ok i did it ...

[rag9fx]

Ok i've always wanted a daytona... never thought it would be a modern one... but i have to say i've been seeing a lot of modern sports rollies these days... i don't know maybe its because its warmer outside and like women they have become more noticiable and more attractive. anyway... i purchased it with movement service and waterproofing off joshua's site... i Know these watches have had a lot of bad press for their time-bomb rather than bomb-proof mov'ts... hit or miss i understand..

the issue is that i wear my watches... and i by wear i mean properly abuse them... esp my rollies... does anybody have any experience with wearing one of these as a daily beater or maybe not as a beater but as a daily wearer... or have i just invested in watchbox balast . any input would be appriecated :-)

Rags

[TeeJay]

I've had a Daytona since christmas, and, although it hasn't been worn everyday, it is still working as well as the day I got it. It's not a seconds at 6 model, instead, the 6 dial makes a 24 hour sweep. The 3 and 9 dials do move independantly, but I haven't figured out precicely what they measure (haven't monitored it that closely yet) They can also be zeroed with the top and bottom pushers (24 hr @ 6 is a constant with the main hour hand) To be honest, it's not a watch I've worn much because style wise, I prefer 'plain' dials like Subs and SMPs, but, it is a nice watch, and deserves more wrist time than it's received. I got mine from a dealer on LoudFrog for $75. It's nothing special, but there are certainly worse watches out there Best of luck with your purchase

[rag9fx]

Thanks TeeJay

C'mon... there has to be some satisfied seconds at six owners about...

[stac]

Ouch...

Hope you have better luck than the rest of us.

Read The Zigmeister's reviews...the movement is being asked to do what it wasn't designed to do.

[rag9fx]

so is this piece destined to be whiped with diaper, reside in my watch box only to be worn for very special occasions? c'mon give me just at least one happy sec's @ 6 owner b4 i develop serious buyers remorse ....

[By-Tor]

According to member feedback this movement is simply doomed to fail. You better hope it's later and not sooner.

I'd get a Daytona immediately if the movement weren't such a POS.

[FWATCH]

I have a Daytona SS with seconds at six from EL and have worn it fairly regularly for over a year, and it is still working exactly the same as the day I got it. That is to say: 1.) I can't wind it manually. 2.) When I screw down the crown, it seems that the rotor spins, but doesn't really do anything. So to set the time, I have to shake it up a lot first, then wait for the seconds to get to twelve, pull out the crown and set the time. Then hope I do a lot of wrist shaking to keep it going. Other than that, it keeps pretty good time, chronos work accurately and smoothly, it's just a pain in the butt. I'll probably send it off to The Zigmeister for a look-see one of these days. Hope you have better luck. I could be happier.

[rag9fx]

yeah i read several of The Zigmeister's reviews of this movment.... even the break down of it which i found on replica watch report ... no jewel pivot on the running seconds' gear it is almost as if the R&D folks made this modification to be disposible. Which is a shame really... but i live in eternal hope. maybe with the new decorated rotors some of the other interal (non- aesthetic) problems have been addressed aswell - atleast to prolong its working life-( hope... oh who am i kdding ) ... I'll just wait and see if this turns into a paperwieght or not ... that being said ... im actually really looking foward to recieving it... just to see what all the noise is about- maybe i'll be one of the lucky ones .

Rags

[Zed]

I own 4 Daytonas with the oldest being almost 4 years old and their all still ticking so what can I say ...

I barley if never use the chronos ...

They can be very erratic at first so if the time is all over the place don't worry about it just yet as it takes about 6 months for it to settle down , for the first 3 months it could run about 5 - 10 minutes fast per day and then the next 3 months run about 5 - 10 slow per day and then after that it will just settle down ( at least mine did ) like I said , so far so good for me ...

I believe in "buy what you like , buy what you want" their all reps and your taking a chance from the first minute you click 'Pay' so what the hell , if one of mine dies that I really like I would buy another to replace it plain & simple , now if they died in a matter of just weeks after purchase that would be the end of that model for me but fortunately that hasn't happened ...

Zed

[By-Tor]

4 years? I recall the seconds at 6' model is less than 2 years old... it got introduced 2005 I think.

[stac]

Why not an older version Daytona...with a "Lemania" manual winding movement?

Freeze" the seconds at six. From what I understand the movement is very reliable.

[rag9fx]

Why not an older version Daytona...with a "Lemania" manual winding movement?

Freeze" the seconds at six. From what I understand the movement is very reliable.

To be honest with yo,u i felt that if was ever going to get a rolex chrono it was going to be 6263 running 7750 or 6234 'anti-magnetic' pre-daytona running 7750 aswell. However as i mentioned previously those filty modern rollies have just got me drawn in at the moment (i hope its just a phase) plus i thought it was high time for another chrono so the 116520 was really my only option... it would be nice if a rep 16520 were more available (sec's at the 9) i might have gone for that instead ...

[rek001]

Which style did you order?

I ordered a secs @ 6 SS Daytona, black dial from a respected dealer about 6 months ago.

