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ebzen02

Noobmariner/Nymphomariner History

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ebzen02

-*Recently my Rolex curiosity has spiked. I just bought a GMTIIc, and while emersing myself in Rep Submariner archives the typical noob thought crossed my mind.. Who the hell has the best Sub. While I know who offers the best of the best in subs I didn't know who offered the best sub $200 sub. So the term Noobmariner came to mind. But, my question was are all Noobmariners the same?? Well, while doing my research around all of the rep forums I came across this little bit of Noobmariner history for you noobs! Thank me :lol:

 

A little known background about the name "Noobmariner" and "Nymphomariner" before we move on:

 

A former member named Pugwash coined the term Noobmariner around 2006 to describe a submariner sold by legend dealer TTK (aka, Neil, aka, .....) that was just about one of the best and cheapest out of the box submariners available and only sold by TTK. TTK started using the name to label his special submariner. Another dealer and friend of TTK, Narikaa, also sold the submariner, but to not steal TTK's thunder he coined the name Nymphomariner and the joke behind the name was the his watch came -was delivered- faster than TTK's.

 

Please note that currently, and supposedly, only one person sells the original Noobmariner and that is Narikaa/Reg.

 

So, here is the history as told by TTK:

 

 

The history of the Noobmariner is very simple.......!

 

I worked with Maria ( MBW ) about 4 years ago to bring the best 16610 LV Sub to the boards.....we had an agreement that he would offer them on the German forum and I would cover the English forum..( there were only 2x forums at that time....TRC and the German forum )..........I put them up for sale in 16610 LV Submariner form.....with standard Asian movement....and with the option of ETA 2824-2 movement retro-actively fitted.....with correct case....bracelet ( hollow mid links ).......dial with Maxi indices and FAT minute hand......unfortunately Maria and I had a disagreement and sales came to an end.

 

Around late 2005 I started to offer them again......and have been supplying ever since......in both standard 16610 and 16610 LV format......someone on the forum here gave them the epithet "NOOBMARINER"....i:e....the perfect starter Submariner for noobies to the world of collecting Subs......and the name has stuck....other members and dealers have tried to cash in on the popularity of the Noobmariner by claiming their item is the same or by using a similar name..Narikaa and I buy our stocks from the same source......my supplier.....the Noobmariner is one item.....with the exception of Narikaa and as he calls his item...the Nymphomariner.........NO-ONE else has them.... not Josh nor Trusty nor PT or Ruby or Silix or Paul nor anyone else...they may have their drop-shipped versions of a Sub.....but Narikaa and I are the only ones that consistently supply QC cherry picked and in hand inspected Noob / Nympho mariners.

 

Two final notes.......I've sold hundreds of these since 2004.....and to date I've had 9 returns and 4x items reported with small faults..( luminous marker fell off etc etc )..no significant problems......they have consistently proven themselves to be of very good quality and extremely reliable.

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sconehead

Maria was actually a man...plus I heard from a reliable source that he and TTK (Neil) were getting it on. They had a lovers tiff and that's when the noobs dried up...it's true...:lol:

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ebzen02

Ah..Makes sense...Yup I can see....Interesting...And where does Reg come in??? I guess he was the third wheel??

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Luthier

OK, we all know, who sell it, but who build it?

:lol:

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sconehead

...and just to add more to the mix, I once bought a gen Swiss noob 'LV' off BK...don't know how he got his stock though...

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Fortey

I thought the iphone girl made them in her spare time.

 

iphone_girl_china.jpg

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sconehead

...as the Chinese answer to Toyah Wilcox once sung ''it's a Mr Wi'' Luth...

 

 

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ebzen02

Wonder what Col. has to say about the "noobmariner", since he has every version of "noob" known to man..

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sconehead
Wonder what Col. has to say about the "noobmariner", since he has every version of "noob" known to man..

Hmmmm, dunno...wonder if the current noobs/nymphs have the famous 'F5200117' serial just like the old days?

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ebzen02

Where is Baldrick when you need him?

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trailboss99

No one is getting Noobs from the original source, the three guys in TH who made them are out of the rep biz.

What we now have are Nobbfactory watches. These are made by the factory in China where the bits for the original

Noobs were sourced. This same factory makes the case sets for the WM9 watches as George is their mould maker.

