lhooq Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 Oh no! More comparos! Daytona fever is at an all-time high on RWG, so let's take a look at one of the key pieces of any good 6241/6263 build: The acrylic bezel. (Please, let's not call it "Bakelite", because it isn't!) It's hard for many of us to justify the >EUR1000 outlay for a genuine bezel, but how good are the aftermarkets? I ordered from Phong for the first time last month, and he was nice enough to gift me a 6263 bezel. Granted, it's in pretty rough shape, but then I didn't ask for it. A more cynical man might think that he's using me as a dumping ground for dud parts, but I appreciated the freebie and the opportunity to compare it with its two closest competitors: The bezels of good ol' DW (grr...), and the moderately-priced bezel from a seller in New York. As mentioned, the Phong insert is damaged, though it's hard to notice from many angles and certain lighting conditions. But when the light hits it straight-on... Yow! The order of each trio will be DW/Phong/WatchNY: UNITS PER HOUR -DW is easily spotted by its rounded 'S', close spacing, and proximity to the outer edge. Fonts are inconsistent for any given genuine example. Decent printing. -Phong's printing has the finest details, but suffers from poor application. I'm not sure if that's unique to this damaged insert. -WatchNY has less distinct printing than the other two, but the fonts and markings are generally correct. LOWER QUADRANT -DW's bezel is infamous for its widely spaced (and wrong) '1 1 0'. The insert is protruding because it hasn't been glued to the metal. This is not the first time I've received a DW bezel with a loose insert. -Again, good details from Phong but spotty print quality. -The consolation for WatchNY's bezel is that the printing looks very good under ordinary conditions. But it suffers when closely magnified. -Slightly thin lip on the DW bezel. Also note the polished circumference, versus the brushed finish on the other two. Jury's still out on which is correct to gen. -Disregard the dirt on the Phong bezel and appreciate the correctly thicker lip. However, I think that the angle of the insert is too steep, but I'm not certain. -WatchNY is somewhere in between. Its lip is lower and a bit thicker than DW's, while the insert has a shallower rise. Now would be a good time to note that the DW bezel will not accept a genuine Tropic 21 (or similar-spec crystal) unless the inner edge is trimmed. The other two have no such problem. Conclusion? I'm using the WatchNY hoop for my next build, but I'd like to see the pick of Phong's bezel crop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akira Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 Sweet comparison! The watchNY looks great for $200ish. Makes sense to invest into it, if you're building a V72 Daytona. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cc33 Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 Phong's.. pics are from his site I don't have one of these yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vlydog Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 Thank you M! A very comprehensive and informative post. The bezel from watchny was my choice too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lhooq Posted July 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2012 No problem, B! Phong's.. pics are from his site I don't have one of these yet. Condition aside, this bezel insert looks worse thsn the Phong pictured in the OP. The fonts are off (look at the '4' and '7'), and the spacing is inconsistent with gen pieces. Thankfully, most of Phong's stock looks better than it does on the J&W website--cases included. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janeto72 Posted July 8, 2012 Report Share Posted July 8, 2012 No problem, B! yep...the J&L pics are stock photos and outdated....Condition aside, this bezel insert looks worse thsn the Phong pictured in the OP. The fonts are off (look at the '4' and '7'), and the spacing is inconsistent with gen pieces. Thankfully, most of Phong's stock looks better than it does on the J&W website--cases included. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIKE32500 Posted July 8, 2012 Report Share Posted July 8, 2012 I have 3 NY Bezel for sale, very good price, I dont need anymore Send me an e mail if any interest thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gimme Posted July 8, 2012 Report Share Posted July 8, 2012 I recently received a large order from Phong, which included 5 6263 bezels. Only 2 of them were in good shape. The other 3 had similar problems than the one he gave you. As you may be aware, genuine 6263 bezels changed over time. Here's a picture of the four bezels, taken from Mr. Mazzariol's website: The most interesting thing about Phong's order was that he sent 2 different bezels. You see, one of the watches ordered in the group buy had a serial number from the 1980's. For that case, Phong sent a bezel with the rounded S and very similar to the #4 bezel in the picture above. Print quality was very good, crisp and had no flaws. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture before sending it to the owner. But I could send him a PM so he can post a pic once he receives it. The other bezels were all with flat S. Since most of them had printing flaws, I sent them back to Phong for an exchange, except Vly's which was in good shape. If he hasn't sent it to Rob, perhaps he can provide us with a picture. I honestly can't remember if all the bezels had the same shape on the 2's, 4's, & 7's. Didn't take any pictures either. The bezel he provided you doesn't look like the mk1 bezel. Looks to me like the mk2. But if you can provide a close up of the 200, 140, 75, 80 & 85 I could tell you. Or you can compare it with the pictures below mk1 mk3 mk4 The mk2 had a snowman looking 8, where the top circle was smaller than the bottom one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted July 8, 2012 Report Share Posted July 8, 2012 The only thing that bothers me about my black bezels are the lack of swan-neck 2s. If you compare the shape of the 2s in the last 2 pics above, you may see what I am talking about. Rolex themselves have not used this font for many years. But, on vintage models, they ice the cake. Although the bezels looks very close to the final version gens, those swan-neck 2s are to vintage Rolex bezels what flat-top 3s are to vintage Rolex datewheels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gimme Posted July 8, 2012 Report Share Posted July 8, 2012 Yes, and I also think that the 2 of the 200 has a more pronounced 'swan neck' than the 2 of the 120 on mk1 bezels. I think Phong's 2 in 220 is very accurate, and from what I can tell by looking at LH's pic, the 2 on 120 is different that the one on 200. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ephry73 Posted July 9, 2012 Report Share Posted July 9, 2012 I'm so glad this thread came up. M, you are truly a gentleman. I am looking to finish the 3ROC 'Tona correctly. Since I am still waiting for good epoxy to finish the SSDs, I decided to put together the 6263 case using the gen 703 crown and tube and the gen replacement pushers. BTW, these pushers were purchased as gens and instead of the striation on the outside, these had a hex tool pattern. They did fit the gen thread size, and actually have a decent type of o-ring seal, so I'm keeping them. a bit of Rocket glue for the crystal just to be safe and crown tube and pushers got the Loctite. Spinmaster did a phenomenal job on the 7750 movement. This thing has been rock steady for the past three weeks gaining and losing 2/3 seconds a day. I will take pictures tomorrow. All this hijacked and said, I think out of all of the bezels for the money the DW is not "bad", but the Phong is a better choice. I submitted a bid to the one Eric bought on eBay and still no reply. E Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBOGH Posted July 9, 2012 Report Share Posted July 9, 2012 Great write up M. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIKE32500 Posted July 10, 2012 Report Share Posted July 10, 2012 3 NY bezel for sale, 110 euros each shipped thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mir36 Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 You are a fountain of information M! Another excellent addition to LHOOQ's Thread Repository. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sneed12 Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Dammit... now I just learned that the DW bezel on my Spinmaster is no good compared to the WatchNY bezel. There goes some more cash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sneed12 Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 On the plus side, after this post motivated me to get it out of the box and look at it, I finally got around to fixing the minute totalizer... it wasn't working before, but a quick adjustment according to the ETA tutorial at swisslab got it working like a charm. So that's something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIKE32500 Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 2 sold, 1 NY bezel remaining for sale, 110 euros shipped thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanya Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 That's awesome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost Posted December 29, 2012 Report Share Posted December 29, 2012 I truly appreciate the labour taken into this write-up, but for the life of me, i can't quite tell the difference! Sigh. That being said, i would oh-so-love to get my hands on a gen bezel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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