I write this guide with a very selfish reason. The sub has been rep'd so much but hasn't been to the standard the new models are rep'd, such as the PAM Ferrari's, Big Bang, etc. But maybe the dealers and factories see the demand is still strong, we might have a chance of getting a better sub than now. I think by raising our standards and awareness, we all wear better subs and hopefully get a 1:1 rep some day.
Generally speaking, the F520117 (the serial number on this particular sub) submariner (aka noobmariner/nymphomariner/beginmariner/etc.) is the best out-of-the-box sub rep, irregardless of price. The biggest complaint about it is its shallower rehaut, which IMHO is exaggerated. All in all some people are bothered by it. MBW/TW Best are supposedly the answer to those who demand a deeper rehaut at the expense of not getting the superior frontal of the F520117 sub. But they don't make the MBW like they used to. Sigh!! Both the current MBW and TW Best have its issue. So does the new Watchmaker9 so called 1:1 sub (which isn't covered in this review but in short, it ain't 1:1 quite yet). So there's no easy answer to "who has the best sub". This guide is to dig deep into each sub's strengths and weaknesses, what exactly the signatures of the sub are, how the various versions differ, what you should look at and look for when choosing a sub. You might regret reading this guide 'cause it trains your eyes to see the flaws which you didn't use to see.
Nitpicking
I'm going to point out the signatures of a sub with respect to the common rep flaws. Very nitpicky.
Rehaut
Depth
Everybody knows rehaut should be deep. The gen rehaut 2mm deep I was told. While you can't measure it in a pic, it's pretty easy to tell.
Gen rehaut, deep and almost cylindrical, only slightly conical:
Borrowed from By-Tor's Noobmariner review, this pic clearly shows the noobmariners' (offered by many dealers under different names) shorter rehaut.
Rehaut being too conical is another flaw which can be found on Josh's/Ruby's/Angus'/Silix's/Sash's/Andrew's Ultimate. It looks like a wok:
Thickness
Last thing about rehaut. It's little known and talked about but it's an important Rolex signature. Rehaut has a thickness of a little less than the width of a black sub 6 o'clock indice. MBW, TW Best, and the noobmariners got that quite right.
Gen:
Noobmariner vs a cn sub:
MBW:
Vipmariner's rehaut is deeper than the noobmariners' but not as deep as the gen's or the MBW's, a bit conical but not nearly as conical as the joshs and barely noticeable in real life, is about as thick as the joshs so not quite thick enough. The net is it has a bigger dial diameter than the real thing, the noobmariners, the joshs, the MBW, and the TW Best. When I put a noobmariner dial in the VIPmariner case, there's a bigger clearance from the minute markers to the rehaut. Check out my VIP-no-date-mariner. I take that rehaut over the noobmariners' for one more reason, thin crystal gasket (to be covered later):
MBW. Look at the deep (2.1mm, so 0.1mm deeper), thick, and cylindrical rehaut that is close to the gen's:
MBW on the left, gen on the right
River's TW Best has the same rehaut as the MBW. This pic from River was taken too close to the watch so the rehaut looks warped and therefore conical. But you can see the rehaut thickness pretty well here:
And if you look back at Sash's, it doesn't have nearly enough rehaut thickness.
Crystal
Gasket
Crystal gasket should be thin. Look at the gen pics above. The weakest in this department is the noobmariners. Again borrowed from By-Tor, you see a thicker band of grey above the rehaut.
gen on the right
Though not a major sub rep, WBK's is a good example of having a thick crystal gasket.
All other reps have very decent, thin crystal gaskets.
Beveling
Gen's crystal is beveled like this. The entire portion above the insert should be beveled. The MBW and TW Best mimic the very well:
The noobmariners are pretty good but still left part of it straight.
The other reps fall short on the beveling entirely.
VIPmariner:
the joshs:
But you know what? I find if the the crystal sits high enough (1mm on the gen) above the insert, the bevel error isn't that noticeable. So look for crystal height first.
