Dear fellow members of RWI,
since I see many new threads by new members about the Daytona, I decided to write a guide on how to choose the suitable Daytona for you. Additionally, the current Daytona threads are close to 100 pages and I think gathering the current information available will benefit the whole community.
Please note that this guide is mainly referring to EU when it comes to modders and genuine piece prices. Also, I won’t do photo comparisons between models since they are available in other threads. I think it is safe to say that you can follow this guide since I’ve been reading all available information on Daytona, but if you want in-depth research with pictures please do your own research.
I will also include links to all the parts I’m mentioning. The links will take you to JTimes store. I am not affiliated or sponsored by him (lol) but he’s my go to TD, so I use his links. Generally, any TD can get you any watch, just FYI.
The agenda for this guide is as followed:
- Daytona’s worth buying on the market
- Decide what’s important for you and figure out your budget
- Different options for modding or frankening including current prices
- Conclusion
With that being sad, lets dive in.
1. Daytona’s worth buying on the market
There are currently two makers who build the best Daytonas. Those are either ARF or CF, with both offering either the 116520 or 116500 version of this watch.
ARF is considered to be the best Daytona dial wise for the 116520 and 116500 (only black dial) version. However, ARF does not have a fully working chronograph and the sub dials at 6 and 9 are frozen. Additionally, ARF is thick.
For the 116500 version ARF is ahead of CF when only factoring in the dial, given that the black dialed ARF version has the correct subdial thickness, which CF does only have for the panda version. The CF model offers a full working chronograph with a movement that works like the genuine one.
To put it in a nut shell, CF has a great 116500 Panda, but the 116500 black dial and all 116520 versions have too thick subdials.
2. Decide what’s important for you and figure out your budget
116520
Do you only care about the looks? If yes, go for the ARF version. This version is priced at around 420€ (excl. shipping) and will offer you whatever you need looks-wise. If you want to go the extra mile you can remove the deco plate and add a gen or noob case back and a 7750 rotor and you will have gen thickness.
If you care about functionality, CF is the way to go since it offers a fully working chronograph. In addition to that, CF also comes with an ARF bracelet. Virtually the only disadvantage of CF is that CF has a subpar dial (subdials too thick) but everything else is superior to the ARF (and also more expensive).
116500
The ARF version still offers better specs when it comes to the black dial. If you want to go the extra mile you can remove the deco plate and add a gen or noob case back and a 7750 rotor and you will have gen thickness.
However, if you want to budget the 116500 Panda version from CF is good as is and will give you great value for money, being priced at around 700€. You can still improve that, but more on that later.
If your budget is around the 500€ mark, definitely buy the ARF and be happy with it. If its more than that, get the CF.
3. Different options for modding or frankening, including current prices
Here it gets interesting and you now have to figure out what you want to do. If you are already happy with what I described in chapter 2, go ahead and buy whatever watch fits your needs, if not, make sure to extend your budget.
Modding means that you add other replica parts to the original watch to improve the looks of it, frankening means that you add genuine Rolex parts, also to improve the looks.
Note: in my opinion it does not make any sense to mod or franken an ARF.
116520
First you have to figure out whether you want blue (Chromalight) lume or green (Superluminova) lume. Chromalight lume dates back to watches produced after 2008/9, whereas Superluminova is the old lume. Both models linked above have Chromalight lume.
Note: If you opt for the SL lume, prices for genuine parts will be slightly cheaper, but parts like the clasp will not match the build.
Modding
For ARF, you can remove the deco plate and add a gen or noob case back and a 7750 rotor and you will have gen thickness. I think every modder can do that for you. I do not know of the pricing for this sadly.
If you buy the CF 116520 or 116500 black dial I would advice to get an ARF dial for it.
Frankening 116520
First of all, there is no limit to Franken a watch. I will only focus on what I consider to be the most important genuine parts for Frankening the 116520. Please keep in mind that the prices stated below are from my personal experience. Side note: as of January 2020, pieces like a Dial are exchange only (before it was like that on most parts of the EU except Italy). Now the regulations hit Italy too and prices are rising while parts are getting more and more scarce.
