ARF 116500 Ceramic Daytona Franken 'light' has landed!! (very, very pic heavy!)

[retiredwatchguy68]

Good afternoon to you all around the globe!

Please find below a pictorial of my new Daytona built by hautehorloge over on RG which I am absolutely loving! I have taken pictures in a few different lighting situations in hopes of capturing the many faces of this beautiful watch. I do think it's impossible to show in pictures how it actually feels in the hand he has done a brilliant job in making the case and bracelet feel just like a Gen, it's very smooth and silky to the touch! The gen parts are just the icing on the cake, I really hope you enjoy the pictures

Obligatory spec list:

- Genuine Rolex hands (all)
- Genuine Rolex coronet installed on the dial
- Case repolish to gen specification (pics at the bottom of this in action)
- Polished rehaut
- Shortened pushers to gen specification
- Lowered crystal gasket
- Polished bracelet and clasp edges to gen spec
- Removed movement deco and installed gen 7750 rotor
- Thinned caseback
- Regulated movement
- Greased all seals for WR/safe for swimming etc

some pictures from 'the work bench' and completed project

 

[bettoban]

Beautiful, i'm modding my noob too. I notice that flush sel affect almost all noob daytona did you have planned any mod for this issue?

 

[TYL88]

The bracelet is nicely polished! Great work!

 

[Joeeyyyyyyyy]

Wow it took me forever to scroll to the comments with all those pictures lol! Great job, looks amazing and I really like how you took all the pictures. They seem professional. How much was it to mod this watch to get it the way you wanted? Also do you plan on doing any other mods?

 

[retiredwatchguy68]

Hi guys thanks for the all the kind words!

Joeeyyyyyyyy here’s a break down if helpful

Ceramic black Daytona latest ARF £396
Mods £264 for the entire Mod pack (insane value!)
Gen Hands (full set) & installation £367
Gen Coronet £135
Total £1,162

bettobanJoeeyyyyyyyy

also to answer your questions regarding further mods I honestly don’t know if there’s much more to do it’s definitley at a place I’m very happy with for now. If ARF ever did make a working chrono movement for their case then I wold buy one and transplant it but knowing the rep game it’ll be a wait and as I said I really am loving this watch so much

 

[guru]

The watch looks good.
But for about 1500 USD you have a watch which is too thick, caseback looks terrible and chrono does not work.
I used to have a ARF with gen dial and I liked it but when I has it on my wrist, it doesn‘t feel gen do to the bad movement.

 

[retiredwatchguy68]

The watch looks good.
But for about 1500 USD you have a watch which is too thick, caseback looks terrible and chrono does not work.
I used to have a ARF with gen dial and I liked it but when I has it on my wrist, it doesn‘t feel gen do to the bad movement.

Hey Guru! Honestly I wouldn’t know the difference between a good or terrible caseback I’m not super technical. I’m actually left handed and wear my watch on the right so using the chrono’s for me would be an incredibly awkward and ridiculous looking process (especially when out and about!) I totally understand I could have taken then next step and super franken’d a new noob watch but I’m happy with my decision and as you say the watch really does look good. I personally think it has a very gen feel to it but of course I don’t know as much about the Daytona as you! I’ve had 4 ceramic gens so I do have experience with them and I do feel this is very nice and close for the money, for me at least

p.s guru I know you don’t like the non chrono’s etc I am of course open to any suggestions you have for me mate

 

[guru]

p.s guru I know you don’t like the non chrono’s etc I am of course open to any suggestions you have for me mate

As I said before, the watch looks good. You could have achieved the same using a noob with 4130. Replace the dial with ARF dial and with all the other mods it would be perfect. Now you put the gen hands on a a7750 , but ok. You could tell me now that noob SEL is poor but looking at the SELs on your watch I have to say that NOOB is min as good or even better. Specially at 1, big gap.Another point is the missalligned rehaut engraving. They are totally correct on the noob version.

