panerai153 Posted March 21, 2006 Report Share Posted March 21, 2006 I just received these from Luckyyy. I bought them for a friend, as I have no interest in contemporary Rolex and especially the LV. I don't know if this has appeared here before, but I thought I would take some side by side photos and let everyone see for themselves what the differences are beteween the two watches. As I said, I'm certainly no Contemporary Rolex expert, so possibly some of our Rolex experts will be willing to weigh in as to what they see as the difference beyond the obvious and which is closer to the real thing. First here are the things that I have observed, and these are possibly novel to these particular watches. 1. The non-=ETA was picked up at the PO, and left in the console of my truck for several days, The guy who I bought the watches for, came into town, I got the watch out of the truck, and the darn thing wouldn't start. I hand wound it, shook it, tapped it in the palm of my hand, nothing!! I told him that I would see about getting the movement repaired or replaced, which he agreed . I put the watch in my shirt pocket, and lo and behold when I got home it was running. It's been running OK since. Now I'm in a dilema, do I send it off and drop in another movement or take a chance that it is OK? 2. The MBW version came with a lot of glue on the crystal, around the cyclops, not much of a problem to remove, but come on!! MBW is supposed to be a cut above the rest. It certainly looks nice and it started and has run strong since I opened the package. The obvious: 1. Crown guards- The crown guards are shorter and more pointed on the Non-ETA. 2. Crown- The crown is smaller on the Non-ETA and the logo crown on the winding crown is smaller and not as distinct. which is more correct,I do not know. 3. Hands: The hands on the MBW are "Fatter", not much but noticable. 4. Date Wheel - The date fonts are bolder blacker and more distinct on the MBW 5. Date Mag - The date mag is better on the MBW, certainly closer to 2.5X 6. Sizes & weight weight in ounces (My postal scale is not cal. in grams) MBW 5.1oz Non-ETA 4.7 oz Bezel diameter MBW 39.91 Non-ETA 39.77 all measurements are in mm. Diameter w/ Crown MBW 44.0 Non-ETA 43.90 Depth MBW 13.42 Non-ETA 12.97 As you can see the measurements are close, but not the same. This is probably the reason that the MBW will accept genuine parts, the Non-ETA will not. My personal impression. The MBW just "feels" better. It feels more substantial, the bracelet is certainly better, the winding crown operates better and it really feels like and operates like a very substantial expensive watch. The Non-ETA just feels a liitle "Tinnier" and not as substantial. Here are the photos, the MBW is on the Right in all the photos. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsph Posted March 21, 2006 Report Share Posted March 21, 2006 excellent and much-needed comparison, in my opinion. very informative for those considering the non-eta, especially, considering the price at this point. hope somebody does this with the most recent asian and eta black sub offerings. nice lume shot, too. look like both are pretty good there. thanks so much. jsph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahchard Posted March 21, 2006 Report Share Posted March 21, 2006 I still can't get over the fact all the LV reps still have the m in meter in bold... a few things I noticed about the MBW though, font on the bezel seems a bit bold, date font bold and pearl seems to be sitting out too much... I am no expert though... However, I remember I saw a post before of someone in RWG (i think)... was it Ubi? of a project he did with diff watches from diff dealers and getting a pretty good rep... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted March 21, 2006 Report Share Posted March 21, 2006 I'm sure there are you watch wizards out there that know better than me . . . where do ya think I learned from . . . but . . . I'd take the ETA & bracelet off the MBW & put those in the non, and have a better LV than either. Didn't know about the bracelet when it & TTK's & Trusty's all came out, but thought they looked pretty good, and as accurate as I've seen . . . not counting Joe's beautifully modded one . . . but the Asian movement is what really killed the idea for me. I didn't know if it would be worth adding the price of switching the movement and hands, and now, adding a better bracelet to it too . . . guess I'll wait a little bit . . . I'm sure the perfect Sub is due out any day now . . . 153, btw, thanks for the side by side. Wish we had some way of doing a whole bunch of comparisons like that . . . cheaply . . . 8^) B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TTK Posted March 21, 2006 Report Share Posted March 21, 2006 What is the price differential.....? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M5Man Posted March 21, 2006 Report Share Posted March 21, 2006 They are both amazing looking, im starting to search for my first Sub. Want to go vintage and accurate. I really like the green. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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