bklm1234 said:Jake,
I looked at George's MBW album. The MBW LV shown in the album has a badly shaped upper CG (the bottom looks like it's got chopped off a piece). 2 other members who recently bought confirmed it. I hope you are lukcy not to have gotten yours from that batch.
Instead of buying a MBW from George, I bought a TW Best black sub instead. It looks pretty much like the MBW except the CGs don't have the problem mentioned. The cyclop has a higher mag (like 3x) though. The crystal sits about .5 to .6mm above the bezel insert. It's because the bezel insert is just too thick. The insert is higher than the bezel. It should be very slightly recessed. After milling the insert (actually I'm gonna use a gen insert), I definitely will get the right crystal height. Having bought 5 subs previously (2 cheap ones from China, a new noob but already sold, a used LV noob, a Josh), I'm super happy with the TW Best. It's miles better than the others. Besides the deep rehaut (only slightly conical like the gen's), the bezel is not only good looking, but it's also tight and smooth. The case is polished very well. The bracelet is nothing to write home about. I put a very good spare from a cn sub on it and it's perfect fit. I have a noob dial to put in it and I will reshape the CGs.
-bm
haveblue said:excellent post jake!
one point of note is that the gen insert sits too high on the rep bezel... the insert will either need to be shaved or the bezel milled to allow the proper crystal height.
i am looking for modders who have experience with this type of work.
Yes - using the TW best classic sub was my next choice. I got lucky and the MBW LV sub I have has huge chunky CG's with plenty of metal to make for the correct shape. And as you have correctly stated, you have to mill a Gen bezel insert to fit deep enough into the bezel to give the crystal the right height. The other thing that a TW Best and MBW share is the actual thickness of the bezel itself. If you look very closely and compare a Gen bezel to a rep bezel (CN style bezel) you will see that the angles that are cut underneath and to the edges of the bezel are not the same and the CN bezels are too thin. The TW Best or MBW bezel have all the right angles and the bezels are thicker, just like Gen.
I am not going to attempt the mod work and will be sending my watch with all the parts to RBJ for the mods. He has done a few watches for me in the past and he really has a good eye for the minor details that are necessary to make the watch "just right"
haveblue send it to RBJ - you won't be dissapointed.