HauteHippie Posted March 31, 2007 Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 Here are a few overdue pics of my franken sub. It started as an old school TW Best with lug holes. This long since discontinued old case is a great modding platform with its deep cylindrical rehaut, centered lugholes, and gorgeous thick crystal with polished bevel. Ubi's lead was followed for most of it, except that I wanted to emulate an earlier 16610 model with the lug holes. So my watch is very accurate compared to an A serial sub from 1998-1999 whereas Ubi's would be a F-or-later serial. The mods are: Genuine A-serial bezel insert, genuine crown, genuine tube, drilled lug holes for genuine spring bars, Noobmariner dial with super luminova, Noobmariner date overlay, Noobmariner hollow midlink bracelet, Noobmariner case back, shaped CGs. A couple issues I have with the watch are: (1) I am not sure if this is the "right" crown. Can anyone tell? Maybe it's too old, but it doesn't seem to fit into the tube quite right. With the inner O-ring in place, the stem will just not go all the way in. So I've removed that O-ring until I figure out what else to do. (2) The hands are the original TW Best hands, and they leave a little to be desired. I'd purchase some surplus MBW hands or the hands than come on Paul's $149 ETA sub in a heartbeat. I wonder if Paul sells parts. (3) Although the lug holes are drilled and do accept gen springbars, I've currently got a set of non-gen bars in there that came from TJGladeRaider. The Noobmariner bracelet can be drilled for the gen bars, but the holes break through a little on the underside of the bracelet. So, I've got two bracelets - one for gen bars that is drilled and one for TJGR bars that is not drilled. The nice thing about the TJGR bars is that they fit into the drilled lug holes and in the undrilled bracelet. A few pics below. Macro photography continues to challenge me. Thanks for looking. Comments welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionsandtigers Posted March 31, 2007 Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 beautiful 16610 chief, well done. that was a serious stroke of luck getting the tw case with the centered lugholes. enjoy it!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetsons Posted March 31, 2007 Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 Great watch and work, chief! I have the same but have only installed OEM bars and insert. As you say, the case and crystal are excellent on this 16610 & it's probably the best Sub case ever produced. I have a spare hollow mid-link bracelet that I need to drill and install.....thanks for the reminder. Your crown is fine & looks to be the correct 7mm gen. I think the issue you may have is that there is a bit too much metal at the base of the crown. If you could remove a tiny bit of metal from the case so the crown sits deeper in the CG, I think you'll be quite happy with it. Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bklm1234 Posted March 31, 2007 Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 I thought I was looking at a gen. Truly amazingly close to gen. -bm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephane Posted March 31, 2007 Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 A real beauty... Thanks for the post and the pictures. Is the current TW case very much different from yours ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
By-Tor Posted March 31, 2007 Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 Agreed. Quite amazing!!! (watch and pics) Wear it well mate!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miquel Posted March 31, 2007 Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 That is awesome! Great work on making an older looking sub! I always liked the 16610 with the drilled lugholes. It looks almost vintage, but with modern touches. Great mix! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted March 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 Great watch and work, chief! I have the same but have only installed OEM bars and insert. As you say, the case and crystal are excellent on this 16610 & it's probably the best Sub case ever produced. I have a spare hollow mid-link bracelet that I need to drill and install.....thanks for the reminder. Your crown is fine & looks to be the correct 7mm gen. I think the issue you may have is that there is a bit too much metal at the base of the crown. If you could remove a tiny bit of metal from the case so the crown sits deeper in the CG, I think you'll be quite happy with it. Thanks for sharing! Thanks for the comments. The Zigmeister gets credit for most of the work. About removing metal from the case, I'm not sure... The case is already counterbored for the gen tube, and has already come dangerously close to breaking through on the underside. Essentially, there's no more metal to remove from the case... The problem is that with the inner O-ring installed, the crown just doesn't fit into the tube. The Zigmeister sent me 3 rings to try and I had no luck with any of them. Agreed. Quite amazing!!! (watch and pics) A true compliment coming from you, sir. Outdoor / natural light pics, just for you! But I still need to attend the TTK school of macro lighting and composition (especially). