Proud new owner - SD 16600

[Vyker]

Hello,

First post...

I'm a proud owner of my first Rolex watch, hopefully one of many.

It's a Sea Dweller 16600 from 1996 with a 91360 bracelet.

All in all, it's a great watch. Looks fantastic.

I had some queries about it though.

1) The lume of the hands has half-lifed away. Will it be possible to get original hands replaced? is it recommended? Not being able to tell the time at night is a little bit of a loss to me.

2) The bracelet diver extension won't stay shut, it's not a huge problem as when the clasp is closed it just holds it all in on your wrist, but it's nice to have a working clasp. Is there any "guides" to servicing these bracelets? a pinch over here, a knock over there.... voila?

3) The dealer I bought it off said it was Serviced by an independent in July this year - how can you tell? what are the signs of a serviced watch?

4) I've bought a Sony Wena smart watch strap and have it on, it's great as it has a little OLED screen on the clasp to let you know of your notifications from your phone over Bluetooth, vibrates and allows NFC payments - nice. However, it looks to be rubbing ever so slightly against the case, how much of a problem is this? I don't want it to wear the serial number off, but I reckon that's a real long shot. Anyone have any experience with aftermarket steel bracelets? See the red arrows pointing to the wear in the picture links below

Thanks

p.s tried to upload some photos but it wouldn't let me.

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[Tools]

Welcome.

I'm not going to click on your pics. Any photos that meet the attachment criteria can be uploaded, or you can wait until you have 10 proper posts to upload url's.

your questions.

1. You can find professionals that can stabilize your original hands, or you can find era-correct hands in the community. Alternatively, you could fit modern, functional Luminova hands; it's simply choices.

2. on a 93160 bracelet the extension always hangs from the rivet hinge in the center. The back half snaps into the second set of holes at that rivet, but the rest will hand down.

3. There may be scratch marks inside the case, but a verbal "it's been serviced" is non-information and may be taken with a grain of salt.

4. Smart watch straps and Sea Dwellers does not compute with me.

[Ssunnylee24]

1,3 - Did your watch come with the service paper? Do you trust the dealer? if not I'd say send it to RSC and get hands and dial serviced (swapped) to have better lume.

My Sea Dweller is from 1998 and its got an eggshell patina on the dial and hands and would rather have the original vs serviced hands/dial.

totally up to you.

[ThatExplorer]

Looking at your photos I do see where the lume is half lifted on the hands.... The dial looks good actually really good.

For the love of all things Holy, please put the original bracelet back on it lol. Also I have a spare 16600 clasp and mine is fairly tight and the divers extension snaps tight and doesnt hang...

Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

[Vyker]

Thanks for your responses

Originally Posted by Tools

1. You can find professionals that can stabilize your original hands, or you can find era-correct hands in the community. Alternatively, you could fit modern, functional Luminova hands; it's simply choices.

2. on a 93160 bracelet the extension always hangs from the rivet hinge in the center. The back half snaps into the second set of holes at that rivet, but the rest will hand down.

3. There may be scratch marks inside the case, but a verbal "it's been serviced" is non-information and may be taken with a grain of salt.

4. Smart watch straps and Sea Dwellers does not compute with me.

1. Ah, that's interesting, and what will any of those options do to it's resale value? Despite really enjoying my watch, I do still see it as somewhat of an investment for the future.

2. the back half doesn't "snap", it just flops about. I found a Youtube clip of someone using theirs, it's very different to mine, I think this one is a little damaged.

4. I'm a millennial :)

Originally Posted by Ssunnylee24

1,3 - Did your watch come with the service paper? Do you trust the dealer? if not I'd say send it to RSC and get hands and dial serviced (swapped) to have better lume.

My Sea Dweller is from 1998 and its got an eggshell patina on the dial and hands and would rather have the original vs serviced hands/dial.

totally up to you.

No, the service had no papers. I do trust the dealer as he's an old time friend of mine. RSC servicing appears to be awfully expensive. I'm definitely in two minds about servicing to perfection vs leaving some ageing to it like yours. I don't want to devalue the watch at all.

Originally Posted by ThatExplorer

Looking at your photos I do see where the lume is half lifted on the hands.... The dial looks good actually really good.

For the love of all things Holy, please put the original bracelet back on it lol. Also I have a spare 16600 clasp and mine is fairly tight and the divers extension snaps tight and doesnt hang...

Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

How can you tell the lume condition from the photo? are there tell signs?

Thanks for confirming the snap is to be tight, mine certainly isn't.

But the original bracelet doesn't tell me discretely when an email comes in whilst sat in a meeting ;)


Thanks again all.