When it arrived it had awful thick shiny silver subdial rings that were too close together, looked really bad and cheap, nothing like the dealer pix. I had a hard time but the dealer finally took the watch back and refunded my money.

A member of RWI got a Daytona with same problem, I think he returned his also. So I believe there are a few different versions out there, some nice looking others not.

I'm dying to get a modern Daytona but this really put me off.

[ubiquitous]

I recently picked up a sec@6:00 mod 7750 Daytona for a friend, and had an opportunity to compare it to my Daytona frankenstein. It's been a while since I've had one of these in my hands... And while I remember them being bulky, it was quite interesting to see just how big this watch is in comparison to a genuine case.

First impressions out of the wrapper- The weight! This thing is heavier than my friend's genuine 16622 Rolesium (to which he commented immediately; not that the 16622 has a lot of platinum content, but it's still pretty hefty in it's own right). The next I noticed was the size (of course) as well as the quality and finish of the watch in general. On it's own merit, it's really quite nice, and the clasp and dial were some of the better examples I had seen on a 116520 Daytona rep (the older ones I had from a few years back were not as nicely finished or precise as these- The factories have definitely made an improvement here). The mod 7750 was running quite smoothly, all subsidiaries and center seconds resetting nicely and I had the watch pressure tested to 100m, so not bad out of the box.

Anyways... On to the pics...

And a few comparisons- I'll let the pics do the talking here...

Gen case 16520 rehaut:

Mod 7750 116520 rehaut:

16520 profile:

116520 profile:

Side by side:

Can't comment on longevity with this one, as my friend has only had it for a week...

All in all... It's a nice watch... Very substantial, solid feel and with a large presence on the wrist. Unfortunately, 116520 is a bit thinner than the 16520 (speaking in terms of genuine), so it's size may be the first thing to give it away as a replica from a distance (of course, from someone who knows Daytonas)...

Flaws aside, it's really quite solid and generally speaking, a very handsome watch

[rek001]

Beautiful watch, Ubi.

May I ask, from whom did you get it?

[ubiquitous]

Which one? The 116520?

[Zed]

4 years? I recall the seconds at 6' model is less than 2 years old... it got introduced 2005 I think.

I bought it within the first two weeks of the Asian 7750 debut in the Daytona , I was taking a guess at 3 years and change but all I can remember is that it was awhile back ( I think )

Zed

[rag9fx]

Hi Ubi,

Mate you just made my 48 hours... i was wondering about the evolution of this movement ... if you don't mind me asking where did the 116520 come from ?

i read The Zigmeister's review on replica watch report (on the moded swiss 7750 - when this first came out . posted circa dec 2005 ) this one lacked the jeweled pivot on the the running seconds gear... and then ( i don't know why i couldn't find this one earlier i was certainly looking for it) The Zigmeister's review of a 'revised' modded asain 7750 which seemed to have marked improvement on the original swiss modified 7750 - even of the mod gear train-.... i think that was posted a little over a year ago Mar 2006...(hopefully this indictive of design devolpment in these movements over the year) I have noticed that alot of the new ( 06/07) rep 1165xxs with running secs at six are comming with a decorated 4130 style rotor i wonder if they have done other updates to the movm't other then the the rotor... it would be nice to think so- if anybodys knows feel free to chime in- ... if mine dies or malfuntions maybe i will 'donate it' for a The Zigmeister autopsy and see if there are anymore developements to the modded running seconds at 6 7750.... who knows maybe a couple years down the line they'll have this modification down and reliable --- then rolex will shift the seconds back to the nine position- now wouldn't that be a b*tch .

@ Zed ,

are your daytona's 1165xxs and if so are they running seconds at six ?

cheers

Rags

[itreeman]

Very interested in these particular watches/movements so keep us posted once you get yours Rags

[freddy333]

I can add a bit to Ubi's comments since I have 2 secs at 6 Daytonas. The only inherent problem I have had (and I think this afflicts all of the 7750 secs at 6 movements) is a 'twitchy' seconds hand. If you look closely at the movement of the hand in the lower (seconds) subdial, you will see that the hand stops, intermittently, as it goes around the dial. It does not effect the watch's time keeping, but it is noticeable if you look closely at the dial and watch the hand move for 30 seconds or so.

My general benchmark for a good rep: keeps reliable time and looks like a gen when viewed from as close as the next table (in an intimate restaurant). These watches pass the test.

My oldest, a 116520, which is almost 2.5 years old, looks to be the same version that Ubi's friend purchased. But mine was purchased from a dealer on a UK auction site. I have seen 3 or 4 different versions of this rep over the past 2 years and the two most accurate (in comparison to the gen) are this one and the one that Joshua sells (which has a more accurate 'DAYTONA' font, but badly shaped crown guards (too wide at the bottom)).

