116520 Daytona dial differences

[Tijssan]

A while back I noticed that there are 2 different dials on the current 116520’s. I had just bought a new black faced one and saw someone else’s pictures of his. The difference seemed minor (and it probably is for most people) but I had to find out in real life. Tim (train-time) had noticed it as well and with his help I managed to trace a few other black faced Daytona’s to do some comparison.

side by side.jpg

So what are the differences? There are 3:

1) Ticks at the 27 and 28 positions (single tick vs double tick)
2) The shine of the sub dials
3) The boldness of the fonts on the sub dials


Single
close up 1 tick 2.jpg

Double
close up 2 tick 2.jpg

The shine of the sub dials on the double tick is much more profound. It is hard to capture in a picture, but from a distance it is really noticeable. It gives a the two versions a different look.

Less shine
1 tick shine.jpg

More shine
2 tick shine.jpg

The fonts used on the double tick is more profound. As a result it makes the print more readable in certain light. I have to emphasize the light angle here, as due to the higher shine of the sub dials of the 'double tick' are actually less readable in certain light.


close up 1 tick.jpg

close up 2 tick.jpg

Based on my search and the 4 black faces Daytona’s I picked up for this little project the double tick dials are installed on the newer versions. I have seen them on both random and V-serials, although I have to point out I have seen the single ticks on the random serials as well. In addition, the watches I used in this post are both V-serials, but the double tick is a V87xxxx, whereas the single tick is a V88xxxx.

So far I haven’t been able to find double ticks on early V-serials, nor M-serials. There are earlier versions of the double tick though (Z & D), but I haven’t been able to establish whether the shine and font differences also apply to these models.

After having spent my time analyzing this, I concluded I prefer the double tick version, but as with everything this is personal

I believe Tim is doing a similar project for the white versions, so it would be interesting to see if the same differences apply.