Superluminova
Parts I would definitely suggest getting:
- Genuine Dial (700€ used – 1.000€ new)
- Genuine Hands (300€ used – 350€ new)
- Genuine Bezel: (500€ used – 800€ new)
Optional parts:
- Genuine clasp to match the correct SL period (around 500€ but hard to get)
- Genuine crown + tube (around 200€ – 250€)
- Genuine crystal + gasket (around 300€)
- Genuine chrono wheel (4130-820) to fit the chronograph seconds hand (around 120€)
- ARF bracelet without clasp (150€ for the bracelet – 50€ for reselling the clasp)
Optional services:
- Repolishing and rebrushing the bracelet by Tomrep makes the bracelet look extra nice
- Servicing the 4130 movement by either red1 or dmuit
As you can see, frankening can get very expensive. Even with the basic build and used parts you would spend around 2.000€, not considering the price for your watchmaker.
Chromalight
Parts I would definitely suggest getting:
- Genuine Dial (1.300€ used – 1.500€ new)
- Genuine Hands (350€ used – 450€ new) note: those hands are very hard to find right now
- Genuine Bezel: (500€ used – 800€ new)
Optional parts:
- Genuine crown + tube (around 200€ – 250€)
- Genuine crystal + gasket (around 300€)
- Genuine chrono wheel (4130-820) to fit the chronograph seconds hand (around 120€)
- ARF bracelet and clasp (150€)
Optional services:
- Repolishing and rebrushing the bracelet by Tomrep makes the bracelet look extra nice
- Servicing the 4130 movement by either red1 or dmuit
Same here, Chromalight prices are even higher as compared to Superluminova. But the genuine parts definitely make a huge difference in comparison to replica parts. If you want to spend that much is up to you.
116500
This version only has chromalight parts, so it gets easier on that end. However, finding genuine parts like the dial or the bezel is very hard or rather close to impossible. I only saw one sale of a 116500 bezel which went for 2.000€ used.
Modding Light
There is a problem with the black dialed CF version as we already learned. The current CF sub dials are too fat and look bad. You would have to buy an ARF watch simply to get the ARF dial. Then swap the noob dial into the ARF base and call it a day. I am not sure for how much you could sell the ARF watch then. Probably around 350€. So, this would cost another 100€ just to get the better dial.
Depending on how important this is to you, I would probably wait for updated sub dials on the black dialed version.
For the panda version I dont think you have to do any modding. Just buy the 116500 stock.
Modding/ Frankening
As already mentioned above, genuine 116500 parts like a dial and bezel are impossible to get and will not be considered. However, you can still improve your 116500 CF with other parts and make it as good as it can get:
- Genuine Coronet from donor dial (~100€)
- Genuine Hands (350€ used – 450€ new) note: those hands are very hard to find right now
- Genuine crown + tube (around 200€ – 250€)
- Genuine crystal + gasket (around 300€)
- Genuine chrono wheel (4130-820) to fit the chronograph seconds hand (around 120€)
Optional services:
- Repolishing and rebrushing the bracelet by Tomrep makes the bracelet look extra nice
- Servicing the 4130 movement by either red1 or dmuit
With this build the watch is as good as it gets without going for a full gen movement or even bracelet. Again, it depends on you how much you plan on spending. I went for this route with the full optional services since the Daytona is by far my grail watch.
4. Conclusion
It all depends on what you want from your rep. For the 116520, ARF offers a great value for what it is but also limited functionality. CF offers a fully working movement but subpar dial and a much higher price tag.
For the 116500 however I believe going the CF route (for Panda) is the best out of the box. If you want to go further you can get an 116500 ARF dial or prepare your wallet.
If you want to reach out to any of the modders/ watchmakers I mentioned, their details are here:
- Domi (dmuit): I tend to use Domis services for all the frankening I do since he lives in driving distance to me and I don’t like shipping expensive stuff. Here is his RWI profile: https://forum.replica-watch.info/member/14529-dmuit
- Red1: He recently serviced my Daytona, highly recommended: https://forum.replica-watch.info/member/100224-red1
- Tomrep: He does not have an RWI account and prefers to be contacted via WhatsApp. Note: he is neither trusted nor untrusted on RWI and does not have his own section. His number: +49 1520 2031421 (he told me to post it here)
- Apart from that I want to emphasize that those are only the people that I specifically was in touch with. There are more watchmakers and modders in the EU who can perform the same services for you
With that being said, I joined RWI a year ago with the plan of getting a Daytona rep. During this time the threads were all not too long and it was somewhat easy to get an idea of what’s happening in the Daytona world.
Nowadays it is getting harder and harder to keep an overview with 5 different threads going on with all around 50 – 100 pages long. I summarized all the information I gathered in my head since the last year and I hope this guide summarizes all the findings without it being too long.
So long,
Cheeps
