I must of had a different ultimate to the one you refer to above because I really cant agree with your comments on the subdial, as I say I had them both next to each other. By the same arguement I would say the same about the DSN sub dial at ten feet.
Thinking about it what I am trying say is, forget the photos. when the Ultimate is on your wrist that darkness isnt as obvious compared to the gen as the side by side photos would make you believe. Looking in a mirror at the watches on your wrist what you really notice as you move your arm about is the blue tint of the ultimate crystal. The colour of the sub is a matter of the light so if your looking at it from a distance your sort of saying 'is it or isnt it a gen' when the blue catches the light your saying no its not. Assuming you know about that in the first place and generally few do.
The chip paint and crooked markers would be a QC consistency matter as I said this wasnt the case with the ultimate I had.