Height
The crystal should be 1mm above the insert. If you put a gen insert in a MBW or TW Best, the crystal sticks out a little more than the gen's. it because the gen insert is flatter than the MBW/TW Best stock insert. Most other reps don't have enough crystal above the insert. You want to mill the insert thinner.
Bezel
Teeth
Bezel teeth on the gen are long and sharp. That's a very significant signature. Sub's bezel teeth are not that pointy unlike the Seadweller. MBW has that down really well. MBW bezel is simply gorgeous. TW Best are ranked second, followed by the VIPmariner and joshs, and then the noobmariner which has the shortest teeth. Please look at pics above. TW Best's bezel teeth are nice and long but the factory decided to polish them a little extra. So they have slightly rounded edges, lost that sharp teeth look.
TW Best bezel teeth:
Thickness
Gen's bezel is thicker on the bottom part than reps' except MBW's and TW Best's.
Gen:
MBW:
TW Best:
The noobmariners have thick bezels but they are thicker on the side instead of the bottom which still is a good look from a distance. The VIPmariner and the joshs both have thin bottoms.
Left is noob, right is a cn sub with bezel thickness like the VIPmariner and the joshs.
Insert
Insert Pearl
I put insert pearl in its own section because it's such an important signature of the sub. Most people don't know the construction of the insert pearl since it's so small. What makes up the look? So for the 1st time, insert pearl fully disclosed.
At an angle, the pearl seems to fill the ring edge to edge. But this spherical edge-to-edge thingie is just a shinny, clear cover.
Under the cover, the real white pearl sit recessed inside the ring.
This is why the pearl looks recessed but look at it from angle it's not.
This little known construction is what makes it look like it does.
It confuses the hell out of our rep makes. Or do they actually care? Some pearls are pretty funny-looking.
The Zit
The Flat-top
Some reps have decent pearls. Courtesy of Dukie:
Or this one:
Some not so good. This noobmariner has a zit:
Don't pick a sub rep by the pearl though. The pearl can be fixed but something like rehaut cannot. You can replace the pearl with a watchmaterial pearl which has the same construction as the gen but of course not perfect (pearl is slightly yellowy but at normal distnaces, it really looks like the gen. Check my VIP-no-date-mariner above too)
Unfinished...long way to go
Generally speaking, the F520117 (the serial number on this particular sub) submariner (aka noobmariner/nymphomariner/beginmariner/etc.) is the best out-of-the-box sub rep, irregardless of price. The biggest complaint about it is its shallower rehaut, which IMHO is exaggerated. All in all some people are bothered by it. MBW/TW Best are supposedly the answer to those who demand a deeper rehaut at the expense of not getting the superior frontal of the F520117 sub. But they don't make the MBW like they used to. Sigh!! Both the current MBW and TW Best have its issue. So does the new Watchmaker9 so called 1:1 sub (which isn't covered in this review but in short, it ain't 1:1 quite yet). So there's no easy answer to "who has the best sub". This guide is to dig deep into each sub's strengths and weaknesses, what exactly the signatures of the sub are, how the various versions differ, what you should look at and look for when choosing a sub. You might regret reading this guide 'cause it trains your eyes to see the flaws which you didn't use to see.
Nitpicking
I'm going to point out the signatures of a sub with respect to the common rep flaws. Very nitpicky.
Rehaut
Depth
Everybody knows rehaut should be deep. The gen rehaut 2mm deep I was told. While you can't measure it in a pic, it's pretty easy to tell.
Gen rehaut, deep and almost cylindrical, only slightly conical:
Borrowed from By-Tor's Noobmariner review, this pic clearly shows the noobmariners' (offered by many dealers under different names) shorter rehaut.
Rehaut being too conical is another flaw which can be found on Josh's/Ruby's/Angus'/Silix's/Sash's/Andrew's Ultimate. It looks like a wok:
Thickness
Last thing about rehaut. It's little known and talked about but it's an important Rolex signature. Rehaut has a thickness of a little less than the width of a black sub 6 o'clock indice. MBW, TW Best, and the noobmariners got that quite right.
