I've seen some fantastic franken 16610 builds but with funds limited I'm trying to build a budget 16610 (<$500).
Having tried for over 6mths to find a reasonably 16610 on m2m I was planning to buy an ARF when a kind member reached out and offered to sell me his 16610LV (thanks Eldonsimon ). The watch was a V1 which has a few flaws; slightly wokky rehaut, off white text and this particular example (like several others) had a broken bracelet.
Unfortunately the end of the spring bar was wedged in despite trying every trick I could read (freezing, heating, ultrasonic cleaning.....) it wouldn't budge. I took apart a spare 93150 bracelet but the holes were slightly out and it left a gap when I tried to join them. At this point I parked the bracelet and decided to focus on the rest of the watch.
I have a few used 3135 datewheels already and bought m2m a vr3135 and ARF dial, hands and insert. Particular thanks to Kerushi11 for the ARF set and some useful build advise. I'm hopeful I can pick up a VSF 116610 crystal as I prefer the look of the AR crystals to complete the watch head.
My plan was to sand off the rehaut, not because the watch looked wokky, but more so that is wasn't well aligned (particularly the X at 5 o'clock). After putting the watch together I managed to get it quite well aligned so am now contemplating keeping the rehaut.
I liked the look of the watch so much I took an endlink piece off an old 6 digit bracelet and am using this for now. The SEL isn't great, I can't use the 2mm springbars and it protrudes at the back but it is wearable until I can (hopefully) find a replacement bracelet or endlink section I need to fix.
Hopefully in a couple of weeks I can get hold of a crystal and will decide then whether or not to remove the rehaut.
Having tried for over 6mths to find a reasonably 16610 on m2m I was planning to buy an ARF when a kind member reached out and offered to sell me his 16610LV (thanks Eldonsimon ). The watch was a V1 which has a few flaws; slightly wokky rehaut, off white text and this particular example (like several others) had a broken bracelet.
Unfortunately the end of the spring bar was wedged in despite trying every trick I could read (freezing, heating, ultrasonic cleaning.....) it wouldn't budge. I took apart a spare 93150 bracelet but the holes were slightly out and it left a gap when I tried to join them. At this point I parked the bracelet and decided to focus on the rest of the watch.
I have a few used 3135 datewheels already and bought m2m a vr3135 and ARF dial, hands and insert. Particular thanks to Kerushi11 for the ARF set and some useful build advise. I'm hopeful I can pick up a VSF 116610 crystal as I prefer the look of the AR crystals to complete the watch head.
My plan was to sand off the rehaut, not because the watch looked wokky, but more so that is wasn't well aligned (particularly the X at 5 o'clock). After putting the watch together I managed to get it quite well aligned so am now contemplating keeping the rehaut.
I liked the look of the watch so much I took an endlink piece off an old 6 digit bracelet and am using this for now. The SEL isn't great, I can't use the 2mm springbars and it protrudes at the back but it is wearable until I can (hopefully) find a replacement bracelet or endlink section I need to fix.
Hopefully in a couple of weeks I can get hold of a crystal and will decide then whether or not to remove the rehaut.
Last edited: