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BP 16610 bezel questions

tony5haw2013

Active Member
10/8/19
405
61
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malta
Hi, so I have built a franken 16610 and used the only 16610 base watch I could find from TD,s which was the BP.

Question could I use a genuine bezel and genuine insert with this watch using the gen retaining ring and click spring?

Bezel sits on watch, retaining ring which is zig zag shaped ring clips in holding bezel in place and it uses a large click spring as apposed to the genuine short spring.

Anybody tried this with the BP before?

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XpanzerX

I'm Pretty Popular
19/8/17
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No you cant, the BP case isn’t gen construction, you would need a TC, WM9, JF, or startime. The first two are almost impossible to find, best bet is a JF case or wait for the new ARF 5 digit to release.


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tony5haw2013

Active Member
10/8/19
405
61
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malta
No you cant, the BP case isn’t gen construction, you would need a TC, WM9, JF, or startime. The first two are almost impossible to find, best bet is a JF case or wait for the new ARF 5 digit to release.


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Been looking for a jf for a few months now, trouble with star time is they have no rehaut engravings

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XpanzerX

I'm Pretty Popular
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Neither does TC, and his cases are awesome. Depends on the build you are going for, none of my 16610s have rehaut engraving, but they are all 2003-2007 reps. Besides you can still have a nice AR LEC crystal with no rehaut it could have been replaced during a service etc. anyways just my .02 oh and if you do go JF look for the LN over the LV they seem to be better cases from everything I’ve read.


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bc1221

Put Some Respect On My Name
30/4/14
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No you cant, the BP case isn’t gen construction, you would need a TC, WM9, JF, or startime. The first two are almost impossible to find, best bet is a JF case or wait for the new ARF 5 digit to release.


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JF cases need a little bit of modding to work with a gen spec bezel. The retainer ring is too small for the crystal and gasket. You can either shave the retainer ring or thin the gasket (or use a JF gasket). First time I tried putting a gen crystal with gen gasket on my JF 16800 build, I was like wtf?? Then I put everything on my startime case and it fit perfectly. The bezel won’t work though.

Basically, you either need to get a startime case + startime bezel (or gen bezel) or just stick with all JF.

BP 16610s in general are built like crap. No idea why they don’t use some of their seadweller parts. The retaining ring, bezel and tension washer is perfect on their seadwellers but their 16610s are junk with the paperclip bezel.


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tony5haw2013

Active Member
10/8/19
405
61
28
malta
JF cases need a little bit of modding to work with a gen spec bezel. The retainer ring is too small for the crystal and gasket. You can either shave the retainer ring or thin the gasket (or use a JF gasket). First time I tried putting a gen crystal with gen gasket on my JF 16800 build, I was like wtf?? Then I put everything on my startime case and it fit perfectly. The bezel won’t work though.

Basically, you either need to get a startime case + startime bezel (or gen bezel) or just stick with all JF.

BP 16610s in general are built like crap. No idea why they don’t use some of their seadweller parts. The retaining ring, bezel and tension washer is perfect on their seadwellers but their 16610s are junk with the paperclip bezel.


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Yeah I think I am going the star time route. Be a shame to have so many genuine parts in such a poor case

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watchoself

Active Member
3/6/20
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UK
Tony - we are on the same journey (as others in the thread will attest to with my PMs)

Did you get anywhere with the ST approach (ie are there any EMEA sources that will order)?
 

tony5haw2013

Active Member
10/8/19
405
61
28
malta
Tony - we are on the same journey (as others in the thread will attest to with my PMs)

Did you get anywhere with the ST approach (ie are there any EMEA sources that will order)?
I have a friendly guy here on RWI ordering mine for me and shipping to me in the UK, which is really nice gesture considering he isn't charging me for the time and effort.

I plan to get the startime case and have it engraved as an early 16610 to match my tritium hands and dial, movement is pretty much finished, then just need to find a nice tidy ln insert and send all off to be relumed and I'm finished mine. Will be all gen bar bezel and mid case

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seafoam

Active Member
20/9/09
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I've always stayed away from the Startime cases due to the stubby crown guards. Instant tell imo. TC is the only way to go if you want the best.
 

bc1221

Put Some Respect On My Name
30/4/14
4,079
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I've always stayed away from the Startime cases due to the stubby crown guards. Instant tell imo. TC is the only way to go if you want the best.

If you look at the earlier versions of the 16610/16800, the crown guards are a bit stubby. The only difference you’ll really notice is the rouded ends of the crown guards in the ST case. You just need to put a little work on the ST case to get it close to looking more gen like.

It’s pretty much the only good 5 digit sub case that’s available.

Here’s a gen 16800

5f6cb2139ad213423546dc2a738ce8ff.jpg


Here’s my ST case build. You can see the main difference is the crown guards on the ST is rounded and the gen is a bit more pointy. Hell, the crown guards on the ST case in this example looks less stubby than the gen.

5ad1b34c96e399331c06b817536fafbf.jpg



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