16610 SB (Soleil Bleu) Rolex Submariner

[sneed12]

I've been building this watch on and off since February or so, never seem to get it quite right. I've always thought that Rolex should have built a 16610 Sub with a blue sunburst dial, but they never did. I learned to love my Smurf ceramic blue Submariner, and I normally am not a fan of fantasy pieces, but for some reason I couldn't get this watch out of my head.

The LV is the "Lunette Verte" or "green moon" so I'm calling this one the "Blue sun"

I've been accumulating parts for this watch for months. The dial came from a fantasy piece that Stan was selling. The movement is a Swiss ETA 2836 that I pulled from an old watch. I had an open 6/9 datewheel in the parts box that I was itching to use; it had been in my GMT Master II for a while but it just didn't feel right in that watch. The case is one of those $30 Sillix budget Subs, and the bezel insert came from that eBay seller that does $8 inserts.

The Sillix sub had really, really terrible rehaut engraving on it. I polished it off and then, just for grins, I mirror polished the rehaut. It was totally on a whim but I think it's a cool effect. At some angles it makes the dial look bigger. The reflection really lengthens the minute markers as well.

Finished it off with a GMT IIc clasp and bracelet. I really think the tuna can clasp on the old Subs was a piece of junk, that hung around far longer than it should have. The polished center links are a nice dressy touch for a dressed-up tool watch.

Anyway, onto the pics:

and next to its big brother:

[ryaku]

Great job, really

[Dizzy]

Looks good... i also like the look of the polished rehaut. Next time i take my 16610 apart I am going to do the same thing to it.

dizz

[TeeJay]

I've had this watch on my radar for some time now, since I saw an actor in Bones wearing one, and figured it might make a nice replacement for my blue SMP Only question is how I would feel wearing a non-vintage watch I believe that it was a Japanese market-only release, but I'm not 100% on that... Awesome use of the GMTIIc bracelet and clasp, the polished stripe really brings some shine to the watch I used to think the same way about the old-style clasps, but once I heard people reporting that the welds on their DSSD clasps (same set up as the GMTIIc clasp) were failing under pressure, I realized that the old-style clasps wouldn't fail in the same way, the pins would just stretch Very nice project, you may have just tipped me over the edge in trying one myself

[Toadtorrent]

When you polished off the engraving on the rehaut, did it take enough material off to cause problems with fitting the dial??

Very nice piece, and I do like the GMT IIc bracelet touch!

[sneed12]

When you polished off the engraving on the rehaut, did it take enough material off to cause problems with fitting the dial??

No, it wasn't a problem, and the engraving on this case was actually fairly deep.