Twenty-two years, one reference: the 16610 carried the Submariner Date from the late 1980s to 2010 with the caliber 3135, the last aluminum bezel insert in the line, and a production consistency that made it the default luxury dive watch of its era. Its fiftieth-anniversary sibling, the green-bezel 16610LV Kermit, became a collected reference in its own right.
The 16610's problem is not frankenwatching - parts consistency and sheer volume make assembly fraud unprofitable - it is counterfeiting, because the Submariner is the most copied watch on earth and the 16610 is the most copied Submariner. The fakes range from flea-market obvious to good enough that the standard advice applies even to confident buyers: serial and reference engravings, movement inspection, and a seller who welcomes both.
The accessible classic and the counterfeiters' favorite target, which makes it the reference where eBay's own authentication program earns its keep - watches over the threshold get physically inspected in transit, and for a 16610 that service is worth routing the purchase through. Buy the seller, verify the serial era against the watch's details, and let the inspectors do their pass.
Production windows and specifications compiled from documented collector references and period catalogs, cross-checked across independent sources; manufacturer records for this era are approximate by Seiko's own account.