It's Sub-a-saurus, and appropriately named given the lizard green color of the bezel insert.
The 16610 LV has really grown on me. So much so I was inclined to buy a gen, but hopefully this will do and scratch that itch saving me some, well...scratch. Thanks to BK, for the TW sub. It is AWESOME. I love the gen like construction and the fact that it can take gen parts.
The TW is the best sub out of the box I have ever seen. So many details are just so right. The construction for one is perfect. I was able to install bezel inserts by clicking them into the bezel just like you would a gen. I did in the end cheat and use some glue to keep it there but taking this watch apart is much easier than the typical noob factory offering.
The threads on the crown tube are so well machined I thought it was a gen crown tube at first. Screwing and unscrewing the crown is a breeze. It came with a gen ETA 2836-2 (Confirmed) and is currently keeping to within 1 second per day. The crystal is very nice as you can see in the photos, and the WM9 dial is outstanding. I compared it under magnification to several dials including a noob dial, the TW small marker dial, and some others I had as well. It is the best rep dial I have yet seen, and the super lume is excellent too.
The SEL's have the best fit I have seen in a rep. This bracelet has solid center links, which I may address in the future, but everything about it is fantastic. The screws are very well machined, the engraving on the clasp is first rate. The embossed crown on the clasp easily would pass for the real thing. The dive extension is the best I have seen in a replica. It tucks away tightly and has a pin with two rounded keepers that retain it inside the buckle.
Mods I performed:
I had to remove the lume from the hands and then used w@thclume to super lume the second hand, the hour hand and a fat minute hand. The lume is now equally bright but somewhat off in hue. I will have to experiment with some other hands to get it a perfect match for the WM9 lume. Another weird anomaly is that on many reps the hands will fluoresce blue under uv while the markers will glow green. Under normal light it looks white, and it will all glow the same in the dark. The WM9 pearl and dial have a slight blue glow to it under UV. My theory is that it has to do with white pigment in the lume because any white object fluoresce with the same blue color when under the UV torch. Maybe someone can shed some "light" on it and how to match it 100% (pun intended).
All the rehaut engraving on this case lines up with the minute markers! When I got the laser etched crown aligned with the six o'clock dial marker the date window was off a bit. So out came the crystal (requires removing the complete bezel assembly) and then I heated it up with a butane torch to remove the cyclops. After cleaning off the old glue I used UV adhesive to reattach it. It is now perfectly centered.
Sealing up this case was a pain in the...well you know. It turns out the crown tube leaked and every time I approached 8 ATM on my tester water would start to enter the case. This case (sorry didnt take a picture) has a recess for a base (the one that goes between the case and the tube) crown tube gasket just like the gen. This may be the source of the leak as no gasket was below the tube. I fixed it with some clear epoxy. One surprise was that the crown tube had two gaskets in it, just like the gen. Most reps have one in the tube, one outside the tube, and one in the crown. So this watch had four gaskets for the crown and tube...excellent.
While the crown tube was out I went ahead and shaved down the crown guards using a dremel and a cutting wheel (not recommended for the beginner or faint at heart), then buffed it smooth with a buffer.
I let the epoxy cure and then reassembled the case (sans movement) and retested, I let it sit overnight at 20 ATM (200 Meters) and when I came back to it in the morning it was still nice and dry. I am sure if tested this would likely easily pass 300 meters and rival a real sub...we shall see.
Serial @ 6 matches on rehaut and case, and they are also sequential on the TW!
Model number engraved @ 12 o'clock.
Engraving lines up with markers on the dial...finally this little issue has been addressed.
Embossed crown on the clasp.
I spent some time comparing the engraving and stamping to pictures of gen bracelets and honestly I just can not tell them apart.
Great screws with excellent threads. Much better than some I have seen.
Note the plunger style pin in the link next to the dive extension. This insures that the dive extension stayes tucked away. Very nice.
End link engraving.
Good side view off the SEL fit.
Love the SEL fit.
Big thanks to BK for all the help with my subasaurus project. I really appreciate the time he took to educate me on several aspects of this watch.
Here is some of the info since it will likely come up for those of you who are going to mod your TW.
Crystal Removal.
1) Remove the Bracelet.
2) Optional: Remove the movement.
3) Using a case knife pry the bezel off gently, BK likes to wrap his in a cloth to protect the case and you can pry up the bezel from the area of the crown guards, but you can also use tape to protect the lugs and pry from there too. Use caution as the bezel will come off with the tiny click spring and spring plate and you dont want to lose the click spring.
4) Next pry off crystal retaining ring, al little at a time, from one side then another. Use caution as there is a rubber o-ring that seals this to the watch case and you dont want to cut it. The crystal gasket and crystal may come off with the retainer. If it does not come off with the retainer you can simply lift on the bottom edge of the gasket to remove it and the crystal. If it comes off with the retainer then you can press down on the crystal with your fingers or thumbs (dont press upward), and it will slide down through the retainer (the only way it can exit is downward as there is an interlocking ridge on the top of the gasket that fits into a groove on the crystal).
5) Assembly is in reverse order except you will need to use your crystal press to press on the crystal retainer. Make sure it is seated all the way down so that the rubber seal at the bottom seals to the case. then you can reinstall the click spring plate and spring and snap on the bezel.
For crown tube removal on the TW BK recommends the following:
Crown tube is screwed in same as gen.
Use a screw extractor:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_232606-1083-358241_0__?productId=1065081&Ntt=screw+extractor&pl=1¤tURL=/pl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dscrew%2Bextractor
And use a T-handle:
http://homerepair.about.com/od/interiorhomerepair/ss/screw_extractor_3.htm
Insert into tube and turn counter clockwise to remove.
