- 25/10/18
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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.
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.
