don't trust the designs of their watches (designed to be waterproof) to actually live up to the job to be somewhat overly cautious...

PS Sounds like a fantastic weekend, I hope you had a great time

I can't provide any links or suggestions of a 'Trusted Dealer' to provide one, but a few years back, there was a photo of a minature Submariner

What; no love for my dramatic re-creation of the events?!

I showed the pic to mother in law and wife... They laughed

Damn, that's a nice piece of artwork Canvas isn't too shabby either

It was a tough decision...

They are nice, but I figure there're other black dial chronos, the grey Heritage is something a little different

I need to see the rest of that tattoo

The black one went to live with someone else...

Ahh, now I know where Tom Cruise picked up the watch he wore in Mission Impossible:Ghost Protocol I do like the black dial variant, but must admit, I prefer the grey dial

What can I say? I'm absolutely speehless at such an incredible build, all I can say, is wear it well

Loving the Russian watches, Comrades

I couldn't stand the feeling of not wearing a watch anymore, so at the risk of aggrovating the wound, I've put my 16610 back on Next time I want to feel freaky and wierd, I'll try asking a female cousin out on a date

Yea, I kinda see their point. Next time I pull out the gear I'll take some pics.

But I going cave diving this weekend.... Which watch should I wear ?

Looking forward to the photos Personally speaking, I'd say as long as the gear's well maintained, while it might become 'out of date', there's no reason why it shouldn't be safe to use As for cave diving, Rolex 1655, afterall, that's what they were originally intended for