Hello good folks!
Thought I’d share a few long overdue photos of the “build that started it all” for me. About a year and a half ago, I started to explore the Rolex side of the rep world, and after seeing some amazing builds, reading as much as I could and watching as many watchmaking tutorials, I decided I wanted to build a 16570 polar. Particularly after I tested the waters with a BP 16570, and my ocd got the better of me with the dial, incorrect crown placement, etc.
In my initial excitement, I quickly acquired the VR3186, gen dial and gen hands. When they arrived, I immediately set to try to assemble the watch's internals while waiting for a case to arrive. In my rush and inexperience, I pressed the hour hand too far down resulting in it touching the dial. I turned the crown not realizing it was touching and of course - scratched the dial in the process, followed by many tears, as I had now damaged this rare, pristine, NOS polar dial. I ended up having to remove the dial and use it as leverage to get the hour hand off since I couldn't fit anything under the hand... fortunately without damaging the dial further.
Following this, I put the whole project on hold while I started practicing on 5-digit sub builds. That spiraled off into modding 6-digit subs, and well, a few months later in 2021 I started to refocus on my polar build. After acquiring a couple of cases that ultimately proved to not be compatible (and ended up as paperweights in my parts bin), I decided to go all in and contacted tripdog for one of the famous viet cases. I sent my funds and began the many months long wait. Then, right at the end of 2021, like the unexpected Christmas present, the case arrived! The project was ready for launch. I finally had all the right parts, some pretty decent experience, and pretty much all the right tools.
For me, the hardest part of this build was getting the hands right. Aligning and synchronizing them properly without damaging the dial in the process requires true skill and patience. The most frustrating was getting the hour hand on at just the right height while keeping it perfectly aligned to 12, then dealing with potential clashing between hands, removing hands and gently straightening them out, etc. All while hoping that I don't end up widening the posts on the hands too much and losing their ability to grip the pinions.
The date change was probably the next hardest. I've done this dozens of times before on the 3-hander VR3135 movements, and never had an issue getting a near-perfect midnight date change, but on the 3186, I think it's because there's a bit of inherent wobble, I found it near impossible to get a perfect midnight date flip. I was always either a few minutes fast or slow to the date flip. Eventually I gave up, because blindly spinning the crown to advance to the next date flip after a failed attempt started to drive me mad, lol.
Then, after all of this madness, I discovered that the gen crystal I had installed was actually damaged - there were scratches on the underside that irritated me like no other. This was after pressing the bezel on fully as well. I gave up for awhile and just kept it like that.
My biggest lessons learned throughout the many assemble-disassemble-reassemble-etc adventures included:
- You can't shortcut anything. lol. If you try, you will be punished, usually by the watch.
- Aligning the cyclops when installing the crystal requires the movement be installed, stem installed, crown screwed down. This is, for the amateur, the only guaranteed way to align the cyclops.
- Be prepared to remove and install the bezel a few times, since it's quite possible that uneven pressure or a slip of the hand will result in it turning the crystal and misaligning it.
- Then.. once the bezel is pressed on, remove the internals again and re-clean the underside of the crystal.
While I waited for a new Clark's, full underside AR crystal to arrive, I temporarily experimented with a black 16570 build, then to a hybrid gmt when the new crystal finally arrived. Neither did it for me, and so I reassembled my polar, this time with all the right parts (for my preferences, of course).
So, here’s the final(ish) build!
- tripdog reworked viet case with lug holes
- Clark’s full AR crystal
- gen bezel
- gen gaskets
- gen dial (Swiss lume)
- gen hands
- vr3186
- ARF bracelet with glidelock (interchanged with a gen Everest band)
- I also had a display caseback, but ultimately switched back as I didn’t like the added thickness
- en route I have a gen crown and tube, but currently lacking the correct tool to install and remove the splines on the inside of the tube, so on the shelf it waits
And finally, some pics:
And some macro shots:
Thought I’d share a few long overdue photos of the “build that started it all” for me. About a year and a half ago, I started to explore the Rolex side of the rep world, and after seeing some amazing builds, reading as much as I could and watching as many watchmaking tutorials, I decided I wanted to build a 16570 polar. Particularly after I tested the waters with a BP 16570, and my ocd got the better of me with the dial, incorrect crown placement, etc.
In my initial excitement, I quickly acquired the VR3186, gen dial and gen hands. When they arrived, I immediately set to try to assemble the watch's internals while waiting for a case to arrive. In my rush and inexperience, I pressed the hour hand too far down resulting in it touching the dial. I turned the crown not realizing it was touching and of course - scratched the dial in the process, followed by many tears, as I had now damaged this rare, pristine, NOS polar dial. I ended up having to remove the dial and use it as leverage to get the hour hand off since I couldn't fit anything under the hand... fortunately without damaging the dial further.
Following this, I put the whole project on hold while I started practicing on 5-digit sub builds. That spiraled off into modding 6-digit subs, and well, a few months later in 2021 I started to refocus on my polar build. After acquiring a couple of cases that ultimately proved to not be compatible (and ended up as paperweights in my parts bin), I decided to go all in and contacted tripdog for one of the famous viet cases. I sent my funds and began the many months long wait. Then, right at the end of 2021, like the unexpected Christmas present, the case arrived! The project was ready for launch. I finally had all the right parts, some pretty decent experience, and pretty much all the right tools.
For me, the hardest part of this build was getting the hands right. Aligning and synchronizing them properly without damaging the dial in the process requires true skill and patience. The most frustrating was getting the hour hand on at just the right height while keeping it perfectly aligned to 12, then dealing with potential clashing between hands, removing hands and gently straightening them out, etc. All while hoping that I don't end up widening the posts on the hands too much and losing their ability to grip the pinions.
The date change was probably the next hardest. I've done this dozens of times before on the 3-hander VR3135 movements, and never had an issue getting a near-perfect midnight date change, but on the 3186, I think it's because there's a bit of inherent wobble, I found it near impossible to get a perfect midnight date flip. I was always either a few minutes fast or slow to the date flip. Eventually I gave up, because blindly spinning the crown to advance to the next date flip after a failed attempt started to drive me mad, lol.
Then, after all of this madness, I discovered that the gen crystal I had installed was actually damaged - there were scratches on the underside that irritated me like no other. This was after pressing the bezel on fully as well. I gave up for awhile and just kept it like that.
My biggest lessons learned throughout the many assemble-disassemble-reassemble-etc adventures included:
- You can't shortcut anything. lol. If you try, you will be punished, usually by the watch.
- Aligning the cyclops when installing the crystal requires the movement be installed, stem installed, crown screwed down. This is, for the amateur, the only guaranteed way to align the cyclops.
- Be prepared to remove and install the bezel a few times, since it's quite possible that uneven pressure or a slip of the hand will result in it turning the crystal and misaligning it.
- Then.. once the bezel is pressed on, remove the internals again and re-clean the underside of the crystal.
While I waited for a new Clark's, full underside AR crystal to arrive, I temporarily experimented with a black 16570 build, then to a hybrid gmt when the new crystal finally arrived. Neither did it for me, and so I reassembled my polar, this time with all the right parts (for my preferences, of course).
So, here’s the final(ish) build!
- tripdog reworked viet case with lug holes
- Clark’s full AR crystal
- gen bezel
- gen gaskets
- gen dial (Swiss lume)
- gen hands
- vr3186
- ARF bracelet with glidelock (interchanged with a gen Everest band)
- I also had a display caseback, but ultimately switched back as I didn’t like the added thickness
- en route I have a gen crown and tube, but currently lacking the correct tool to install and remove the splines on the inside of the tube, so on the shelf it waits
And finally, some pics:
And some macro shots:
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