Steve from Theonewatches.io compares the Black Daytona 116500 GEN VS NOOB, Clean V2 and BT factories.
HD front view and mobile phone shot
The advantage of the black dial is that there are no more concerns about color differences, while the problem of the color of the sub dial decoration is particularly obviously, all three factories have deviations and hard to say which one is better! It only depends on personal preference!
We can check from the views (on the hand), Clean feels like greyish, mainly due to the lack of translucency of its crystal surface.
Side view of bezel
It’s pointed by the last post, clean crystal translucency is worse than the others after repeated observation through physical objects, Noob is better.
bezel view
Clean and BT all use clean bezel, Noob bezel also looks in good shape.
Bezel Platinum coating
Gen is darker silver, pale yellow also. Noob is too white.
BT color is the most similar, followed by clean.
side view of Marker
Marker shape same as their own Panda Daytona. Clean is the best, almost same as gen.
Noob is too square. but we can’t require too much since the Herald version was a long time ago, and it’s a pity for it’s shut down.
Crown side view
Oval of Noob Rolex logo is too big with thin shape. Clean and BT looks too flat, BT is the best for the shape.
lume coating
Clean makes the best lume coating, with the sight of graininess, almost better than gen.
It shall be perfect if the color be more yellow. BT is too smooth and hardly see the graininess.
Painting Font view
Clean is the best, then BT factory. Noob’s font is worse, one of letter X’s slash is clearly too thin, the color is a little off.
The sad thing is I noticed Gen PERPETUAL’s R oil mark is with spillages, it really shocked me about that, maybe we trust them too much so all of a sudden I couldn’t focus on the review. I can’t help but feel like a little not worth it. All right, the genuine one won’t be perfect all the time, we don’t have to be so harsh on replicas!
Daytona printing engraving
It drives me crazy as for the red grease marks, there’s nothing much to say about them. The GEN color is like dull blood red, like the color of blood after it has formed a scab!
Swiss Made engraving
Clean is the closest in terms of color, and the N factory and BT are not too far apart.
In fact, it doesn’t matter since there are no obvious deviations in the shape or color of the lettering!
The difference is hardly noticeable when viewed from a normal angle.
Hand view
Gen hand surface and side all treated very clean, Noob and BT hand edge also looks clean.
but clean factory is not clean as we always say, the object looks like rusty. It confused me before why clean and BT have big difference for the hands since they all use BT hands.
Later I figured out the truth is BT factory is using a modified version of the BUFF hand, C factory should upgrade this detail in the future.
For the middle axle, three factories all good as the same shape, different from the gen one.
But Clean is nicely flat, Noob and BT factories both have obvious burnishing cracks!
subdial view
It is clear to see from the hands that one of the major mistakes of the Noob is the yellow center axle.
The flatness of the BT also is a problem!
The end of the Noob seconds hand is flat; this is due to the fact that it is not individually moulded.
In terms of font location, all three factories are off, the GEN is closer to the inner edge!
side view of subdial
BT’s hands are too short, also the edges of the GEN round part are very rounded and smooth.
All three factory sides look a bit sharp!
subdial decoration view
The total number of rings on the GEN is 11 (not include the edge), while Noob and Clean are too many.
BT is 12, and the thickness of the rings is the closest to the GEN, which also results in the inner edge being a little too wide, while the N and C are too narrow!
So the factories still have some work to do on the fit of the sub-dials!
Unlike the Panda Daytona, the GEN subdials are made with some of the slots showing around the edges, and both clean and BT factories make them, which also very nice!
Rehaut view
The rehaut of the replica still differ from the GEN when viewed enlarged due to the difference in craftsmanship, but overall I think the BT’s feel better!
Sel view
Panda Daytona is 2021, black Daytona is 2022 brand new version.
We can see that the sel distance is a little different between the two.
Lug and case almost very tight for the Panda Daytona, and has a sunken top edge.
Black Daytona has huge crevices, the top edge and lugs in the same line.
It is possible that the GEN Panda Daytona has changed its position slightly due to the multiple wearing time, or maybe the assembly of the GEN has changed after years!
We don’t sure about this! I hope that those of you who have a GEN can post a picture for comparison and reference!
But in terms of the three factory SEL, BT is better, the overall curvature is almost identical to the GEN’s!
Maybe as your guys said that the AR factory steel band is better for BT!