There are only 2 really obvious visible flaws on this watch, but they would only be spotted by a knowledgeable Daytona fan and when viewed at close range (arm's length). The first, as Ubi indicated, is the thickness of the case. It is slightly taller than the gen 116520, but only slightly and I do not think it is noticeable on ones wrist unless you are very close and have a gen in close proximity for direct comparison. And, even then, I have a hard time seeing the difference even when I know what to look for. The other obvious visual mistake is the font used in 'DAYTONA' above the lower subdial. The 'A', which should have a flat top, is too pointed. But I have been told that because the gen dials come from different suppliers, some of the gen dials also have pointed 'A's. So this may not even be an issue (Ubi?).

There may also be a very small issue with the location of the subdials at 3 & 9 being just slightly too high on the dial compared to the gen. If you look at the spacing between the top of these subdials and the bottom of the index markers at 2 & 10, the spacing is slightly narrower on the rep dials compared to the gens (EDIT: on second thought, all 3 of the subdials may also be a hair closer together, which may be due to their being slightly larger on the rep). But the difference is so minute that I have seen a number of these Daytona reps posted on gen websites and no one has ever spotted them, at least not publicly. So this is not something that should keep anyone from purchasing one of these Daytonas.

The 7750 movement in this watch has been working flawlessly from the day I received it and keeps almost perfect time.

My most recent secs at 6 Daytona is a silver dial 116509, which I received a few months ago from Joshua and posted a short review elsewhere in this forum. Gorgeous watch. VERY gorgeous watch. Unfortunately, one morning, 3 days after I received it (I had taken a few pics of the watch, but had not yet worn or removed the plastic wrapping), I found the watch dead on my desk. Stopped completely. The stem was very difficult to turn, which made me think there was a problem with the mainspring. Joshua had me return it to his watchmaker in China. When it returned 3 weeks later (well packaged and still gleaming like new (no damage during surgery)), it was working fine and has continued to run within +/-5 secs/day ever since.

This watch is absolutely beautiful and feels quite substantial on the wrist (quite like a gold watch should feel)

The only 2 obvious visual flaws (other than the watch being stainless steel instead of white gold) are the width of the subdial rings, which are just slightly too wide on the rep (beware -- some dealers have a different version of this watch, which has noticeably heavier gauge lines on and around the subdials -- makes the watch look very 'fake' to me), and the size & shape of the lume in the index markers at 3, 6 & 9, which is too large and square compared to the small 'slits' of lume on the gen markers. (Joshua used to sell an earlier version of the 116509 with unpainted (silver colored) index markers, which had correctly sized and shaped markers. So there is really no excuse for the factory marring such an otherwise accurate dial with these crummy markers. It is very 'odd' that the factories can get so many minute details right on a complex dial like this and then get something so obvious so obviously wrong. It almost seems like the rep factories purposely do one thing wrong on every watch as a favor to Rolex. Many years ago, someone told me that Rolex made a pact with some of the larger rep factories in China saying that they would not make a serious effort to stop them from producing reps as long as they never produced an exact replica. Sounds far fetched, but, sometimes, when I see things like this Daytona, it makes me wonder.)

The case used for this version of the 116509 is narrower than the case used for the 116520 and it also has the same curves when viewed from the side as the gen case (the gen 116509 has a slightly different profile than the 116520). When I compared the size & shape of my case to a gen 116509 in an AD, it looked nearly exact to me.

I have to say that I do not wear either of these watches daily (too beautiful to risk scratching, since they are definitely gleaming scratch-magnets), so my experience may not be a good gauge of longevity if you intend to use one of these secs at 6 Daytonas as a daily beater. I would also add that I have replaced the crowns and crown tubes in both watches with gen parts. I did this because the rep crowns look like rep crowns and the threads on the rep crown tubes are notorious for stripping after just a little use. Fitted with the gen parts, the watches look, feel and wind much nicer.

[rag9fx]

Which style did you order?

I ordered a secs @ 6 SS Daytona, black dial from a respected dealer about 6 months ago.

When it arrived it had awful thick shiny silver subdial rings that were too close together, looked really bad and cheap, nothing like the dealer pix. I had a hard time but the dealer finally took the watch back and refunded my money.

A member of RWI got a Daytona with same problem, I think he returned his also. So I believe there are a few different versions out there, some nice looking others not.

I'm dying to get a modern Daytona but this really put me off.

@ rek001,

sorry i missed your post ... i order a black dial 2001 model from Joshua. i have seen several daytonas (of other members here) that are from Joshua and they look pretty good.

@ Itreeman

i will post a brief 'review' of the watch when it arrives (i am sure it won't be any diffrent or any more extensive than those reviews of other 2001- modified 7750 daytonas that are already posted on the forum) - i have very -verrrrry- limited knowledge of this model / movement - so we're in the same boat.

@Freddy33,

Thanks for that post ... certainly makes me feel more reasured and confident about my purchase... ( Modding is certainly in the cards for this one eventually - lume and gen crown / tube for sure ... so many projects so little time and funds)

I think i will won't 'ride' the daytona as hard as i do my others but i don't think i will baby it as much as i do my FA jones which goes right back in the watchbox as soon as come in through the door.

Cheers,

Rags