The Red in Red Subs

[Watchmeister]

I was perusing Ebay this morning and came upon a pair of red sub dials being offered currently:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200470796190&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200470796860&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

I had always wondered why the Red on Red Sub rep dials never looks the same shade or sheen as on the original. It looks to me like the answer (among others) based on the pics from the offerings above is that the original dials were first silk screened with white and then red. Do folks agree?

[Justasgood]

Yes

[marsupilami]

yes, but not silkscreen ; pad printing.

[TeeJay]

That's how it was done on the DRSDs

[By-Tor]

MBW reps of 1680 have wrong shade of red, but more importantly, they use completely different font. Unfortunately it looks nothing like the genuine Red Sub "SUBMARINER" printing, it's totally off.

[panerai153]

That DRSD.com page is a great comparison of the variations in the SD dials. It's too bad that the rep makers can't find that page on their computers! With those clear crisp close-up photos, it looks like they could tell what is right and what is wrong.

Because the DRSD is such an uncommon and expensive watch, I hesitate to own one, because it will be closely scrutinized by every real Rolexhead that you might run across. Maybe if they ever got the dial right, but the font problems are a dead giveaway.