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Noob Daytona vs ARF Daytona

guru

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I have been asked by some members which is the better Daytona.
I got my first Daytona in 2002 which was a MBW with a 15 mm case and a working 7750. That was a great watch 16 years ago. Nobody talked about flaws etc. In the meantime I used to have the first JF with Asian J23 movement, then I got the ARF with A4130 ( modded 7750 with bridges ) and the latest are the noob 4130 .
I also own a franken 16520 with a zenith movemnent. So you know
now that Daytonas are the holy grail for me. Also to a lot of other people, the waiting line for the latest 116500 is about 8 years. You can get one if you are willing to pay about 5-6 K euro s over the list price. Now to the comparison.....

Let‘s start with the ARF
Out of the box it is a nice watch. It feels good, the bracelet feels nice but light and cheap, but so is the gen. Watch is made out of 904. SEL is good, Clasp is good. Dials are also good. What I do not like are the pushers, they are too long. They have upgraded in V2 the size but they are still incorrect. Also the angle is incorrect. I did not receive one with correct rehaut engraving. Way off. The case incl crystal is 13.1 mm vs 12.3 mm on the gen. Most of our TD say correct thickness, but that is not true. Now the worst part of the watch is the movement. It is a a7750 with deco bridges. The 3 and 9 o‘clock subdials are frozen and you cannot use the watch as a chronograph. Also, the rotor is very loud and doesn‘t wind well to give the watch enough power reserve. You can modd this with a gen eta rotor and shave the caseback down so that you reach about 12.8 mm. More is not possible, then the caseback will be too thin. This modd is about 100 euro and in my opinion a must on this watch.

Now to the noob
The noob is about 100 USD more but is 12.6 mm when is leaves the factory. The bracelet feels ok, I would say same as ARF but the SEL are not as good. I have changed the SEL from 6 to 12 on several watches and do not have any gaps. Clasp is also not my favorite, ARF is better. You can change the ARF clasp and put it on the noob which is 316 and you do not see the difference in color.
The SEL from ARF will not fit on the noob. Pushers on noob are excellent. Rehaut engraving is excellent. Some people say the rehaut is too high compare to gen, I cannot agree. The dials on version 1 were terrible, now they have upgraded the dials on v2 and they are much better. They still have some flaws, but they do not count for me. The case is the same as ARF, I do not see any big difference, except for the pushers which are gen like and have the same angle. I personally like the ceramic bezel on the noob better, it is more crisp and people without knowledge agreed. Now to the movement, it is a complete 98 % clone of the original Rolex 4130 movement. I had 4 watches in my hand, all of them have an Amp over 300, 3 of them gain 2 sec per day, one 5 sec in a week. Best is the power reserve, all over 72 h and the best is 82h. And the best part, winding and time setting is gen like. No jumping hour hand when you set the time. You get a fully functional chronograph with one of the best movements ever made in China. You can use this watch for a Franken build. It will take gen dial, gen hands with light modds, gen movement parts, gen crown. Gen dials are available starting from 600 euro to 900 euro, depending on lume color.

Conclusions, the ARF is a nice watch but I cannot wear a watch when the chronos do not work. I normally do not use them but looking in the past, my ARFs didn‘t get so much wrist time as the Noobs get. For 100 USD more you get a fully functional chrono and since the dials are upgraded on V2, no need for a franken.
The case on both are the same, compare the pics. If you never had a ARF Daytona, you will not feel the difference on the bracelet. In my opinion, the crystal is on both a little high. This could be resolved by modding the gasket. A gen gasket is not needed. But careful when you remove the ceramic bezel, without the right tool I cannot recomend this.

