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MBW 1680


bumroxas

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Hi,

Recently tried to mod my 1680 from Narikaa. Please dont hold back on the comments.

Here are the mods:

1 Reprofiled CCG's

2 Buffed/ Softened Case---I think I may have overdone this. Too much polising will give the holes a chamfered look. Not sure if this is a good thing

3. Clarks Crystal

4. Faded Insert

5. Josh 5513 bracelet with 580 endlinks

6. Vintagized mbw dial and clark hands----this one was a disaster. need to get a new dial and hands for this

Mods in line

1. 1,3mm lugholes

2. gen crown

3. ingod dial

4. replace hands

I'm thinking of changing the crystal to a clarks t39. Any comments on this?

Sadly it didnt come out as good as i had expected.

For this mbw dial---

It took me a few hours to vintagize the dial---i used a 50w halogen lamp

at first had it at about 1.5 inches from the dial---that turned it into a nice cream dial...shouldve left it as is

I brought it down to half an inch and thats when disaster happed--itll burn quickly into a coffee brown

hands in the oven---halogen didnt do any good on clark hands

pics from my phone with a little effect

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Could you post some pics with out the little effect cause it hides a lot of info that way

Also a photo of the crown and crown guard from the side would help to get a better inpression.

Carpe Diem

Cats

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With the mods that you have 'inline' that will look fine and dandy - I suggest you go for a Clark 127, which is the correct plexi for the 1680 - and is a great upgrade for very few $$$.

Here is a 'real life' Gen Choco Trit dial, so you is not that far away - why not start by staining the hands you have to match the dial a little better - dunk them in your coffee! ;)

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Could you post some pics with out the little effect cause it hides a lot of info that way

Also a photo of the crown and crown guard from the side would help to get a better inpression.

Carpe Diem

Cats

This, and anytime someone has the courage to tackle modding.... my hat's off to them.

Really would like to see more clearer pictures. :)

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Will a Gen crown really really raise the level on this 1680?

Yes it will.

T39 is a superdome for the 1665 SD I don't think it will fit a 1680. you need a 127 . i would try to find a genuine vintage insert, something that is aged. Watches look odd to me that have a vintage aged dial and hands and what appears to be a brand new insert.. What about movement is this a slow beat in the watch now?

I think that the ingod dials are pretty nice. Genuine dials don't fit the MBW case so they are out, unless you want to do a lot of modding, including cutting the dial feet off to fit an ETA

There are some genuine parts over on the parts forum for sale now genuine crown/tube. There are always inserts for sale over on Vintage Rolx market. And please when you add a genuine insert, relace the tritium pearl. If you visit the vintage rolex forums, look at all the 1680,s on the forums, almost every one of them has a insert with pearl.

Don't worry about the lugholes being chamfered, most of the old 1680's and 1665's that were worn every day have lugholes that have that wallowed out look.

Here are some photos of my 1680

post-327-0-05433600-1340566370_thumb.jpg

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Oldskool MBW case

Genuine Crown

Genuine "Top hat" 127 Crystal

Genuine Insert/pearl

MBW dial/hands relumed vintage lume by The Zigmeister

Case crownguards reworked ,lugholes drilled

Genuine 93150/580 end links

Slowbeat 2846 movement

What I was trying to achieve was the look of a 1680 with a fairly fresh service maybe one that was a year or two out from a service, not too beat up, but not brand new looking.

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"Buffed/ Softened Case---I think I may have overdone this. Too much polising will give the holes a chamfered look. Not sure if this is a good thing."

If you ever want to bring it back to the way it was, you can sand the sides of the case with 600 grit 'wet or dry' sandpaper folded over a straight edge under running water (I use a wooden 'Popsicle' stick).

Follow up with 1000, 1500 (and maybe 2000 for an 'ultra shine'), then finish with Happich Simichrome polish etc.

I started using Simichrome polish in the 1960's on motorcycles. Their motto back then..."Makes aluminum look like chrome and makes chrome look a foot deep."

"Don't worry about the lugholes being chamfered, most of the old 1680's and 1665's that were worn every day have lugholes that have that wallowed out look."

True.

Wear it! :good:

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Here are the pics. in its true color...my concern for now would be the cg's the case work, bracelet and bezel.

I'll be changing the dial and hands soon to a non toasted one.

The crown has a bit of a gap, might have to cut a wee bit from the stem. ( or just wait till i get the gen crown, since I have a spare, I filed off the bottom of the mbw crown)

I'm looking for springbars that are rounded at the end and stick out at the lugholes, where can I get these?

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well' while waiting for a 1680 dial i converted it first to a 5513---except with a tropic 39.

unenhanced pics

baked the mbw hands to match the dial

DSC_0232.jpg

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shouldve just let the dial alone...but i sprayed it with a clear coat from 2 ft away to give it a textured look...it reflects some gloss at some angles

DSC_0234.jpg

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