The perfect 16610

[occb2]

Ok. I’m soooo close to finishing my 16610 build. There is a whole story about me and my 16610. I am a retired detective from the NYPD. on 9/11/01 I cracked my crystal on my 2000 16110 which I got on my 30th birthday July of 2000.


I took the watch to Zimmer brothers who was the only auth. Rolex dealer upstate NY where I live, plus I brought it there. They repaired it. So a few years later myself and 2 other detectives wanted 16613’s. So I ended up trading my watch in and upgrading to a 16613. I have missed my 16610.


I have two TC’s which are dam close but just not real so I have been collecting parts and I am so close to having my 16610. Right now I have a gen 3135. I have a Gen crystal, Gen band which by they way cost quite a bit but really worth every penny. I just got the Gen bezel assembly and insert. Got a Gen tube and crown. I also got a Gen dial from the time which saids “Swiss Made†on the bottom. My watchmaker has Gen white gold hands.


So here is my dilemma. I can’t find a real case. I brought a TC case, back and everything. Love it. I was going to use it. But then someone on RWG talked me into buying a Phong 16610 mid-case. Holy crap. That my friends is as Gen as they come. I wish I could take good pictures. I will be taking pics with my iPhone of the parts.

 

[gbxx]

Ok. I’m soooo close to finishing my 16610 build. There is a whole story about me and my 16610. I am a retired detective from the NYPD. on 9/11/01 I cracked my crystal on my 2000 16110 which I got on my 30th birthday July of 2000.


I took the watch to Zimmer brothers who was the only auth. Rolex dealer upstate NY where I live, plus I brought it there. They repaired it. So a few years later myself and 2 other detectives wanted 16613’s. So I ended up trading my watch in and upgrading to a 16613. I have missed my 16610.


I have two TC’s which are dam close but just not real so I have been collecting parts and I am so close to having my 16610. Right now I have a gen 3135. I have a Gen crystal, Gen band which by they way cost quite a bit but really worth every penny. I just got the Gen bezel assembly and insert. Got a Gen tube and crown. I also got a Gen dial from the time which saids “Swiss Made” on the bottom. My watchmaker has Gen white gold hands.


So here is my dilemma. I can’t find a real case. I brought a TC case, back and everything. Love it. I was going to use it. But then someone on RWG talked me into buying a Phong 16610 mid-case. Holy crap. That my friends is as Gen as they come. I wish I could take good pictures. I will be taking pics with my iPhone of the parts.

Sounds like a killer build! But aren't you well into the price of a used 16610?

 

[Thrasher]

Pretty hardcore and for me I think there is a lot of emotional value in purchasing all the parts and if you can put it together yourself well it makes it even more special, even if you have to pay someone to do the final assembly, you understand and can relate to each piece. To me that's better than genuine its truly yours. If at some time in the future if you just have to have a genuine case and one comes on the market well that's it, it is truly genuine and worth every penny because it is yours, it was never someone else's watch.

 

[gbxx]

Yeah I guess the math doesn't really factor in emotional value very well. It sounds like he really misses his original 16610.

I get it... I have a few guitars I sold that I wish I'd kept in my harem....

I am very interested to see the Phong 16610 case... I just went and revisited his site and reviewed Phong's photos for the occasion.

 

[occb2]

I'll post some pics of parts today. Price wise I'm still about $1000 less than a good 16610. I'll list the break down later. Just drove my daughter to the airport for an early flight. Need to pass out for a few.

 

[JoeyT]

Great story and killer build OP. I hope this build gives you the joy that the original 16610 gave you.

 

[idinwo01]

Phong goes hard, good luck with the build!

 

[occb2]

Ok a break down.

Real 3135 cost me $1640 Ebay
Real dial 16610 swiss made on bottom $350 from misiekped over at RWG.
Real bezel assembly and bezel insert eBay and insert from misiekped combined $580
TC GEN 1 case $400 also from my TC 16610lv but ordered new one for the LV
Crown and tube $120 from misiekped
GEN and may I add is beautiful condition almost no stretch SEL 93250 band cost me $650
Gen Crystal ebay $100
Cost to clean/oil/service gen movement $200
Date disk $100
Gen 16610 hands $200
Grand total=$4340

 

[Matt748]

I'm really please your nearly there with it.
Post some pics of the process buddy.
Im interested to see this baby completed.

 

[JoeyT]

Great price on the gen 3135 movement. Good progress so far, your in great hands with misiekped he serviced my gen 3135 movement also.

 

[occb2]

Doing the math that is around $3800 dollars. I am expecting to spend around $500 for Misiekped to recondition the 3135 and build the watch. He hasn't said a price. But the man does miracles. So Lets say I spend $4300. It's still around $2000 cheaper from a referb from Tournu or a trusted Rolex dealer for a 16610 from the early 2000's which is what I'm looking at.

 

[occb2]

Yea I thought it was also a great price for the 3135. When I got it worked perfect and keeps great time. I'm still having it redone. It has a date just face and hands on it now and it runs -/+ 2 sec a day as per my 1000 reader or what ever it is called. I did have a little bit of an issue with the seller on eBay. He used a aftermarket part on the rotor. So I approached him because I took it to my rolex watchmaker to verify it was 100% authentic. The seller used an aftermarket rotor pivot. I asked him to make good on it and he said that he wasn't making money on my sell and to send him the movement back. So I went on eBay and got a BNIB rotor with pivot on it for $250. I have the old one here and I'm going to use it on a Yuki.

 

[JoeyT]

Yea I thought it was also a great price for the 3135. When I got it worked perfect and keeps great time. I'm still having it redone. It has a date just face and hands on it now and it runs -/+ 2 sec a day as per my 1000 reader or what ever it is called. I did have a little bit of an issue with the seller on eBay. He used a aftermarket part on the rotor. So I approached him because I took it to my rolex watchmaker to verify it was 100% authentic. The seller used an aftermarket rotor pivot. I asked him to make good on it and he said that he wasn't making money on my sell and to send him the movement back. So I went on eBay and got a BNIB rotor with pivot on it for $250. I have the old one here and I'm going to use it on a Yuki.

Glad you made it right by getting the gen part. It's a shame you had to pay an additional $250 though but like you said, the part could be used on Yuki so it's not all bad. I'm excited to see the finished product. I know you wanted to build the watch and beleive me I know the joy of the chase for parts but Tagfan has a great 16610 for sale now. See if he has anything you might need, I know he has a ton of parts.

 

[surf]

I know the final is in the build and splitting the cost over multiple months. Just tough for me to stomach when a Gen is 4500ish

 

[JoeyT]

I know the final is in the build and splitting the cost over multiple months. Just tough for me to stomach when a Gen is 4500ish

4500 is the lower end of the spectrum for a good 16610. I would say 5k plus would be about what they go for with box/papers. That's my situation, I wouldn't be able to put 5k down all at once but 200 here and 400 there and 1k here ETC. does not hurt as much.

 

[JoeyT]

Like Archie luxury says, if it doesn't hurt then it's not a luxury good haha

 

[gbxx]

I'm still excited to see the phong pix

 

[mech500]

Very exciting build.

Here's a crappy screen shot pic of phong's case:

From what I can gather....the rehaut is not very deep, this is correct for for 16800 and transitional 16610 t<25 subs.

The case could be correct for early "Swiss made" dials but it depends what year your dial is from. Maybe post a pic here?

 

[alligoat]

Wow! I'm sorry, but I think you've spent way too much money to build a franken 16610. I bought a gen R-serial 16610 from 1988 for $4400 a year and a half ago.

And I firmly believe that you can still pick up a gen 16610 for around $5K if you know what you're doing- you could keep an eye on VRM and you'll see that they come up fairly regularly.
Good luck with your build.

 

[Kaplan0011]

Interested to see how it turns out.