So do not get me wrong, it is a nice watch but for the money which is involved in this build you could have had a very close to gen replica with noob base. When I used my ARF franken with gen dial it looked great but when on the wrist, I was not so happy. Some internal voices told me, none working chrono, even if I did not use the chronos. If I look at my frankens now I know, everything is working as it should. If you can live with it, be happy.

If you owned 4 ceramic Daytonas you should feel the difference.

To me it is like driving a Porsche with a beatle 40 horse power engine. If you need the power there is nothing.

 

[brane]

Cool stuff. Wonder how your modder made the hands fit the 7750 movement. Modify the hands or the movement? Nonetheless enjoy it--thats all that matters!

 

[SOLEX]

As I said before, the watch looks good. You could have achieved the same using a noob with 4130. Replace the dial with ARF dial and with all the other mods it would be perfect. Now you put the gen hands on a a7750 , but ok. You could tell me now that noob SEL is poor but looking at the SELs on your watch I have to say that NOOB is min as good or even better. Specially at 1, big gap.Another point is the missalligned rehaut engraving. They are totally correct on the noob version.

So do not get me wrong, it is a nice watch but for the money which is involved in this build you could have had a very close to gen replica with noob base. When I used my ARF franken with gen dial it looked great but when on the wrist, I was not so happy. Some internal voices told me, none working chrono, even if I did not use the chronos. If I look at my frankens now I know, everything is working as it should. If you can live with it, be happy.

If you owned 4 ceramic Daytonas you should feel the difference.

To me it is like driving a Porsche with a beatle 40 horse power engine. If you need the power there is nothing.

This topic about the movement has been beat to death. It is totally up to the buyer to know what they want. Personally, very happy with my ARF and I do not care about the chrono that does not work as I would never bother using a rep chrono anyway. If a part breaks on the noob, you are screwed, if you need a part for the 7750, they are aplenty.

Aesthetically the ARF blows the Noob away, bottom line. Of course modding, adding ARF dial, bezel, and other bits will make a noob better, but if you want a great watch out of the box, the ARF is the choice. Same story as the Submariner, if you want to mod it up go for the NOOB, so you do have a point there.

Either way, the watch looks great, and I am sure the OP will enjoy it! I have had my ARF Daytona for about 10-11 months and I can't even think about taking it off my wrist for a moment to get it modded as I love it so much.

 

[CLS]

Cool stuff. Wonder how your modder made the hands fit the 7750 movement. Modify the hands or the movement? Nonetheless enjoy it--thats all that matters!

I don't believe it can be done. Looking at the staking of the hands, especially the center chronograph seconds, they don't look like Rolex hands.
Also, the satin brushing is too heavy and in some places not straight.
It's a good looking watch, I just hope you got what you paid for and are happy with the results.

 

[preppyr6]

This gorgeous no doubt. Money well spent. I personally would probably follow guru and build based on the noob movement...but I agree its entirely buyer's preference. I had the ARF v1 and loved it, but I do want to be able to throw a display caseback on there so Im going to do a noob build with ARF goodies.

This watch is definitely a modders dream at the moment.

 

[guru]

Aesthetically the ARF blows the Noob away, bottom line.

If you think so, ok. Looks like you like the SEL gap incl the missaligned rehaut on ARF.
Everybody has his own opinion, enjoy your ARF.
And btw, this is an open forum and we can talk 100x more about these movements.
I was asked for suggestions, thats why I answered. I don‘t care how people spend their maoney and what they buy.

 

[SOLEX]

If you think so, ok. Looks like you like the SEL gap incl the missaligned rehaut on ARF.
Everybody has his own opinion, enjoy your ARF.
And btw, this is an open forum and we can talk 100x more about these movements.
I was asked for suggestions, thats why I answered. I don‘t care how people spend their maoney and what they buy.

Rehaut alignment looks OK on mine, as does SEL. I am just speaking about my personal watch, and preference. Dial looks better on the ARF, bezel insert looks better on ARF, these are key items IMHO.

No need to go back and forth of course, I think if a cheap 904 116500 came my way I would give it a shot and implant my bracelet/dial/bezel insert onto it from the ARF.

