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Vintage SuperFranken: Ultimate 16800 Build

kadeee

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Guys,
I'd like to share with you the story of building my Rolex 16800 SuperFranken.
For the build predominantly gen parts were used. The case is known to be a 3rd party case of unknown origin. I used this case already in another build, but as my 16610 has now been placed into a TCv3 case this case was free for re-usage again.
I bought this case on eBay in spring of 2018 as "Custom Made Stanless Steel Submariner Case for Rolex Cal 3135 Movement". The seller gave no information about who the manufacturer of the case is.


Since I have a strong hunting instinct I came across an offer from Cr7juv; it was offered a beautiful tritium dial with an even more beautiful tropicalized chocolat flat 4 bezel insert. The color of the insert, a wonderful chocolate brown, was so fascinating that I decided at a moment to get a 16800 built. At that time, I already had a matching cal 3035, which I already had reserved for a 16803 build.


At that time, I already had a matching cal 3035, which I already had reserved for a 16803 build. So I looked for another cal 3035 movement, which I finally found on eBay. In the meantime Cr7juv could also offer suitable hands to the dial so that I could search for a few more missing parts. I still had a 703 crown left.



I bought a 93150 bracelet here from the user jjokercrazy, but since the clasp was not in temporal context to the rest of the watch I found an almost perfect clasp, which dates back to the year 1986. I could buy a gen crystal - no AR, no LEC - in nearly perfect condition from Sputim here. Through a here offered, worked up by Tomrep case, I found a trusted source to get a perfectly refurbished and rebrushed bracelet and case for this project. Tom did a great job.


Finally, I sent everything to Günther, also known as meisterhora, so that he could assemble a watch from the individual parts.
The first thing that Günther did was a deep check of the movement. It probably came from a 16014 with a champagne color tapestry dial. This can be concluded because the movement was shipped together with that dial and hands to me. Günther figured out that the movement had already contact with water. This was not a k.o. criteria to re-use the movement as it worked well and was otherwise in good condition. However, the amplitude of the balance wheel was only measured at 230 ° after a revision, which is a too low value for an original Rolex movement. However, this could be remedied by replacing the tension spring.


Following the movement revision, Günther assembled the watch from the individual parts. And here is the result:







In the meantime I got an update on the case. When I got the watch back from Günther I showed the first pictures of the finished build to Cr7juv, he identified the case as a very expensive case, which is not often offered. Anway, this watch is so beautiful and I think I will never let it go again.

Günther regulated the movement for 3 layers. As I had it on my wrist for the last 10 days I do know much about the accuracy. It is running with ~ - 1 sec. in 10 days.
I do think that this is just possible with super regulated gen movements.
 

velox

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Looks amazing, congrats :) Love that chocolate insert . . .
 

numero2

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Beautifull build mate, congrats.


Envoyé de mon iPad en utilisant RWI
 

Rx4Time

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Very nice! An often overlooked model. Mine says hello!

IMG_20191024_1846324d52ea63dbb530bc.jpg
 
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gunsmoke16610

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Amazing build. The DW on that 3035 is awesome. Wish I could find a 3035 case, I’m wondering if that’s a Startime case?
 

Rx4Time

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Amazing build. The DW on that 3035 is awesome. Wish I could find a 3035 case, I’m wondering if that’s a Startime case?
Mine is. It's a long out of production startime 3035 case.
 

kadeee

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According to Cr7juv mine isn't. I was told that this is a rep case that's long out of production and people paying around or more than 1000 $ for it.
Anyway I cannot confirm the maker. I bought it 2 years ago in the bay for 795 $ what would be an indicator that the person told me that this is a superb and also expensive case is right.

Reason for editing: Member who told me things 'bout the case was not Curt941, it was CR7 instead. Just checked my PMs after reading a sales thread why he was put to "Do not trade with me" and I knew that I bought some parts from CR7 to complete this build.
 
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kadeee

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The DW on that 3035 is awesome.

It's gen. And as mega12 always keep saying: Nothing beats gen. And it comes also so awesome due to the gen crystal. The crystal also makes a big difference. Even a Rolex AD did not notice that it was not a 100 % Gen. He just said: Hey, you also have a beautiful watch on your wrist when I looked on a Kermit that was for sale.
 

gunsmoke16610

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The Serif font on the 3035 date disc are more pronounced and vintage looking than the 3135.

you have an incredible watch man. I’m building one similar but with a 3135.

 
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tribal

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What a beautiful build. Congrats to this beauty.
Günther did a good job on it.
The Case looks really good.
Love it!
I build also one with a bit cheaper options.
This is a WM9 Case reshaped and drilled Lugholes.
Gen Crystal
Gen Inlay
Gen Tube and Crown
Gen 93150 Bracelet parts with Rep Clasp
Gen Springbars
Dial is Richieview matte 16800
VR 3135 Movement
WM matching Hands
What bothers me is, I can't find the right 168000 Datedisk with open 6&9.
Maybe I fine one in the future????
f464b06875fc906b6a5e07a9046d2d66.jpg
 
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gunsmoke16610

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tribal yes the 3135 DW is tough to find I have two but as I said before the 3035 DW has more pronounced serif fonts. The case to fit a 3035 is equally difficult the OP has an amazing watch. Here is one of my builds with 3135 open 6 9 DW Gen MK 3 matte dial

59803-B70-6380-4-D1-F-9587-DD781-E02-ADF3.jpg
 
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Vitto2

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Complimenti a tutti!
Potete inserire foto dei movimenti da voi utilizzati?
Grazie.
 

kadeee

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Certo, ho un calibro Gen 3035 usato per questa build. Il Rolex Reference 16800 ha, oltre al 16610, il cal. 3035 all'interno. Questo movimento è anche molto preciso, ha 27 invece di 31 pietre ed è noto per avere a volte problemi con il cambio data. Quindi, tranne la cassa centrale tutto il resto su questa build è autentico Rolex.
Potete trovare maggiori informazioni su questo movimento tramite Google.


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