Submariner bezel Options

[Thor]

A friend came over last night that just happens to know a thing or two about watches. He doesn't visit watch forums much & knows next to nothing about reps but owns a nice collection of gens including an SS and TT Submariner. He was sporting the TT, which is one very nice piece.

For kicks, I handed him my TW Best 16610 and asked his opinion. The TW is bone stock outside of the usual polishing and oiling of the bracelet.

He checks it out carefully for a about 30 seconds and mentions that it's a very nice watch but it looks small for some reason. Not sure why (and neither was I) he examines it closely for another minute or so. "It's the bezel! On yours, the bezel is too small. Are you sure you have a real watch here? Looky here."

Of course, I inform him that's a rep which was always my intention but simply wanted his umbiassed opinion. I would have thought that he would have spotted the small side case holes, perhaps the CGs or the pearl. Well, all the common little flaws that we aggravate over on these watches passed his inspection. The narrower bezel & insert of the rep however, did not. His final analysis was that the watch would certainly pass inspection from a distance on the wrist but not close scrutiny.

By-Tor correctly addressed the narrow bezel issue in a recent post. It also has the effect of making the CGs appear larger than they should in proportion to the watch.

What blew him away were the MBW vintage Subs. Those he thought were super. These do have accurate bezels & inserts.

I just wanted to share this little experience. Hopefully, the rep makers will address this flaw on the Subs in the new year. I hope someone is listening!

Cheers & Happy New Year everyone! :biggrin:

Jet

If they get the bezel right they will only [censored] up something else instead!!!

After wearing my rep sub for about a month and got used to how it looks, the first time I saw a sub on a coworker's wrist, was the impression that his bezel looked wider or flater. After reading posts on this forum, it confirmed my impression.

I'm more optimistic. The TW best case is very good and darn close to the gen. The CGs are getting better as are the pearls. The dial quality has improved markedly over the past year and the bracelets are now correct with the hollow mid links.

What remains can be easily addressed with the exception of the bezel which remains too narrow as is the insert. If watchmaster and MBW can get this right on their vintage subs, there should not be no reason it cannot be corrected on the current line.

The TW best Sub remains an excellent piece and IMO, the best there is at this time. With some final touches, it could be nearly indistinguishable from the gen. I hope that if we bring this issue to the surface, the solutions will come. They've certainly done an incredible job with the Pams (they were crap not too long ago) so let's see what happens.

Cheers,

Jet

Jet-

This is why Rolexes scare me the most. Everyone knows them and people typically assume guilty before proven inncocent on Rolex authenticity. For this reason, I only own an MBW Comex to date and the first things I did were Bezel insert, CG's and OEM springbars. The funny part is that with vintage, when presumably parts were not so standardized, I suspect one has more leeway. It sounds to me like we should be sticking with models that can take OEM parts so we can mod to whatever level makes you happy. When I wear the Rolex, nobody seems to notice except to say nice old watch. They do notice the aged dial. :smile: But I never run into people who own multiple Rolexes.

Hi, kruzer:

I agree 100%! I have one modern Rollie and a pair of MBW vintages. The MBW collection will grow in 2006 :biggrin: and that's it for the Rollies.

I find the vintage Rollies far more attractive & unusual with their matt dials super cool domed acrylic crystals and near exact 1:1 cases ( none of this BS incorrect bezel & insert business). The vintages have been out of production for 30 plus years and very rare. It's unusual at best to find someone that is familiar with them and far fewer have had any exposure to the genuine article. Rarerity is very good thing in rep land.

I would love to find OEM vintage inserts but those are difficult to source now. That's another one of my projects for the new year.

Regards,

Jet

Here Here Jet!! I have been collecting genuine vintage watches for some time now and find them just timeless. As you also say there are less people who would be able to spot a vintage rep MBW or WM especially if they are aged a bit. I am aslo going down the MBW, WM route.

Unfortunately this wrong sub bezel size is the biggest and most noticeable flaw for me. Because of the wider bezel, the gens just look like it is spreading her legs in front of you. Aside from WM and MBW, I noticed a few newer sub models that are a bit wider than the older models. As per Skylinergtr's comparison lately, Josh has subs with wider bezel. I have seen decent CGs, crowns and bezel from subs lately. This might be the new version that the manufacuterer has corrected.

Never really gave this subject much thought but you guys are right. The rep bezel and insert are smaller than the gen which explains why the oem insert must milled down around the outside to fit most of our reps. My boss owns a ss gen which he wears everyday and I could never figure out why his bezel looked bigger than mine. Now I know. Still love my sub though. This is something that can really only be distinguished by hand to hand comparison.