BP Re-Releases 5-Digit Submariners with VR3135

[Dizzy]

nice! I got the all gold and black. Paid a month ago. Got QC 2 weeks ago and a tracking number and now nothing. I guess I’m waiting until the end of the Chinese new years celebrations before it ships. I even ordered and paid early to avoid the shut downs but I guess that’s how it goes. I can’t wait to get it and take it apart.

 

[pinoyako04]

I definitely enjoy my 16613LN but on the downside my SELS are quite poor : uneven (as if both sides of the bracelet came from different batches) and badly adjusted. My TT comes from an early batch I think, and I can see some of you have way better SELs.
Also some numbers on the insert are so-so. I digged into replacing it, Horlogear inserts look a bit coppery on pictures, anyone tried other options (WSO or else) ?

Is your watch a lil wobbly too? Tia

 

[pinoyako04]

Is your watch a lil wobbly too? Tia

This watch is a fever dream

Nice watch! Mines two tone black Is your watch bezel, there’s an action when you push it? a lil loose..woobly too? Mine’s two tone a lil woobly,

 

[Pabon17]

Nice watch! Mines two tone black Is your watch bezel, there’s an action when you push it? a lil loose..woobly too? Mine’s two tone a lil woobly,

No wobble at all

 

[pinoyako04]

No wobble at all

Nice! Mine’s when you push the bezel downwards it creating actions, lil wobbly, there’s a lil gap on my case and bezel, maybe need to reinstall the bezel to make it fix, but all in all the watch is perfect! that’s my concern

 

[rockdaytona]

Really interested in your opinion of the all fold 16618 LB John!
I have the 16613 LN and really have fallen in love. Swapping date disc for raffles. Now that I’m over 40 thinking of I can pull off all gold!!

 

[Nur-Uhr]

Really interested in your opinion of the all fold 16618 LB John!
I have the 16613 LN and really have fallen in love. Swapping date disc for raffles. Now that I’m over 40 thinking of I can pull off all gold!!

The 16618LB is a nice piece.
I did a comparison here in this thread on page 27 => https://forum.replica-watch.info/th...rs-with-vr3135.10959925/page-27#post-11579080

Overall a good and nice watch. And what you have already said = DW change is recommended, cause BP's "champagen DW" is too orange.


@mrsullivan
As what I have seen... BP varies with their parts ... this is sometime very annoying.
Your SELs are really looking bad There is no proper fit on this

If you have plans to modify the watch ... you should try a NON SEL bracelet (but only makes sense, if you have modding plans)

 

[mrsullivan]

Is your watch a lil wobbly too? Tia

Strangely the bezel has a nice play, good clicks and not particularly wobbly.

@Nur-Uhr I do plan to mod it from the start yes. Appart of the brcaelet in my case it's a good base watch.
I have gen hands and crystal already, plan on aftermarket insert and probably some case mod.
If anyone has a good idea for another bracelet or non SELs I'll take it

 

[Nur-Uhr]

The 14K/SS from StarTime Supply is a very good one... but the prices would "break the bank" compared to the price of the entire BP watch ....

I do not know the actual quality of the WSO TwoTone offered bracelets.
In the past they offered a 10K/SS and also a 14K/SS version which were also very good and durable.
I have heard they changed meanwhile these bracelets to "electro plated gold colored" ones and are not offering the real gold ones anymore.
Perhaps someone can chime in, if this is correct for the WSO versiosn of NON SEL


From which TD have you got the BP - perhaps he can source another one / better one bracelet. Yours is really "bad"

 

[mrsullivan]

From which TD have you got the BP - perhaps he can source another one / better one bracelet. Yours is really "bad"

From Trusty. I'll drop them a message indeed

 

[johnlogan]

Really interested in your opinion of the all fold 16618 LB John!
I have the 16613 LN and really have fallen in love. Swapping date disc for raffles. Now that I’m over 40 thinking of I can pull off all gold!!

I have the BP TT Blue and black in my collection + the Black LB now I’m just waiting for the tracking on my Blue LB. I’m overall very happy with those BP releases. No modding for me but I might replate the LBs down the line.
The TT plating is excellent.

