Lo' Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 Good evening (this side of the pond) everyone! I'm a Rolex Explorer 1 freak! I first came accross this excellent forum while googling for "Rolex Explorer occasion". I had never considered the possibility of going the 'rep' way but after a little reading and picture-watching I realized that building my own watch would be way funnier than just going to the local AD and paying for the real thing. So I eventually decided to give this thing a go. At first I tried to get in touch with a couple of well-known modders which apparently were so busy that they did not even care to tell me to beat it. Since these gentlemen evidently did not need me as a client I thought I'd educate myself to the task. Of course I had to stumble a couple of times (attempted modification on a crappy 21j 1680 which resulted in a badly faded insert and a dial looking like the 'Swamp Thing', a broken keyless-work on Andrew's 1016 wich anyway had a wrong and totally off "Precision" dial), before considering that I would never make a living out of this. Then I took the 'ready-made' path and bought a complete already-modded-and-aged watch which got stolen while in transit... ok! Time to try something different.Foreword: All that follows would not have been possible had I not met two trusted and respected members of this community and all-around nice individuals: LHOOQ and AKIRATherefore thank you, thank you and thank you! Working with both of you is a privilege! I had read some of LHOOQ's contribution to the forum on the Rolex Explorer subject. I therefore thought it wise to ask his advice. What I go back were not only suggestions but a constant stream of knowledge and support exceeding common courtesy by far. pics courtesy of LHOOQ The bezel is JMB's the best out there I am told. Dial is MBK. I have been comparing it with various pics of genuine 1016 I have found on the net and (to my eye) it looks very convincing; the only flaw being that of the coronet's 'mouth' which in gens bearing a similarly slender logo is not round but almost rectangular. Crystal is a genuine GS-22 (thanks Dropbear!). I still needed a case on the which to fit all these nice parts. After a long brainstorming session with both LHOOQ and Akira I chose to go 'franken' and was lucky enough to immediately find a (mint!) 16200 case in the hands of Dropbear which had also been selling the crystal. Movement and hands were a tad harder to come by (in fact as I write I still am waiting for it), because as I definitely had been aiming for the stars I was not going to stop right now! LHOOQ spoke in wisdom and declared that the best of the best can only be TC's! So I wrote a line to this gentleman and we closed the deal in no time: A set of 'TC's Submariner' hands, his newly-available 'TC Super Clone' movement and three complimentary (thanks TC!) retainer rings are on the way (hope to be getting these soon!). Once the theoretic aspect of the matter was taken care of I had to find a way to deal with the practical part: I needed a modder... enter AKIRA! I already owned one of Akira's mods so I knew about his potential, but the best had yet to come... The lugholes being drilled to accept 'gen' springbars And speaking of springbars: Did you know that 1016 ones have rounded edges? I did not... now I do LHOOQ owns a genuine 1016 (wear it well and proudly!) So what's more natural than asking him to take a serie of pics of his watch to use as a working-model? Would you have accepted? HE DID! He snapped the pics and handed it to Akira which used it as an overlay on a serie of similar pictures he had taken of the 16200. Upon superposing the images he then obtained a very precise idea of the areas of the 16200 case which would need reworking. The case arrived with its own tube and crown. Did you know that the 1016 uses a very particular type of crown which is not the same as, say, the 16200's, and that therefore the case too would have to be drilled in order to accept the particular 'gen' tube fitted for this particular 'gen' crown? I did not have the faintest idea... Akira did. This is the story so far. Right now there's a problem with the dial which diameter is a tad too large to fit in the 16200 case. Some more reshaping will be necessary. This is still a W.I.P. but I already feel it's going to be something very, very good... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ogladio Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 Wow! Amazing ingredients, that case looks stunning already. Thread subscribed Can only chime in on the praise for Akira btw! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 That's a pretty good line up of parts and the two coaches are fantastic. Seems like I saw somewhere where someone was able to skinny up a 1680 dial- maybe turning it on a drill and filing the edge. The edge of the dial fits under the chapter ring so you couldn't tell it had been modded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmb Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 Excellent work so far! When you are finished you will not only have a rep that will be extremely difficult to tell from the genuine article you will have the satisfaction of knowing you built it yourself! I'm proud of you!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieselpower Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 Brilliant stuff and already very valuable info for budding 1016 builders (ie me!