- 30/9/06
- 11,730
- 1,451
- 113
I have been asked by some members which is the better Daytona.
I got my first Daytona in 2002 which was a MBW with a 15 mm case and a working 7750. That was a great watch 16 years ago. Nobody talked about flaws etc. In the meantime I used to have the first JF with Asian J23 movement, then I got the ARF with A4130 ( modded 7750 with bridges ) and the latest are the noob 4130 .
I also own a franken 16520 with a zenith movemnent. So you know
now that Daytonas are the holy grail for me. Also to a lot of other people, the waiting line for the latest 116500 is about 8 years. You can get one if you are willing to pay about 5-6 K euro s over the list price. Now to the comparison.....
Let‘s start with the ARF
Out of the box it is a nice watch. It feels good, the bracelet feels nice but light and cheap, but so is the gen. Watch is made out of 904. SEL is good, Clasp is good. Dials are also good. What I do not like are the pushers, they are too long. They have upgraded in V2 the size but they are still incorrect. Also the angle is incorrect. I did not receive one with correct rehaut engraving. Way off. The case incl crystal is 13.1 mm vs 12.3 mm on the gen. Most of our TD say correct thickness, but that is not true. Now the worst part of the watch is the movement. It is a a7750 with deco bridges. The 3 and 9 o‘clock subdials are frozen and you cannot use the watch as a chronograph. Also, the rotor is very loud and doesn‘t wind well to give the watch enough power reserve. You can modd this with a gen eta rotor and shave the caseback down so that you reach about 12.8 mm. More is not possible, then the caseback will be too thin. This modd is about 100 euro and in my opinion a must on this watch.
Now to the noob
The noob is about 100 USD more but is 12.6 mm when is leaves the factory. The bracelet feels ok, I would say same as ARF but the SEL are not as good. I have changed the SEL from 6 to 12 on several watches and do not have any gaps. Clasp is also not my favorite, ARF is better. You can change the ARF clasp and put it on the noob which is 316 and you do not see the difference in color.
The SEL from ARF will not fit on the noob. Pushers on noob are excellent. Rehaut engraving is excellent. Some people say the rehaut is too high compare to gen, I cannot agree. The dials on version 1 were terrible, now they have upgraded the dials on v2 and they are much better. They still have some flaws, but they do not count for me. The case is the same as ARF, I do not see any big difference, except for the pushers which are gen like and have the same angle. I personally like the ceramic bezel on the noob better, it is more crisp and people without knowledge agreed. Now to the movement, it is a complete 98 % clone of the original Rolex 4130 movement. I had 4 watches in my hand, all of them have an Amp over 300, 3 of them gain 2 sec per day, one 5 sec in a week. Best is the power reserve, all over 72 h and the best is 82h. And the best part, winding and time setting is gen like. No jumping hour hand when you set the time. You get a fully functional chronograph with one of the best movements ever made in China. You can use this watch for a Franken build. It will take gen dial, gen hands with light modds, gen movement parts, gen crown. Gen dials are available starting from 600 euro to 900 euro, depending on lume color.
Conclusions, the ARF is a nice watch but I cannot wear a watch when the chronos do not work. I normally do not use them but looking in the past, my ARFs didn‘t get so much wrist time as the Noobs get. For 100 USD more you get a fully functional chrono and since the dials are upgraded on V2, no need for a franken.
The case on both are the same, compare the pics. If you never had a ARF Daytona, you will not feel the difference on the bracelet. In my opinion, the crystal is on both a little high. This could be resolved by modding the gasket. A gen gasket is not needed. But careful when you remove the ceramic bezel, without the right tool I cannot recomend this.