Gen:
Noobmariner vs a cn sub:
MBW:
Vipmariner's rehaut is deeper than the noobmariners' but not as deep as the gen's or the MBW's, a bit conical but not nearly as conical as the joshs and barely noticeable in real life, is about as thick as the joshs so not quite thick enough. The net is it has a bigger dial diameter than the real thing, the noobmariners, the joshs, the MBW, and the TW Best. When I put a noobmariner dial in the VIPmariner case, there's a bigger clearance from the minute markers to the rehaut. Check out my VIP-no-date-mariner. I take that rehaut over the noobmariners' for one more reason, thin crystal gasket (to be covered later):
MBW. Look at the deep (2.1mm, so 0.1mm deeper), thick, and cylindrical rehaut that is close to the gen's:
MBW on the left, gen on the right
River's TW Best has the same rehaut as the MBW. This pic from River was taken too close to the watch so the rehaut looks warped and therefore conical. But you can see the rehaut thickness pretty well here:
And if you look back at Sash's, it doesn't have nearly enough rehaut thickness.
Crystal
Gasket
Crystal gasket should be thin. Look at the gen pics above. The weakest in this department is the noobmariners. Again borrowed from By-Tor, you see a thicker band of grey above the rehaut.
gen on the right
Though not a major sub rep, WBK's is a good example of having a thick crystal gasket.
All other reps have very decent, thin crystal gaskets.
Beveling
Gen's crystal is beveled like this. The entire portion above the insert should be beveled. The MBW and TW Best mimic the very well:
The noobmariners are pretty good but still left part of it straight.
The other reps fall short on the beveling entirely.
VIPmariner:
the joshs:
But you know what? I find if the the crystal sits high enough (1mm on the gen) above the insert, the bevel error isn't that noticeable. So look for crystal height first.
Height
The crystal should be 1mm above the insert. If you put a gen insert in a MBW or TW Best, the crystal sticks out a little more than the gen's. it because the gen insert is flatter than the MBW/TW Best stock insert. Most other reps don't have enough crystal above the insert. You want to mill the insert thinner.
Bezel
Teeth
Bezel teeth on the gen are long and sharp. That's a very significant signature. Sub's bezel teeth are not that pointy unlike the Seadweller. MBW has that down really well. MBW bezel is simply gorgeous. TW Best are ranked second, followed by the VIPmariner and joshs, and then the noobmariner which has the shortest teeth. Please look at pics above. TW Best's bezel teeth are nice and long but the factory decided to polish them a little extra. So they have slightly rounded edges, lost that sharp teeth look.
TW Best bezel teeth:
Thickness
Gen's bezel is thicker on the bottom part than reps' except MBW's and TW Best's.
Gen:
MBW:
TW Best:
The noobmariners have thick bezels but they are thicker on the side instead of the bottom which still is a good look from a distance. The VIPmariner and the joshs both have thin bottoms.
Left is noob, right is a cn sub with bezel thickness like the VIPmariner and the joshs.
Insert
Insert Pearl
I put insert pearl in its own section because it's such an important signature of the sub. Most people don't know the construction of the insert pearl since it's so small. What makes up the look? So for the 1st time, insert pearl fully disclosed.
At an angle, the pearl seems to fill the ring edge to edge. But this spherical edge-to-edge thingie is just a shinny, clear cover.
Under the cover, the real white pearl sit recessed inside the ring.
This is why the pearl looks recessed but look at it from angle it's not.
This little known construction is what makes it look like it does.
It confuses the hell out of our rep makes. Or do they actually care? Some pearls are pretty funny-looking.
The Zit
The Flat-top
Some reps have decent pearls. Courtesy of Dukie:
Or this one:
Don't pick a sub rep by the pearl though. The pearl can be fixed but something like rehaut cannot. You can replace the pearl with a watchmaterial pearl which has the same construction as the gen but of course not perfect (pearl is slightly yellowy but at normal distnaces, it really looks like the gen. Check my VIP-no-date-mariner above too)
Unfinished...long way to go