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted March 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 Is the current TW case very much different from yours ? Yes, Stephane, very much so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted March 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 FANTASTIC!!! I want it!!! Pleas pm!!! //robi LOL! Thanks and nice try, Robi!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elprimerozen Posted March 31, 2007 Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 Great watch!This is a keeper watch!Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted March 31, 2007 Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 Nice job Chief. Great looking watch. You could try Paul for a set of hands. He sent me an extra dial once, but I was ordering a watch at the same time. It's always worth a try. Just thinking out loud on the case tube and crown situation. Would it be possible to remove the stem and crown and file down the top of the case tube w/o messing up the threads? Or maybe put an aftermarket case tube in there, kinda defeats the purpose of using gen parts, but if it works, so be it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted April 1, 2007 Report Share Posted April 1, 2007 Gorgeous, B... A real work of art! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted April 1, 2007 Report Share Posted April 1, 2007 That ain't no Polex. Looks great. Wear it well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted April 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 That ain't no Polex. Looks great. Wear it well. Heh. I'm going to have to check between the lugs the next time I have the bracelet off. I've never paid any attention to what it says in there.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tribal Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Great work Chief, this one looks fantastic.... I think you can change the datewheel with a gen one... The Noobmarinerwhheel is good but the datefont is too big... Than its a perfect masterpiece... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted April 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Great work Chief, this one looks fantastic.... I think you can change the datewheel with a gen one... The Noobmarinerwhheel is good but the datefont is too big... Than its a perfect masterpiece... You're right that the Noob date wheel isn't perfect. You were buying gen date wheels off EBay at one point, right? I remember OFrei had some generic 3135 wheels but don't don't if the print is any better than the Noob. And, by the way, how do you make a 3135 wheel fit on a 2836? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tribal Posted April 7, 2007 Report Share Posted April 7, 2007 You're right that the Noob date wheel isn't perfect. You were buying gen date wheels off EBay at one point, right? I remember OFrei had some generic 3135 wheels but don't don't if the print is any better than the Noob. And, by the way, how do you make a 3135 wheel fit on a 2836? yepp, you can get them on ebay... Just glue them on the existing datewheel... Fits good... Hope this helps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted April 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2007 yepp, you can get them on ebay... Just glue them on the existing datewheel... Fits good... Hope this helps... Thanks. If you happen to remember the seller ID who had them, send me a PM. A quick EBay search yielded nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RiverwindMDS Posted April 7, 2007 Report Share Posted April 7, 2007 Thanks. If you happen to remember the seller ID who had them, send me a PM. A quick EBay search yielded nothing. For me too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWSmoot Posted April 7, 2007 Report Share Posted April 7, 2007 Very nice job Chieftang. Beautiful watch...Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted April 7, 2007 Report Share Posted April 7, 2007 Here you go Chief, a datewheel from ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/DATE-DISC-FOR-ROLEX-31...3QQcmdZViewItem This guy might have others, and I've heard that Luenfat over in Hong Kong has wheels with the closed sixes and nines, you just have to request them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted April 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 Here you go Chief, a datewheel from ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/DATE-DISC-FOR-ROLEX-31...3QQcmdZViewItem This guy might have others, and I've heard that Luenfat over in Hong Kong has wheels with the closed sixes and nines, you just have to request them. Ahh... "date disc" is the proper search string, not "date wheel". Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 Actually, I used "rolex date" and then just wade thru all of the Date watches, etc! This guy is down in Sugar Land which is a suburb of H-town. He's not the greatest, but I also noticed he has ETA Rolex hands. I've bought other rolex type aftermarket stuff from Clark Watch Supply- nostalgia2000, with good results- but as I recall, ubi didn't like his sub hands. I don't know if this guy's hands are any good, but you can see he has a lot of aftermarket stuff. BTW, I'm not planning on making a purchase from Paul at this time, because I bought his Perfect Sub last month, I just haven't gotten around to dealing with my TW Best case, which entails drilling the lugs holes more on center than they already are, in other words, I have one of the cases w/ the off-center holes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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