All these details will be redundant as soon as you hand the watch over to a gen owner, let alone a dealer/watch smith. The feel is what always gave my TC's away - even with a lot of work to bracelet it still didn't cut it as the case just feels off somehow. I had one TC once that had been repolished and brushed by a guy working at a Rolex AD with the correct machinery. This one I would argue could pass off as gen. Most gen owners do NOT pay any attention to the small details we obsess about, and in this regard I think that my noob V2 sub-c is doing a great job, a few gen owners have held it and thanks to the magnificent bracelet and smoooooth bezel operation they did not call it out. The difference in date-mag, insert etc. will most often be "blamed" on year-to-year variations that most gen owners do not know about. I am beginning to learn more and more that if a rep FEELS exclusive - and the newer Noobs do - only a very very limited crowd will suspect anything. I hope the V3 gets the insert better, and would be nice if the lume on the hands were not so white in daylight, buuuut as for feel and exclusive factor the Noob people raelly got it figured out - they must have some pretty great machinery in the factory to make these things.
I have just sold off a Sean franken, and to be honest I don't think anyone would call this out, gen owner or AD, because it just feels so damn gen-like - oozes quality and all the critical parts for details are gen. I think TC has got some great eyes for detail, but I think they still lack in the most important aspects - case finish, bracelet finish and bezel operation. The whole thing might look good but it just feels darn cheap. The 16610 bracelet is notorious for rattling like a bastard, but the WAY it rattles is quite unique and is hard to replicate - although it can be done with serious sanding and polishing to each link. TC - get a better finish of the case and a better bezel and we would have a winner.
