Rolex Daytona Gen Dial Issues and how it relates to Reps

[Rathfus]

I've been reading and learning a lot about the Noob and ARF Daytona Reps over the past few months.

Something that seems to come up often enough are concerns that the dials are not centered in the QC pictures.
This often seems to be a reason to reject a watch.

Interestingly enough, a friend of mine purchased a Genuine Daytona 116500 yesterday and the first thing I noticed is that the dial is not centered.
Now while I suppose it is possible that he bought a rep, I was with him at the Birks Rolex Dealer when it was purchased so that would have to be a huge magnitude of shadiness/fraud if it isn't Gen.

My question is this,
If the Gen Daytonas are also known to have off centered dials, how picky should one be when assessing QC photos of a Rep?
I'm hoping to get a Noob V2 at some point but still researching so that I know everything to look for (and what to let slide) when it comes my time to buy.

Here is an image of the brand new Gen Daytona with the off entered dial:


https://imgur.com/FqUEnIB

Thanks

 

[mari115]

The picture is not really straight, so it could not be 100% like that, but you can see how it's not really centered, damn!

 

[capice]

make a pic straight on the dial, now it looks like it has been taken in an angle...hard to tell...If it's a gen, your friend should get it sorted rightaway

 

[roseimperial]

I must be totally blind because I can’t see how it’s off center at all D:

 

[mari115]

I must be totally blind because I can’t see how it’s off center at all D:

check the dial in relation to the bezel, one of the 2 could be off centered, or it could be just the angle of the pic

 

[Nivka]

It’s very slightly off centre and there are slight tolerances of error in gens. My gen 116610’s date ticks over at 12:10. If you haven’t pointed it out I doubt he’d notice. People are way too picky with their qc in this hobby.

 

[Rathfus]

It might be a little while before I see him again but when I do I will post some better photos.

Yes it's pretty obvious once you see the off centered dial.
Particularly because the 9 o'clock side of the dial touches the rehault while the 3 o'clock side has an easily visible gap between the seconds and the rehault.

I probably shouldn't have but I did point out the off centered dial to my friend.
He notices it now but is still currently over-the-moon with the watch since he was on a weight list for just shy of 5 years.

 

[Rathfus]

check the dial in relation to the bezel, one of the 2 could be off centered, or it could be just the angle of the pic

The bezel is actually aligned perfectly.
It's the actual face of the dial.

I definitely didn't take a good picture but if you look at the small tics representing seconds/2 tenths of seconds you'll notice that around the 9 o'clock position the are touching the rehault while on the 3 o'clock position there is a larger gap.

I'll return with a better picture when I have a chance to see this watch again

 

[mari115]

The bezel is actually aligned perfectly.
It's the actual face of the dial.

I definitely didn't take a good picture but if you look at the small tics representing seconds/2 tenths of seconds you'll notice that around the 9 o'clock position the are touching the rehault while on the 3 o'clock position there is a larger gap.

I'll return with a better picture when I have a chance to see this watch again

oh i see you mean that, now that you mention it i see it, i thought you meant tilted

 

[SuperLory]

i saw this in almost any other daytona rep. Makes them 1:1 lol

 

[peterpl]

Hard to tell from that picture being on an angle etc.... You need a perfectly straight on head shot

 

[CarlosFFF]

I feel like this comes up every now and then in the rep community.

The issue is caused by the movement having lateral play inside the case.

You can fix the issue yourself on the watch by opening the caseback, loosening the case clamps, gently nudging the movement in the direction desired, and then tightening the case clamps again.

Gens and reps both deal with this "issue," which is really just a consequence of tolerance in machining.

No reason to reject a watch at QC, assuming you have the tools to fix it.

 

[KJ2020]

Shifting the rotational orientation of a dial in a Daytona is not advisable (and mostly not possible) due to there being no give in the stem position but even more so no give in the pushers.

Regarding the gen pic, it's not perfectly head on but the angle off is very slight, not enough to make the apparent positions of the 60 /120 so far right. Plus OP stated it looks that way in person. If true, this is not a dial issue because both 60 /120 are offset to the right. This would indicate a bezel engraving issue because no dial (or bezel) repositioning can fix two offsets to the right. Also, the 240 and 80 are perfectly centered so changing anything will ruin those.

If this is really the case, I would never have followed through with the purchase as it would drive me nuts, even on rep let alone a gen.

In the pics below, see how much angle offset it takes to make the 60 /120 look as far right as the OP's pic.

 

[tmp2018]

yes, this not centered dial / gap is not uncommon - on a rep its no problem imho, but on a gen: as the dial is the most important part (FOR ME) it would really p*** me off...

 

[Rathfus]

make a pic straight on the dial, now it looks like it has been taken in an angle...hard to tell...If it's a gen, your friend should get it sorted rightaway

Finally had a chance to get another straight on photo.
The asymmetry is actually more noticeable in person than it is in this picture strangely enough (although not noticeable unless you were looking hard to find it)
The face is slightly shifted to the left which gives more space between the rehaut and the indices on the right (3 o'clock) compared to the left.

 

[MadWatcher]

It looks like it shifted towards the 11 o’clock side cause at 5 o’clock there’s more space there.

I’ve looked at hundreds of pictures of gen Daytonas and watched countless videos of them and the majority of them do have a perfectly center dial.

 

[Alexccmeister]

Wow, you guys are darn picky. LOL!! I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. My ears on the other hand though do a good job telling if the rep is a rep.

 

[Rathfus]

It looks like it shifted towards the 11 o’clock side cause at 5 o’clock there’s more space there.

I’ve looked at hundreds of pictures of gen Daytonas and watched countless videos of them and the majority of them do have a perfectly center dial.

Do you mean you are suspicious that this is not a Gen or do you say this as a way of suggesting the watch be serviced by Rolex?

 

[MadWatcher]

I'm not suspicious of it cause you said he got it from an AD and you were there so I'm sure it is a gen. I'm just saying that not all gen is going to have a perfectly centered dial but most of them do. I've seen picture of a few gen watches where the dial is a bit off centered too.