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JF Daytona 23J Subdial frozen how to.

Stuvetjee

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credits to [MENTION=30895]2671[/MENTION] for making it now a great rep! ;)

I have made a few shots comparing the JF new 116520 to my Gen. It is amazingly close to the real deal. The crown guard reshaping suggest by a few fellas is a must compare to other minor discrepancies. The rehaut sanding and RRR removing is good if you have the skill to DIY due to wrong font and satin finish. The crown sits a bit low I would say about 1.0mm compared to gen, it don't look that bad in reality but it's there when you know what to look for. The bezel font and thickness seem fine to me, switching to 7750 bezel is a bit overdosed.

The gen tips the scale at 12.7 vs the rep 12.85 with the same protective film (from JF factory) stuck to caseback, to me it's dead on. For those who still anal about this can either shave the crystal gasket or the case back down 0.1mm... What amazes me is the overall fit and finish, it really screams gen, unlike Noob factory the new JFs don't have sharp edges anywhere on the watch head, it's a huge step forward in the rep world.

The SEL is rubbish while the clasp is 90% on the outside 50% inside, quality wise. That said I have a BP band ordered from a friend of mine who lives in GZ, yet to receive and I'll post an update when it gets in. I'll freeze the 3 & 9 Subdials when I have time to fiddle with it, it bothers me a bit for daily reset and I dun wanna pay for new crown and tube set every few months down the road... Enjoy the pics!
















23J white dial is breathtaking, nothing beats gen crystal! I am sure it's the same movement in ours. You also had the RRR engraving removed and sanded rehaut, it really brings it to the next level. Frankly I am not a big fan of the engraving gen or rep, plain jane always looks better to me.
This new JF 116520 does not have plastic movement spacer but a metal one.

The lug engravings say Steel & 18K Yellow Gold and 116523, I'd expect a 2 tone model to follow. I also have this old Canal Street rep given by a customer laying around, I bet that's the same one you had worked on in your thread.


I'll post an update when the new BP band comes in and time to work on the new Nan Ning 3836 (I believe it is) movement.

Here's a few pics for reference.


P.S. For those who are not familiar with this movement. The one with spring bars is JF's new 116520 with NN3836 movement.






MODDING THE SUBDIALS TO FROZEN:

It's time for a litte recap and update on this project. To disable the day date subdials on this JF 116520 Daytona, all you need to do is to remove TWO wheels as shown below. If you know what your doing and don't have a fainted heart, it's a great weekend DIY project for you.

Removing the movement from the case is pretty straightforward and I'll skip a thousand words. Dial off, first thing you'll notice is a plate or bridge, being held down by 11 screws! Carefully remove them and get the plate out of your way. Exposed are the day and date wheels, take off the two wheels as shown in my pics. You can also leave the levers there since they don't mean nothing now. A litte dab of epoxy glue on the two wheels to make sure they don't spin when you put the subdial hands back on. Voila, mission completed!

Since the movement was out, I spent sometime to sand off the rehaut engraving to a period-correct 2000-2005 year model and shaved off a chunk of metal (from the top) to thin out the thick rehaut. Reshaping the crown guards and polish the SEL on this JF band to my liking. In fact, this band is not that bad compared to the BP band I acquired from my GZ friend, nothing a bit of proper sanding and polish can't fix. The awkward SEL curve to some don't bother me too much cos I have small wrists. The BP band I got was $50 but quality wise don't even come close to any late model TC Sub band, so forget it...
























FINAL RESULT:





 

barth

Put Some Respect On My Name
5/10/12
3,482
106
63
Great thread ! And nice mod. The only other thing that's needed IMO is to replace with dial Rolex Coronet with a genuine one, as I think it would bug me.
 

2671

You're Saying I Can Sell?
4/9/10
79
1
8
I didn't have the white gen to do a size by size the day I handled it. The white's hour marker spacings are better executed than the black, that's all I can say: on the white, 6 o' clock hour marker has the proper spacing between the subdial as per gen. The few I had worked on recently were all black and they all have no or little space in between, plus marker has the tendency to tilt or crook. I compared pics on forums and checking QC pics from members, I can say that the white doesn't inherit this problem.

Last not least, the black has the wow factor and the white is bland, it could be the color itself though, Rollie white is not pure white but a sense of off-white. It's personal preference I agree. But if you can't decide between the two, get both! They are both nicely made and most accurate over-the-counter 116520 to date...
 