Now to some pics
Left ARF, right Noob V1
check out the bezel engraving
noob on top, better pusher but I would say, same case
ARF without bridges and eta rotor which is a must
solid clone movement from noob
gen
my franken
gen
franken
noob pushers and bezel engraving
Sent from my iPad with Tapatalk
I got my first Daytona in 2002 which was a MBW with a 15 mm case and a working 7750. That was a great watch 16 years ago. Nobody talked about flaws etc. In the meantime I used to have the first JF with Asian J23 movement, then I got the ARF with A4130 ( modded 7750 with bridges ) and the latest are the noob 4130 .
I also own a franken 16520 with a zenith movemnent. So you know
now that Daytonas are the holy grail for me. Also to a lot of other people, the waiting line for the latest 116500 is about 8 years. You can get one if you are willing to pay about 5-6 K euro s over the list price. Now to the comparison.....
Let‘s start with the ARF
Out of the box it is a nice watch. It feels good, the bracelet feels nice but light and cheap, but so is the gen. Watch is made out of 904. SEL is good, Clasp is good. Dials are also good. What I do not like are the pushers, they are too long. They have upgraded in V2 the size but they are still incorrect. Also the angle is incorrect. I did not receive one with correct rehaut engraving. Way off. The case incl crystal is 13.1 mm vs 12.3 mm on the gen. Most of our TD say correct thickness, but that is not true. Now the worst part of the watch is the movement. It is a a7750 with deco bridges. The 3 and 9 o‘clock subdials are frozen and you cannot use the watch as a chronograph. Also, the rotor is very loud and doesn‘t wind well to give the watch enough power reserve. You can modd this with a gen eta rotor and shave the caseback down so that you reach about 12.8 mm. More is not possible, then the caseback will be too thin. This modd is about 100 euro and in my opinion a must on this watch.
Now to the noob
The noob is about 100 USD more but is 12.6 mm when is leaves the factory. The bracelet feels ok, I would say same as ARF but the SEL are not as good. I have changed the SEL from 6 to 12 on several watches and do not have any gaps. Clasp is also not my favorite, ARF is better. You can change the ARF clasp and put it on the noob which is 316 and you do not see the difference in color.
The SEL from ARF will not fit on the noob. Pushers on noob are excellent. Rehaut engraving is excellent. Some people say the rehaut is too high compare to gen, I cannot agree. The dials on version 1 were terrible, now they have upgraded the dials on v2 and they are much better. They still have some flaws, but they do not count for me. The case is the same as ARF, I do not see any big difference, except for the pushers which are gen like and have the same angle. I personally like the ceramic bezel on the noob better, it is more crisp and people without knowledge agreed. Now to the movement, it is a complete 98 % clone of the original Rolex 4130 movement. I had 4 watches in my hand, all of them have an Amp over 300, 3 of them gain 2 sec per day, one 5 sec in a week. Best is the power reserve, all over 72 h and the best is 82h. And the best part, winding and time setting is gen like. No jumping hour hand when you set the time. You get a fully functional chronograph with one of the best movements ever made in China. You can use this watch for a Franken build. It will take gen dial, gen hands with light modds, gen movement parts, gen crown. Gen dials are available starting from 600 euro to 900 euro, depending on lume color.
Conclusions, the ARF is a nice watch but I cannot wear a watch when the chronos do not work. I normally do not use them but looking in the past, my ARFs didn‘t get so much wrist time as the Noobs get. For 100 USD more you get a fully functional chrono and since the dials are upgraded on V2, no need for a franken.
The case on both are the same, compare the pics. If you never had a ARF Daytona, you will not feel the difference on the bracelet. In my opinion, the crystal is on both a little high. This could be resolved by modding the gasket. A gen gasket is not needed. But careful when you remove the ceramic bezel, without the right tool I cannot recomend this.
Now to some pics
Left ARF, right Noob V1
check out the bezel engraving
noob on top, better pusher but I would say, same case
ARF without bridges and eta rotor which is a must
solid clone movement from noob
gen
my franken
gen
franken
noob pushers and bezel engraving
Sent from my iPad with Tapatalk
Last edited:
