Hello fellow rep lovers,
I'm here today to introduce you to a pretty peculiar and extremely unique build that I really love. I'm pretty confident to say that this is the apex of what you can build only using rep parts.
Here's a fun short story of what brought me to build this piece:
I started fantasizing about this project almost 2 years ago, the hype for the "new" Daytona 4130 clone movement was still incredibly high and rising, and so I decided to look for some information and see if i could find a way to build my own 116520 as well. I read and read, and I understood that, if I only wanted to use rep parts, I should have gone for an ARF v2 dial, and an ARF v1 bezel. In the end it took some time and effort to look for the pieces, but i built it, and it turned out awesome:
But as you know, only 1 Daytona is NOT enough. So I decided to get something a little less "sporty" if you could say that, and therefore I looked around for some info about the 116519. I was displeased to find out that the only 116519 that was available at the time was the one with the ceramic bezel and grey panda dial, a really cool watch, but totally out of my IRL budget, and it wouldn't feel believable on me. So I decided to wait, and see if something better was going to be released.
Of course, it never did.
Then i thought: Could it really be that NO ONE ever built a 116519 with a metallic bezel and racing dial? Like those beautiful classic and elegant Daytonas that are so beautiful either on a rubber or on a leather strap?.
So I looked around in the forum, and i found some old posts about the 7750 116509s, but the profile of the case was all wrong, and the bezel was FAT! Totally a lower level if compared to the noob release.
How is it possible that there is no good replica of the old school 116519?
I searched on DH Gate (don't do that) just to have an idea, and i found the only available reps of the 116519 models: the shitty "WINNER" 10$ reps that everyone hates, and I realized that those wouldn't have done it at all.
Well then, I didn't really want to do it, but I had to build my own.
Where to start? What to do?
First thing first, the base. Where should I start from? Since noob released their clone movement there was no point of going with any other factories other than them, so the starting point had to be one of their watches. It was pretty obvious that i had to start with their ceramic 116519, and then i would have had to change the bezel and dial.
This was the base watch i started with:
Bezel... Dial.... Doesn't seem that hard, let's start with the Bezel. Bezel... Bezel??
Are you seriously telling me that there are NO rep factories that make a respectable 116519 metallic bezel? Noob has released some new 116509s, let's take a look at those bezels... Dude what is this trash? Lucid paint? glossy finish on the engravings? Rounded font? No thanks!
The 7750's bezels were not an option, since they were too fat, I even dared to think about ordering one of those "WINNER" Daytonas only for the bezel, but then I saw some IRL pictures and the font was totally wrong as well.
I cannot make a good 116519 with a bad bezel.
How much is a gen White Gold bezel again? 1000 euros used... You can keep it as a paperweight for all I care. Also, you would see the difference in color between the 2 metals, not good for my OCD.
So this is the reason why no one managed to make a good replica of this beautiful watch.
And so, months passed.
The only thing that kept me from building this dream Daytona was a stupid steel ring... How hard could it be to make one with the correct font and matte paint?
But then, I finally found it. I couldn't believe it myself at first, since it was being sold in one of those token generic look-a-like websites, EVERYTHING was a red flag and it could have easily been a scam site, but I had to try.
So i bought it, and 3 days ago a packet arrived from Florida, I was ready to open it and I was totally expecting a DH Gate special edition, but i've never been happier for being wrong.
The font was 98% there (pun intended) and the paint was matte just like the gen. I could finally complete my build. Here is a picture of the bezel next to a gen 116519:
For the Dial, i decided to go for a beautiful Rodium Grey Racing dial, the reflections are absolutely insane, and i really like its versatility, it would become a perfect summer watch with a rubber strap, or the perfect wedding watch with a nice brown leather strap:
Then i had the subdials hand painted, and i was almost there.
The last touch: for some reason Noob decided to use an UGLY ASS whiteish gasket for their watches, maybe cut from an used condom, not really sure, don't really care, but a nice transparent gasket is a must, if you want to achieve that "genuine look and feeling" that makes you tingle down there.
So, i just had to build it.
And i finally did it!
From an ok 116519 with ceramic bezel, to an amazing and unique 116519 racing dial with metallic bezel. Here are some picture of the final piece, also compared to a genuine 116519:
And there we are, i will definitely post more pictures with a genuine daytona leather strap in the future, so you better subscribe to this post, so you can get the notification when i post them.
Remember here that we are talking about a watch that costs less than 5% of his genuine counterpart.
