Ok. Here’s an update.
I’ve ended up with a Noob V9 to make the watch a full 904l example.
I ended up with a gen xtal as the lec was far finer on the gen and the AR was blue compared on the reps compared to the gen.
The Noob SELs fit better so, the bracelet is Noob V9 904l. I did change the clasp to the ARF v2 904l as the engraving and finish was closer to gen, in my observation.
The BP 114069 dial is damn close to gen. Even the 3,6,9 marker corners are a bit rounded as gen.
The gen hands are a day/night difference vs Noob. The Noob hands were somewhat tarnished and the edges are rough. The BP hands were much better but, the gen hands are nicely curved, the white gold is super warm and the edges are perfect.
Now, the bezel and insert. The Noob v9 bezel looks good from the top view. The teeth are now spaced like gen. However, from the side it is taller than gen by .1mm. That doesn’t sound like much but, the extra height is at the base and makes the whole assembly look fat.
I bought a new Clean Factory bezel and insert for a swap. The bezel height is gen correct and it snaps on the Noob v9 retaining ring like gen. That’s ironic as the Noob bezel does not. It actually pulled the crystal off when I removed the assembly. In short, the Noob bezel is a hot mess. The CF bezel is spot on to gen, other than the tooth spacing. They are too close together compared to gen. One note, I had to sand down the Noob retainer ring to 2.28mm for the CF bezel to sit at gen height. A Clark 2.3 mm gasket set the xtal height perfectly.
As for the insert , I had 3 options. The Noob V9, Clean Factory and a Gen insert I picked up. Ironically, I would give the Noob the nod over the Clean Factory for paint color and engraving depth/placement. The CF black ceramic looked closer to gen. But, the pearl and platinum playing on the gen just aren’t reasonably replicated right now. The pearl has a cream tint and everything on the rep market is white. Sure, I could spongebob either rep insert but, the pearl is just always screaming rep to me.
In the end the gen insert was the best route.
So here is the build spec:
- [x] Noob V9 116610
- [x] Gen XTAL
- [x] BP movement SA3130
- [x] BP 114060 dial
- [x] ARF clasp 904l
- [x] Gen hands
- [x] Gen insert
- [x] Clean Factory bezel
Here are the inserts Noob => Gen => CF for reference
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