Hey there @
slaughterer62 what makes you choose one upgrade over the other? I mean provided the movement is solid and it looks good on your wrist all the other upgrades seem purely cosmetic. I just cant see spending $1000-3000 to franken a watch unless you feel like you would be called out and made to look foolish. That's not happening with me personally so provided this thing doesn't drift much in time keeping it looks great.
For me I upgrade the parts that irritate me the most with their obvious departure from the model reference or their plain poor quality and finish. In the past this was bezel inserts, bezels, hands, crowns, crystals, and sometimes even the movements. My purchase history of gen Rolex parts from Sub007, Viper, and their like is pretty long. I am not really concerned about being "called out" at all. I am, like many here, just making upgrades for my own personal satisfaction. With the ARF Daytonas, all I did was swap the crystals, take out the deco plates, swap in a Swiss rotor, and machine the caseback down .5mm, and that was enough for me. I did not really feel the need to machine the pushers, and start the Franken process with a gen dial, although I can fully understand people who did that. With the ARF SD43, all I felt I needed to do was get rid of the Asian 2824 and put in a nice Swiss motor. With this new ARF Sub, it looks like I will be doing alot more work to get it to the point that I can wear it with satisfaction. I rarely wear rep watches out of the box: they all undergo an intense scrutiny and analysis of what is wrong with them and what could make them better. After I am satisfied with the improvements I can make, I wear them with more or less satisfaction. Personally, after maximally Frankening V6S and V7 Noob Subs for myself, the ARF has arrived a little late for me to consider it a base for yet another Sub Franken. Maybe I will change my mind once I see this review and hear more of the personal experiences of others I trust, but the ARF sub is not even on my short list of purchases in the near term at this point. Once I heard occb talking about Dremeling the bezel, I thought, "uh oh." And when guru sounds a little disappointed already before even getting his, I really think this model might be a kind of "value trap" for me personally.