I'm happy to answer to all your questions
I'm here today to introduce you to a pretty peculiar and extremely unique build that I really love. I'm pretty confident to say that this is the apex of what you can build only using rep parts.
Here's a fun short story of what brought me to build this piece:
I started fantasizing about this project almost 2 years ago, the hype for the "new" Daytona 4130 clone movement was still incredibly high and rising, and so I decided to look for some information and see if i could find a way to build my own 116520 as well. I read and read, and I understood that, if I only wanted to use rep parts, I should have gone for an ARF v2 dial, and an ARF v1 bezel. In the end it took some time and effort to look for the pieces, but i built it, and it turned out awesome:
But as you know, only 1 Daytona is NOT enough. So I decided to get something a little less "sporty" if you could say that, and therefore I looked around for some info about the 116519. I was displeased to find out that the only 116519 that was available at the time was the one with the ceramic bezel and grey panda dial, a really cool watch, but totally out of my IRL budget, and it wouldn't feel believable on me. So I decided to wait, and see if something better was going to be released.
Of course, it never did.
Then i thought: Could it really be that NO ONE ever built a 116519 with a metallic bezel and racing dial? Like those beautiful classic and elegant Daytonas that are so beautiful either on a rubber or on a leather strap?.
So I looked around in the forum, and i found some old posts about the 7750 116509s, but the profile of the case was all wrong, and the bezel was FAT! Totally a lower level if compared to the noob release.
How is it possible that there is no good replica of the old school 116519?
I searched on DH Gate (don't do that) just to have an idea, and i found the only available reps of the 116519 models: the shitty "WINNER" 10$ reps that everyone hates, and I realized that those wouldn't have done it at all.
Well then, I didn't really want to do it, but I had to build my own.
Where to start? What to do?
First thing first, the base. Where should I start from? Since noob released their clone movement there was no point of going with any other factories other than them, so the starting point had to be one of their watches. It was pretty obvious that i had to start with their ceramic 116519, and then i would have had to change the bezel and dial.
This was the base watch i started with:
Bezel... Dial.... Doesn't seem that hard, let's start with the Bezel. Bezel... Bezel??
Are you seriously telling me that there are NO rep factories that make a respectable 116519 metallic bezel? Noob has released some new 116509s, let's take a look at those bezels... Dude what is this trash? Lucid paint? glossy finish on the engravings? Rounded font? No thanks!
The 7750's bezels were not an option, since they were too fat, I even dared to think about ordering one of those "WINNER" Daytonas only for the bezel, but then I saw some IRL pictures and the font was totally wrong as well.
I cannot make a good 116519 with a bad bezel.
How much is a gen White Gold bezel again? 1000 euros used... You can keep it as a paperweight for all I care. Also, you would see the difference in color between the 2 metals, not good for my OCD.
So this is the reason why no one managed to make a good replica of this beautiful watch.
And so, months passed.
The only thing that kept me from building this dream Daytona was a stupid steel ring... How hard could it be to make one with the correct font and matte paint?
But then, I finally found it. I couldn't believe it myself at first, since it was being sold in one of those token generic look-a-like websites, EVERYTHING was a red flag and it could have easily been a scam site, but I had to try.
So i bought it, and 3 days ago a packet arrived from Florida, I was ready to open it and I was totally expecting a DH Gate special edition, but i've never been happier for being wrong.
The font was 98% there (pun intended) and the paint was matte just like the gen. I could finally complete my build. Here is a picture of the bezel next to a gen 116519:
For the Dial, i decided to go for a beautiful Rodium Grey Racing dial, the reflections are absolutely insane, and i really like its versatility, it would become a perfect summer watch with a rubber strap, or the perfect wedding watch with a nice brown leather strap:
Then i had the subdials hand painted, and i was almost there.
The last touch: for some reason Noob decided to use an UGLY ASS whiteish gasket for their watches, maybe cut from an used condom, not really sure, don't really care, but a nice transparent gasket is a must, if you want to achieve that "genuine look and feeling" that makes you tingle down there.
So, i just had to build it.
And i finally did it!
From an ok 116519 with ceramic bezel, to an amazing and unique 116519 racing dial with metallic bezel. Here are some picture of the final piece, also compared to a genuine 116519:
And there we are, i will definitely post more pictures with a genuine daytona leather strap in the future, so you better subscribe to this post, so you can get the notification when i post them.
Remember here that we are talking about a watch that costs less than 5% of his genuine counterpart.
I'm happy to answer to all your questions
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