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 Excellent job, and excellent photo journalism. Question for the group, I built mine out of a 1603, so what, if any advantage does a 16200 case hold. All I did was swap crystal, JMB, and opened the lug holes on the 1603 and added a service dial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zeleni kukuruz Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 Excellent job, and excellent photo journalism. Question for the group, I built mine out of a 1603, so what, if any advantage does a 16200 case hold. All I did was swap crystal, JMB, and opened the lug holes on the 1603 and added a service dial. And now you are thinking about selling it to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dropbear2008 Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 @Ronin: "Question for the group, I built mine out of a 1603, so what, if any advantage does a 16200 case hold." The lugs on the 16xx case are a bit on the skinny side. You will struggle to drill the lug holes out to fit gen spec spring bars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dropbear2008 Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 This is one stellar built indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1680 Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 (edited) The case arrived with its own tube and crown. Did you know that the 1016 uses a very particular type of crown which is not the same as, say, the 16200's, and that therefore the case too would have to be drilled in order to accept the particular 'gen' tube fitted for this particular 'gen' crown? I did not have the faintest idea... Akira did. Evernote Camera Roll 20130219 151426.jpg ? The 16030 and 1016 use a 6mm Twinlock crown for a 6mm tube, a 16200 and later use a 6mm crown for a 5,3mm tube, or what do you mean ? It would be new to me that there is a crown that is only used for 1016s. Excellent job, and excellent photo journalism. Question for the group, I built mine out of a 1603, so what, if any advantage does a 16200 case hold. All I did was swap crystal, JMB, and opened the lug holes on the 1603 and added a service dial. The 1601 has a shallower rehaut, slightly slimmer case and the caseback is too small (1601/16030 50m; 1016 100m -> improved caseback). IMHO the 16200 has the best rehaut and a caseback that is closer to the 1016, however the position of the lugholes are wrong (they should be closer to the tip) and the drop and curve of the 16200 is not like the 1016 (1601 does look better in this point). For the dial problem: it is fairly easy to reduce the diameter of the dial by sanding the edge, you don't need a lathe for this. Only be carefull with the brass dust, cover the dial with a good masking tape. A few turns on sandpaper the try to fit the dial into the case. I am excited to see the outcome! Am a 1016 myself Edited March 4, 2013 by 1680 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akira Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 ? The 16030 and 1016 use a 6mm Twinlock crown for a 6mm tube, a 16200 and later use a 6mm crown for a 5,3mm tube, or what do you mean ? It would be new to me that there is a crown that is only used for 1016s. You got it right. This 16200 came with a 5300 tube and a 24-604 crown. The 1016 uses a 6000 tube and a 24-600 crown. Late models might have a 603. I exchanged crown and tube to a period correct version. That is what Lo' meant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lo' Posted March 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 I got these from Akira right now!! So far so good Now on to reluming, ageing, assembling with movement, hands and whatnot... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lhooq Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 How have I missed this thread?! Good luck, Lo', and fantastic work, Akira! The reshaped lugs look fantastic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DVNE Posted March 25, 2013 Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 Holy moly. You have the best of the best helping you. I can't wait to see the final outcome.. =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielv2000 Posted April 1, 2013 Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 (edited) Looking good, mate. Edited April 1, 2013 by danielv2000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msp Posted April 1, 2013 Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 Looking good indeed, will definitely follow this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redxds Posted September 24, 2013 Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 Looking great and got my attention Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue. Posted September 26, 2013 Report Share Posted September 26, 2013 Wonderful thread I am quite curious if there is any progress of the assembled 1016? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lo' Posted September 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2013 Wonderful thread I am quite curious if there is any progress of the assembled 1016? http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/157633-1016-ready-to-roll/# Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue. Posted September 26, 2013 Report Share Posted September 26, 2013 Wow, congratulations Lo´! How have I missed that thread in March ... Wear it often and in good health! P.S. That MBW dial is quite interesting, especially the "Swiss" mark. I have a full MBW 1016 Explorer that states "Swiss Made" on the dial, that is neither correct but have not seen any MBW dial that has only the marking "Swiss". Though the indices, text looks spot on the same as the dial version I have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ephry73 Posted November 17, 2013 Report Share Posted November 17, 2013 More info more info more into Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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