Ilsanto1962

Active Member
21/4/16
220
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18
Italia
I didn't have the white gen to do a size by size the day I handled it. The white's hour marker spacings are better executed than the black, that's all I can say: on the white, 6 o' clock hour marker has the proper spacing between the subdial as per gen. The few I had worked on recently were all black and they all have no or little space in between, plus marker has the tendency to tilt or crook. I compared pics on forums and checking QC pics from members, I can say that the white doesn't inherit this problem.

Last not least, the black has the wow factor and the white is bland, it could be the color itself though, Rollie white is not pure white but a sense of off-white. It's personal preference I agree. But if you can't decide between the two, get both! They are both nicely made and most accurate over-the-counter 116520 to date...

Thank you
You were very kind and very exhaustive.
Surely the two is better than one ... I Think :dry:
 

Mr.Marbella

I'm Pretty Popular
18/3/16
1,493
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what does this mod accomplish?

+1 Review seems very nice and I have carefully read it, but I don't seem to understand lol ????

It looks like a comparo between rep and gen, but I also didn't understand what the mod was ..
 

Hsamcdo3

You're Saying I Can Sell?
28/5/16
54
1
0
Hi can anyone help me identify this watch, I bought it in turkey a couple of years ago and it always seemed like a fairly good rep. Does anyone know what what factory/movement is in this watch? And also what does the general quality of the watch look like. It is the first 5 images on my input, ignore the others please! https://m.imgur.com/account/hsamcdo3/images
 

Hsamcdo3

You're Saying I Can Sell?
28/5/16
54
1
0
anyone help me identify this watch, I bought it in turkey a couple of years ago and it always seemed like a fairly good rep. Does anyone know what what factory/movement is in this watch? And also what does the general quality of the watch look like. https://m.imgur.com/account/hsamcdo3/images
 

Stuvetjee

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Is there any chance we could mod it with a gen dial?
Would be for me the ultimate modding. What i would like to do to mine:

-Gen dial
-Gen bezel
-Gen crystal
-Gen crown
-Crownguards shaving
-BP bracelet

I didn't have the white gen to do a size by size the day I handled it. The white's hour marker spacings are better executed than the black, that's all I can say: on the white, 6 o' clock hour marker has the proper spacing between the subdial as per gen. The few I had worked on recently were all black and they all have no or little space in between, plus marker has the tendency to tilt or crook. I compared pics on forums and checking QC pics from members, I can say that the white doesn't inherit this problem.

Last not least, the black has the wow factor and the white is bland, it could be the color itself though, Rollie white is not pure white but a sense of off-white. It's personal preference I agree. But if you can't decide between the two, get both! They are both nicely made and most accurate over-the-counter 116520 to date...
 

Stuvetjee

Russian Spambot Sales Moderator
Staff member
Moderator Sales
Certified
3/3/14
10,308
3,901
113
NL / Schweizer

John-Joohn

Known Member
3/8/16
178
16
18
South France
thank you [MENTION=80283]Stuvetjee[/MENTION].
Somebody have any experience concerning the reliability of the 7750 et and the 23J movements ? Many people say that there is not yet a reliable movement for daytonas... SAD :(
 

Stuvetjee

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A7750 tends to break faster due the bad conversion to the @6 seconds. But JF did ''improve'' it. Had never issues with mine. Eventually sold it and got the A23J which is more genlike in thickness and pushers.

thank you @Stuvetjee.
Somebody have any experience concerning the reliability of the 7750 et and the 23J movements ? Many people say that there is not yet a reliable movement for daytonas... SAD :(
 

Stuvetjee

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At first i was very sceptical about the 23J released Daytona. A chronowatch without a chrono?! (was my first thinking). But i then ordered it, and love it even more than the 7750. I used to always check wheter my 7750 was still working lol :p . The 23J movement works flawless on mine. And its a huge difference compared to the fat bulky A7550 version.

So if you go 'Tona, i would def. recommend the 23J version ;)

But what about this movement ? Is it good ? Better than the 7750 ? Or we can't already say 'cause its too recent ?
 

John-Joohn

Known Member
3/8/16
178
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18
South France
Thank you [MENTION=80283]Stuvetjee[/MENTION] for this good informations, it is a project for the end of the year and i want to make the good choice : daytona or not ?
[emoji106]thanks again


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