In the style of an occb2 late night ramble (which I like): Received my V9 LV finally. Cut to the chase: I like it, but it is far from perfect (already curious about smoke edition ARF LN/SH and maybe Noob V10, LOL). Here the breakdown: My V9 sel is relatively flush with case. My V7 had sunken sels. Of course, all V9 and all V7s are not the same, obviously. The loose tolerances of the Noob mid-case manufacturer means there will be a large variation within the same Version number, and inter-version comparisons will never be fully grounded. What you get is a gamble: you cannot even control it through QC photos, as angle of photo, reflection will control perception. Side note: It is funny that people are freaking out about whether they got a V9 or a V8: if it has a red 904L print on the bracelet plastic, then it is a V9. Simple as that. That does not mean that it will have sunken sels or even consistent lug shape. There is tremendous variation in the QC photos people have posted, but as long as it has the red 904L sticker, then it is V9. What does 904L mean? Well, your V7 will look like it is made of titanium compared to the V9: the V9 is shinier and more metallic silver. It also wears a little heavier, and rougher. The guy who complained about Noob not having the right machines for machining 904L made a nice insight: there is something a little rough and stiff about the whole V9 bracelet and case. Another topic: the green bezel color of the V9 LV is alot like a few V7 LVs, but with a white fill. The bezel fill is not platinum at all. It is as if Noob actually noticed that their V7 bezels fills were too dark and went too far in the opposite direction with a white fill. If people think that V9 will allow them to avoid the spongebob/smoke/USSDasein splutter modification or the platinum pen, they are wrong: the fill on the bezel is white. You will still need to fill it with platinum--the right shade of platinum. Also, the green, while nice, does not entirely replicate the gen green bezel. Gen green has a yellow shade that pops up under certain lighting conditions. With V9, you will likely get more grey than yellows. Another thing: my crystal is mis-aligned and the cyclops is a bit cloudy and has blue tint. It is aligned too low. I did not see this on QC, but in any case, I think the guys who take the QC photos want to show the cyclops aligned, and one can always do that with camera angle. Not seeing much of a black hole effect also with this crystal. Crystal needs to be replaced. DW print seems too thick, but the style is in line with Rolex OEM. Hands are a little rough on the edges and not perfect geometry. The hand/dial lume is a little too weak for my taste. Not that gen lume is the best, but it is better. Despite all this, and I think occb2 hit the nail on the head: the V9 watch feels real nice. It has gen-like feel, but does not have 100% gen-like look. It feels a little too chunky sometimes, but too chunky like the gen six digits. It certainly feels chunkier than my V7. I agree with consensus of expert: the V9 is a work in progress. Needs gen parts upgrades and mods, but it will likely get you closer to the real thing with all of that extra work than the ARF.
And unless someone knows that the links aren't supposed to be flush that person will think that, in this regard, the watch is perfect because it is perfect (perfectly wrong).