 

[rockdaytona]

I have the BP TT Blue and black in my collection + the Black LB now I’m just waiting for the tracking on my Blue LB. I’m overall very happy with those BP releases. No modding for me but I might replate the LBs down the line.
The TT plating is excellent.

What about the sides of the bracelet on the solid gold 618s? Are they correct? The 613 TT came polished so I had to brush it with scotch brite

 

[Winni1611]

My 16613 clicks nice too, no wobbles

 

[Winni1611]

Bought these hands as gen. Can someone
confirm please.

 

[hollywoodrollie]

Here are some pics of my BP witht two small mods: replaced the crystal and gasket with a Clark's (AR on cyclops only + LEC) and installaed a Horlogear insert.

This was my first rep mod and I learned quite a few things. You can see my earlier posts in this thread but to here's a quick recap of events.

I started with just wanting to replace the stock insert which had a crooked lume pearl. The first 'Oh shit' moment was afer I popped the bezel and ended up with the crystal + bezel insert in hand. With the help of @KJ2020 I figured out the logic behind the bezel assembly and was able to separate all the parts.

Putting everything back together was challenging, but after a few failed attempts with the wrong tools I finally found a 30.5mm inner diameter bezel on Ali X that I could use as a die to press the retaining ring and reinstall the crystal and gasket back on the case.

The Horlogear bezel insert turned out to be a little to large for the BP bezel so I had the shave the outside. It worked, but if I had to do it again I would be a little more patient and careful. I was expecting it to click in and stay in by friction only so I my attempts to get it seated, I managed to bend it in a couple of places which I then had to correct with a pair of pliers at the end. I also chipped a tiny bit of the black paint... again just need to be more patient. In the end I used B7000 glue to stick the bezel insert.

I had to replace the crystal gasket because the original ones got crushed in one of my failed retaining ring installation attempts so I decided to try a new crystal too. The Clark's crystal and 2.7m gasked fit perfectly and was able to seat the ring with no issues. The BP crystal was not bad so I'll hold on to it.

I have one remaining issue, the bezel rotates fine but it has a tight spot between 2 o'clock and center where there's a bit more resistance. I'm not sure what could be causing it... could it be an issue with the bezel gasket or maybe the retaining ring position?

Quick update after a 2nd round of bezel surgery.

I was able to fix the bezel tight spot and it was indeed the hytrel gasket that was squashed in one spot. I cut out the section where the ring was messed up (2-3mm) and this time I put a layer of synthetic grease (Super Lube) which helped the ring stick seated in the bezel channel. It worked perfectly. The bezel snapped in place with little effort (I used a crystal press) and it now rotates freely.

Interestingly enough, with the crystal retaining ring pressed all the way down and the bezel installed correctly and the gasket well seated, there is a tiny bit of vertical play. The squashed gasket must have been preventing it from moving freely so I take back my earlier speculation that the crystal ring height had anything to do with it.

Here are some videos showing the vertical movement and the unobstructed rotation / click (with sound) after I fixed the hytrel ring.

https://imgur.com/a/SAh04T8

 

[AllanV]

Got my LN this morning, will post a wristy tomorrow.

And bugger me if this isn’t the nicest 5 digit rep I’ve ever ordered. (Which it is, saving us all a huge amount of embarrassment…)

The last BP I ordered was back in 2019. Everything is better on this one - especially the crystal. Yeah, the bracelet needs a bit of work to take off the sharpness on the clasp, but that’s a 30 minute job with a dremnel, a beer and some scotchbrite.

My initial plan was to drop this in a box of screws and rocks to add 20 years to it, but I think I’ll keep it pristine. Great watch - definitely at parity with BP’s legendary Sea Dweller.

Posts like these are not helping me not buying.. Looking forward to see photos!

 

[Winni1611]

Just tried to fit a gen Insert on the 16613.
It's just a little too big. Will have to shave it very carefully.

 

[Winni1611]

Side by side compared gen and rep (gen on the right)

 

[Nur-Uhr]

Bought these hands as gen. Can someone
confirm please.

The hands look to me GEN. The hour hand has an "optical" 3D effect - only concerned at first sight I was cause the "mercedes star" looked thin. But I compared to my GEN hand from 16618 and they have the same look.

 

[Winni1611]

Sanded the insert down with 600 grit putting it around a bottle neck. Needed about 60 turns but now it snaps in