Now to some pics

9c80a6c4a0ec47ac377da48bb1b3c2b7.jpg


Left ARF, right Noob V1

79c3e2eea629a542879484584fa6bf43.jpg


check out the bezel engraving

1c5bc9155157a0f226d1799fd316bcb1.jpg


noob on top, better pusher but I would say, same case

3f29bbbcfc06b44d5f5d4fe26d0e631d.jpg


69244192ec743ac3f05c8b31e49a0a87.jpg


ARF without bridges and eta rotor which is a must

8d76fc7d725f02c4f3435602cd679e8f.jpg


solid clone movement from noob

dc7a01fbc5445dfa889a40204fe1e50c.jpg


9292335bf2668be998e4a23b69dcbec1.png


gen

90801b7c3df3ec40b030ecf14f4b7704.jpg


my franken

ed937b4b2e1dc3703c9bc97f8e8aa9be.png


gen

de321a31442db644b6f11ece4736a487.jpg


franken

8c7c7d06428aa394cb5c448da53781b5.jpg


noob pushers and bezel engraving




Sent from my iPad with Tapatalk
 
Last edited:

Marius13

Active Member
23/9/14
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Albania
Thanks Guru, great review. Do we have any news on the case engravings of the 116520s ? The V1 had 116500 engraved in all the versions Ceramic bezels and SS bezels also. To me the dials of the 116520 are far more correct than the dials of the ceramic models.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 

rolexwatchfan

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17/8/13
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Thank you for the Myth Busters style comparison. Without side by side comparison the ARF crowd cannot understand that their watch of choice isn't superlative over Noob even on the "outside". I've been stressing this long enough but your review nailed it in the head. (I love Daytona, owned JF7750 for a while but never "frozen chrono" ARF) The 4130 clone Noob is the watch I was waiting for the longest time in my rep journey. Got FOUR so far and planing on adding more to the bunch.
 

guru

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Thanks Guru, great review. Do we have any news on the case engravings of the 116520s ? The V1 had 116500 engraved in all the versions Ceramic bezels and SS bezels also. To me the dials of the 116520 are far more correct than the dials of the ceramic models.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

V2 is correct, check out the picture.
And yes, I agree, dials on 116520 are much better.
On V2 subdials are correct color and correct spacing.
859449c4f0e0c187bc684262a8efd750.jpg



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stilo

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9/5/13
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Great post and thanks for sharing! I've been eyeing Daytonas for a while and your comparison has made me lean towards a Noob.
 

timnic54

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Great post Thank you Finally the truth emerges and it is exactly as I thought, but never having owned the ARF I could not confirm it.
 
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guru

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Here is a wristshot of the noob v2, I think the dial is much better then v1 and if you do not want to go the franken way, it is a really good watch for the price you pay.

aa5192cf858c8d6188bfc6b7f4683ab4.jpg





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mushkie511

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17/7/18
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Here is a wristshot of the noob v2, I think the dial is much better then v1 and if you do not want to go the franken way, it is a really good watch for the price you pay.

aa5192cf858c8d6188bfc6b7f4683ab4.jpg





Sent from my iPad with Tapatalk

Gorgeous. Can’t wait to purchase this. Where it well mate!


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Sdc83

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20/1/13
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What a pity, for the thin numbers of the Noob bezel.
Is the difference between 904L and 316L perceived?
 
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lcsrep11

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I still prefer the ARF, the SS bezel on the noob and the sub dials on all ive seen still look weird. Arf still looks closer to gen for me and really who uses a chrono ? Never had anyone ask me to show them a working chrono on my gen daytona in the 7 years i've owned it. Part of me is a little gutted these daytona's are getting so good because on the wrist I doubt I could cal either out without getting my hands on it physically. Fake daytona's used to be laughable. Im now seriously tempted to sell the gen pocket the money and buy one of these.
 

christo14

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I still prefer the ARF, the SS bezel on the noob and the sub dials on all ive seen still look weird. Arf still looks closer to gen for me and really who uses a chrono ? Never had anyone ask me to show them a working chrono on my gen daytona in the 7 years i've owned it. Part of me is a little gutted these daytona's are getting so good because on the wrist I doubt I could cal either out without getting my hands on it physically. Fake daytona's used to be laughable. Im now seriously tempted to sell the gen pocket the money and buy one of these.

Prefer the ARF too, look of the subdials, bezel and clasp all are very close to gen. The only thing with the ARF is the pusher angle but seriously not noticeable to 99.99999% of gen daytona owners
 
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