 

[retiredwatchguy68]

guru totally agree everyone has their own opinion! I’m really interested to see a modded Noob with ARF dial etc etc has somebody here done one? I guess then you would save on the gen dial cost! I’d love to see one, I haven’t seen one yet also can I kindly ask when you say misaligned rehaut do you mean on mine particular or stock ARF? Just trying to understand what you are seeing that needs attention. Thank you.

 

[guru]

Well, I had 6 ARF and all had the misaligned print on the rehaut.
Also my last v2 I got. The lettering has to be aligned in the middle of the second tick. On your pics it shows the misalignment too.
Didn‘t you see my threads about ARF vs Noob or modding an ARF dial? Anyhow, here is a picture of my modded noob. BTW, I say it again, your watch looks great and from 2 feet away nobody would see that it is a rep. Same for any noobs.

Sent from my iPad with Tapatalk

 

[hautehorloge]

I don't believe it can be done. Looking at the staking of the hands, especially the center chronograph seconds, they don't look like Rolex hands.
Also, the satin brushing is too heavy and in some places not straight.
It's a good looking watch, I just hope you got what you paid for and are happy with the results.

First, i would like to thank ilovethiscity for this great review. It really shows off the beauty of this wonderful watch and it flatters my work on it. The sharpened and thinned lugs look beautiful in this lighting and the gen hands really come to life, which is difficult to photograph sometimes. It was a great joy working on it!

guru has a good point. The Noob 4130 is a marvel of quality in my personal opinion. I had the chance to observe it and tear it down and I’m stunned by it to put it straight. The absolute perfect build within a reasonable budget in my personal opinion is the Noob 116500 with thight SEL fitment (QC!), ARF dial with genuine coronet at 12, genuine hands, ARF bezel (the finish is just WAY better with correct platinum like pvded numerals instead of cheap off white paint and sharp unfinished edges on the Noob) and clasp plus some refinements to the lugs and bracelet, they are wrongly shaped and too soft. With the ARF present in this review, you have the best achievable result without sourcing a second watch for 600$ plus shipping. And not to brag, but nobody has achieved the gen case finish like i did so far, truth spoken. The Noob by itself is not acceptable to my personal standards.

tentenwatch Are you implying that the hands installed in this watch are not genuine, or am i misunderstanding you? Because they are indeed genuine hands that i modified to fit the 7750 including some tweaks to the movement itself.

Anyways, the most important mod to either the ARF or Noob are the correction of the lugs and case shape. It looks unfortunate to me when i see frankens with gen hands and dial without the corrected FAT stock ARF lugs, or the concave Noob lugs, both being way too soft and rounded. I’ve worked on over 20 ARF and Noob Daytonas now and perfected the finish. I don’t want to sound entitled but to give back to the community. The perfect dial font or other miniscule details fade away by this GLARING mistake by the factory. Just my personal opinion.

Stock, soft and fat:

Refinished with correct refined and sharp edge:

The genuine parts are just the icing on top.
Stock rep hands on a 116520:

And genuine hands and coronet on my personal 116500:

Hope this helps and wish everyone the best!

 

[retiredwatchguy68]

Well, I had 6 ARF and all had the misaligned print on the rehaut.
Also my last v2 I got. The lettering has to be aligned in the middle of the second tick. On your pics it shows the misalignment too.
Didn‘t you see my threads about ARF vs Noob or modding an ARF dial? Anyhow, here is a picture of my modded noob. BTW, I say it again, your watch looks great and from 2 feet away nobody would see that it is a rep. Same for any noobs.

Sent from my iPad with Tapatalk

guru I understand and thank you so much for sharing the pictures that’s a lovely one! Thanks for your 2 feet away comment also as I’m very happy with that

 

[CLS]

tentenwatch Are you implying that the hands installed in this watch are not genuine, or am i misunderstanding you? Because they are indeed genuine hands that i modified to fit the 7750 including some tweaks to the movement itself.

Infer what you will.

 

[hautehorloge]

Infer what you will.

Exactly. Be my guest.