Here is a nice video that shows someone removing the bezel on a 16610LV:
[AME]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ev6DJT0P4U
[/AME]
The 16610 LV has really grown on me. So much so I was inclined to buy a gen, but hopefully this will do and scratch that itch saving me some, well...scratch. Thanks to BK, for the TW sub. It is AWESOME. I love the gen like construction and the fact that it can take gen parts.
The TW is the best sub out of the box I have ever seen. So many details are just so right. The construction for one is perfect. I was able to install bezel inserts by clicking them into the bezel just like you would a gen. I did in the end cheat and use some glue to keep it there but taking this watch apart is much easier than the typical noob factory offering.
The threads on the crown tube are so well machined I thought it was a gen crown tube at first. Screwing and unscrewing the crown is a breeze. It came with a gen ETA 2836-2 (Confirmed) and is currently keeping to within 1 second per day. The crystal is very nice as you can see in the photos, and the WM9 dial is outstanding. I compared it under magnification to several dials including a noob dial, the TW small marker dial, and some others I had as well. It is the best rep dial I have yet seen, and the super lume is excellent too.
The SEL's have the best fit I have seen in a rep. This bracelet has solid center links, which I may address in the future, but everything about it is fantastic. The screws are very well machined, the engraving on the clasp is first rate. The embossed crown on the clasp easily would pass for the real thing. The dive extension is the best I have seen in a replica. It tucks away tightly and has a pin with two rounded keepers that retain it inside the buckle.
Mods I performed:
I had to remove the lume from the hands and then used w@thclume to super lume the second hand, the hour hand and a fat minute hand. The lume is now equally bright but somewhat off in hue. I will have to experiment with some other hands to get it a perfect match for the WM9 lume. Another weird anomaly is that on many reps the hands will fluoresce blue under uv while the markers will glow green. Under normal light it looks white, and it will all glow the same in the dark. The WM9 pearl and dial have a slight blue glow to it under UV. My theory is that it has to do with white pigment in the lume because any white object fluoresce with the same blue color when under the UV torch. Maybe someone can shed some "light" on it and how to match it 100% (pun intended).
All the rehaut engraving on this case lines up with the minute markers! When I got the laser etched crown aligned with the six o'clock dial marker the date window was off a bit. So out came the crystal (requires removing the complete bezel assembly) and then I heated it up with a butane torch to remove the cyclops. After cleaning off the old glue I used UV adhesive to reattach it. It is now perfectly centered.
Sealing up this case was a pain in the...well you know. It turns out the crown tube leaked and every time I approached 8 ATM on my tester water would start to enter the case. This case (sorry didnt take a picture) has a recess for a base (the one that goes between the case and the tube) crown tube gasket just like the gen. This may be the source of the leak as no gasket was below the tube. I fixed it with some clear epoxy. One surprise was that the crown tube had two gaskets in it, just like the gen. Most reps have one in the tube, one outside the tube, and one in the crown. So this watch had four gaskets for the crown and tube...excellent.
While the crown tube was out I went ahead and shaved down the crown guards using a dremel and a cutting wheel (not recommended for the beginner or faint at heart), then buffed it smooth with a buffer.
I let the epoxy cure and then reassembled the case (sans movement) and retested, I let it sit overnight at 20 ATM (200 Meters) and when I came back to it in the morning it was still nice and dry. I am sure if tested this would likely easily pass 300 meters and rival a real sub...we shall see.
Serial @ 6 matches on rehaut and case, and they are also sequential on the TW!
Model number engraved @ 12 o'clock.
Engraving lines up with markers on the dial...finally this little issue has been addressed.
Embossed crown on the clasp.
I spent some time comparing the engraving and stamping to pictures of gen bracelets and honestly I just can not tell them apart.
Great screws with excellent threads. Much better than some I have seen.
Note the plunger style pin in the link next to the dive extension. This insures that the dive extension stayes tucked away. Very nice.
End link engraving.
Good side view off the SEL fit.
Love the SEL fit.
Big thanks to BK for all the help with my subasaurus project. I really appreciate the time he took to educate me on several aspects of this watch.
Here is some of the info since it will likely come up for those of you who are going to mod your TW.
Crystal Removal.
1) Remove the Bracelet.
2) Optional: Remove the movement.
3) Using a case knife pry the bezel off gently, BK likes to wrap his in a cloth to protect the case and you can pry up the bezel from the area of the crown guards, but you can also use tape to protect the lugs and pry from there too. Use caution as the bezel will come off with the tiny click spring and spring plate and you dont want to lose the click spring.
4) Next pry off crystal retaining ring, al little at a time, from one side then another. Use caution as there is a rubber o-ring that seals this to the watch case and you dont want to cut it. The crystal gasket and crystal may come off with the retainer. If it does not come off with the retainer you can simply lift on the bottom edge of the gasket to remove it and the crystal. If it comes off with the retainer then you can press down on the crystal with your fingers or thumbs (dont press upward), and it will slide down through the retainer (the only way it can exit is downward as there is an interlocking ridge on the top of the gasket that fits into a groove on the crystal).
5) Assembly is in reverse order except you will need to use your crystal press to press on the crystal retainer. Make sure it is seated all the way down so that the rubber seal at the bottom seals to the case. then you can reinstall the click spring plate and spring and snap on the bezel.
For crown tube removal on the TW BK recommends the following:
Crown tube is screwed in same as gen.
Use a screw extractor:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_232606-1083-358241_0__?productId=1065081&Ntt=screw+extractor&pl=1¤tURL=/pl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dscrew%2Bextractor
And use a T-handle:
http://homerepair.about.com/od/interiorhomerepair/ss/screw_extractor_3.htm
Insert into tube and turn counter clockwise to remove.
Here is a nice video that shows someone removing the bezel on a 16610LV:
[AME]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ev6DJT0P4U
[/AME]
opcorn: