A “ normal/mid” review of Daytona Noob 4130

[nothingelse]

This is not an “ high end” review but a mid/low review of a normal member of this community. Folks are telling us that Noob Daytonas black dial are so inaccurate and poor finished: almost a DhGate feel. I read lots of topics about this and went for the Grail: a nice white dial black bezel ceramic Daytona.There is consensus that this one is far better than black dial Daytona. Then I was caught in a long wait queue whit an out TD so I went for M2M




and took a 4130 black dial and ceramic bezel. I thought to get this in advance ( waiting for the white dial) and sell after some time in M2M sales, I thought... out of the package the watch is stunning, is definitely a” wow” watch... fatter subdials were my nightmare in pics, in real life are almost unnoticeable. Black and “platinum/steel” contrast is amazing. Only a very skilled Daytona owner could call out you. And then you could to push the chrono: so sweet and smooth and show him the almost right case thickness. And your Rolex owner friend could have even some doubts. Yes some doubts: because rotor is well silenced, pushers have a sweet/smooth action, seconds hand runs perfectly. Everything runs like an high end Chrono. In real life nobody cares about your subdials. A normal member here can take this watch whitout to get the Franken/modding way.A long and expensive journey. I have several nicest and accurate IWC reps and none of these is, after all, a “wow “ watch out of the box. This one is a wow watch. In the end if you love the black dial and can not deal whit a faux chrono and unreliable movement ( arf) and don’t mind an old fat 7750 ( unrielable too) this one is your way. A nice way. If Dh gate has this feel and quality ( like a read in several topics) I will get some dozens of those.
Cheers and I apologize for my gad English I did the best I could. Some random/real life mood pics.

 

[Condore]

It’s very nice that someone gives a simple ootb feedback. I’ve seen lots of topics about the 4130 w/ Arf White dial and Bezel ( which is the best way to get the perfect rep of the 116500 tho), but we forgot that by simply taking this beauty out of the box and just looking at it and being able to run the chrono (!!!!!!!) is just amazing. Thanks for your feedback, I think that many members have been embarrassed by the small details concerning the dial and bezel in general ahah


Sent from my iPhone using RWI

 

[nothingelse]

It’s very nice that someone gives a simple ootb feedback. I’ve seen lots of topics about the 4130 w/ Arf White dial and Bezel ( which is the best way to get the perfect rep of the 116500 tho), but we forgot that by simply taking this beauty out of the box and just looking at it and being able to run the chrono (!!!!!!!) is just amazing. Thanks for your feedback, I think that many members have been embarrassed by the small details concerning the dial and bezel in general ahah


Sent from my iPhone using RWI

It is a cool and” WOW” watch out of the box. More plus, if you don’t like everyone looks at your watch, don’t buy this watch. It is a magnet for folks all around you. My wife never told me a single word about my watches. When she saw this one , she , suddenly, asked me” How much did YOU ( grrrrrr) spend for this ( roarrrrr) . So this is the real weak side of this watch????????????


Sent from the RWI App

 

[CHEMICALMAN]

ARF unreliable? I’m waiting on one right now


Sent from my iPhone using RWI

 

[ubzer]

ARF unreliable? I’m waiting on one right now


Sent from my iPhone using RWI

no it is not for sure. I have both, the Noob and the ARF. The movement works well. No Chrono function but who cares

 

[mech500]

Thanks for the real life feedback. Enjoy

 

[CHEMICALMAN]

no it is not for sure. I have both, the Noob and the ARF. The movement works well. No Chrono function but who cares

Exactly. I’d rarely use it. And for $180 more it’s not close to worth it


Sent from the RWI App

 

[nothingelse]

In real life some gen subdials that somebody could reject here ( I know it is a 116520)

 

[SubdayExpress]

I just bought a Noob 116520 Black dial from a TD a few weeks ago just to see how it really felt. Case and bracelet are great, but to your point about the fatter subdials being your nightmare, they are garishly oversized in person and the rehaut appears a tad too tall. The movement is butter smooth tho, but sitting side-by-side with my ARF 116520, the dial absolutely looks very “Dhgate”

 

[nothingelse]

I just bought a Noob 116520 Black dial from a TD a few weeks ago just to see how it really felt. Case and bracelet are great, but to your point about the fatter subdials being your nightmare, they are garishly oversized in person and the rehaut appears a tad too tall. The movement is butter smooth tho, but sitting side-by-side with my ARF 116520, the dial absolutely looks very “Dhgate”

I doubt I can find a Daytona 116500 owner
to match my watch side by side but look at this in a “ spotwatches” page. Our next door guy or office colleague could ask us to show how chrono works. I can deal whit fatter subdials ( in the worst case I can switch my dial for a 116520 gen dial) but I would be more and more worried about a fake chrono.

 

[shotgun]

Great review, chrono working and this is a great news in the market rep, but dial is horrible, totaly wrong,very similar to DHgate..my 2 cents..

 

[nothingelse]

Great review, chrono working and this is a great news in the market rep, but dial is horrible, totaly wrong,very similar to DHgate..my 2 cents..

If you chose to go for modding /franken way would be your best advice/solution? Getting an arf and translate bezel and dials or getting a genuine 116520 dial ( lots on chrono and eBay)? I think that whit Arf solution you spare some money and get a worse second watch to use whenever you want , whit gen dial you get a nice build, very hard to spot: several 116520 gen owners fitted ceramic bezels on their watch to get them close to 116500 look, so you get a great watch. What is your opinion? Thanks

 

[shotgun]

My best choice is gen dial, is the must for this watch, but is ok ARF dial and bezel ,it's a fair compromise.

 

[nothingelse]

My best choice is gen dial, is the must for this watch, but is ok ARF dial and bezel ,it's a fair compromise.

An 116520 dial you mean? 116500 dials are impossible to sort and very very expensive.


Sent from the RWI App

 

[CHEMICALMAN]

I doubt I can find a Daytona 116500 owner
to match my watch side by side but look at this in a “ spotwatches” page. Our next door guy or office colleague could ask us to show how chrono works. I can deal whit fatter subdials ( in the worst case I can switch my dial for a 116520 gen dial) but I would be more and more worried about a fake chrono.

And next door guy is going to hold the watch at stare at it for over 60 seconds to see the sub move?


Sent from the RWI App

 

[SubdayExpress]

I doubt I can find a Daytona 116500 owner to match my watch side by side but look at this in a “ spotwatches” page. Our next door guy or office colleague could ask us to show how chrono works. I can deal whit fatter subdials ( in the worst case I can switch my dial for a 116520 gen dial) but I would be more and more worried about a fake chrono.

I agree with you about having a watch that is not fully functioning, but the chrono hand on the ARF does function so it would take several minutes of someone monitoring the subdials to be “exposed.” If someone has enough knowledge of a Daytona, there is no hiding the fat subdials on the Noob.

Bottom line: The noob movement, based on my limited time with it, is really fantastic and hands down the best choice. You could swap the ARF 116500 dial (with some mods) and ceramic bezel to a 116520 Noob for a beautiful watch. Yeah, a real 116500 dial would be best but as you said, but good luck finding one!

The best combo, in my opinion, is to swap the Noob movement into an ARF case which has better positioned pushers as well as a much nicer rehaut than the Noob case. Some have said that the movement swap can’t be done but another member on here has done just that!!

 

[nothingelse]

I agree with you about having a watch that is not fully functioning, but the chrono hand on the ARF does function so it would take several minutes of someone monitoring the subdials to be “exposed.” If someone has enough knowledge of a Daytona, there is no hiding the fat subdials on the Noob.

Bottom line: The noob movement, based on my limited time with it, is really fantastic and hands down the best choice. You could swap the ARF 116500 dial (with some mods) and ceramic bezel to a 116520 Noob for a beautiful watch. Yeah, a real 116500 dial would be best but as you said, but good luck finding one!

The best combo, in my opinion, is to swap the Noob movement into an ARF case which has better positioned pushers as well as a much nicer rehaut than the Noob case. Some have said that the movement swap can’t be done but another member on here has done just that!!

I can see your point. But I don’t agree about 2 things
1) pushers at far better and positioned on noob( check pics and there is consensus about that)
2) no hope to fit noob movement on arf case: I am almost sure until now any if you even could it would be a very hard modding solution (you will need to waste lots of time and money even if you really can do it).
A super nice solution would be to fit a gen 116520 dial on noob case. And even a custom dial ( I found several of these on line) fir Daytona 116520. But you won’t get a second ( worse) watch to use whitout thoughts.

 

[nothingelse]

And next door guy is going to hold the watch at stare at it for over 60 seconds to see the sub move?


Sent from the RWI App

Maybe he doesn’t and maybe he does. Daytonas, sub and Batman are the most popular watches and there are lots of vids on YouTube to spot a fake. Some vids are laughable but few are very useful for your next door guy. A friend of mine the first thing he checked on my watch was the thickness of the case. I was surprised . So you don’t know what an other guy knows.

 

[mech500]

Our next door guy or office colleague could ask us to show how chrono works. I can deal whit fatter subdials ( in the worst case I can switch my dial for a 116520 gen dial) but I would be more and more worried about a fake chrono.

Not sure I would entertain messing around with the Chrono on a gen £12k watch to show others how it works. Even if someone asks me (for example) show me how the bezel works on my gens, I just say I don’t like messing around with my watches but if it bothers you then it is what it is.

 

[SubdayExpress]

I can see your point. But I don’t agree about 2 things
1) pushers at far better and positioned on noob( check pics and there is consensus about that)
2) no hope to fit noob movement on arf case: I am almost sure until now any if you even could it would be a very hard modding solution (you will need to waste lots of time and money even if you really can do it).
A super nice solution would be to fit a gen 116520 dial on noob case. And even a custom dial ( I found several of these on line) fir Daytona 116520. But you won’t get a second ( worse) watch to use whitout thoughts.

Take a look at this thread where a Noob 4130 has been installed in an ARF case:

https://forum.replica-watch.info/fo...-starting-my-new-build-arf-904-with-noob-4130