SO, what we have now is a sort of Noob, same case set but arguably a different dial, hands etc. This is the same mob who made the SSD until recently and also makes a few Pam models.

 

 

Col.

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Luthier

Exactly.

As I said before - Noobfactory doesn'r exist anymore.

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ebzen02

Soooooooooooooo...What you are saying col is that Narikaa is full of chicken red curry?

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gB.
Soooooooooooooo...What you are saying col is that Narikaa is full of chicken red curry?

 

:lol:

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Luthier

Many dealers use termin "Noobfactory" to attract customers.

We need Robert's word on it.

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sconehead

...nope, not really, the case moulds are probably the same/similar as they're from the original manufacturing source for the original noobs...just they're not assembled by the same crew anymore, that is where the confusion arises...allegedly...

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gB.
...nope, not really, the case moulds are probably the same/similar as they're from the original manufacturing source for the original noobs...just they're not assembled by the same crew anymore, that is where the confusion arises...allegedly...

True, but all the dealers are selling the same fooking noobfactory sub watch now from the same source. Narikaa's isn't any different than Timeshops' or others (except for the price difference of course :lol:), all the way down to the same M serial number.

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sconehead
...nope, not really, the case moulds are probably the same/similar as they're from the original manufacturing source for the original noobs...just they're not assembled by the same crew anymore, that is where the confusion arises...allegedly...

True, but all the dealers are selling the same fooking noobfactory sub watch now from the same source. Narikaa's isn't any different than Timeshops' or others (except for the price difference of course :lol:), all the way down to the same M serial number.

...exactly...I think that may have been one of the reasons for the sub shootout Col did...;)

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prestigewatchco

Reg Narikaa is still buying from the only source ever of the Noobmariner/YM and a couple of other Rolex.

It was only ever a Bangkok thing one group of 3-4 people used to source the best parts available in the market at the time and assemble them in Bangkok.

About 2 years ago they stopped making them and the group split up.

Then shortly afterwards 2 of the remaining group started assembling again while not exactly the same as the original Noob version the one sold by Reg is the only version that has anything at all to do with the Noob products that were discontinued.

 

So no he is not full of it in fact he is telling the truth he buys them from the original Noob mariner people and this is their latest version of it.

 

There is and never was a Noob factory as such that is a new thing created by Chinese dealers but nothing at all to do with Noob mariner

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Fortey
, all the way down to the same M serial number.

 

Would that be M458117? That's what I've got on my wrist right now..

Edited by Fortey

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sconehead
, all the way down to the same M serial number.

 

Would that be M458117? That's what I've got on my wrist right now..

yep, if it ends in 117, just like the original...

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prestigewatchco

Only the case sets with serial number F52117 on the outside of the case between the lugs are the original Noob product cases regardless of it being a Submariner or Yachtmaster

Rehault engraved serial numbers are not an accurate way to tell as rehaults can be bought loose and put in any Submariner

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Baldrick

As Robert says, ALL other claims such as 'Noobfactory' this or "Noobfactory' that are just propaganda, designed to fool a buyer into thinking that what they are getting is the same as the original Noobmariners / Nymphomariners.

 

The original Noobs as stated were conceived and marketed by Maria and TTK, they weren't originally sold as standard black dial Subs, the release by Rolex of the Lunette Verte 16610 at the Basel Watch fair in 2003 was the inspiration behind the release by Maria and TTK of the rep version, some Chinese factories had already released an LV model but they were poor quality, no fat hand, standard 'button' indices, Maria and TTK commissioned a new dial ( which, in both standard and LV form is still regarded as the best dial ), they then got together with a case manufacturer in THAILAND, not China and had cases made which carried the serial number F52117 and model number 16610 engraved between the lugs, the new dial and fat hands were then assembled with the cases in Bangkok and were offered to the forums by Maria on the German forum and TTK on TRC the English forum.

 

Since then numerous dealers / modders have claimed that they are offering products which are the same from the 'Noobfactory', this is a lie, there may be some modders who having obtained Noob cases are modding them and offering them at increased prices, but unless they live in Thailand, they are not sourcing from the original suppliers, that small 'factory' has gone now, the remaining members still produce alternative stocks.

 

Narikaa still sources from the same people albeit the newer versions with rehaut engraving and M serial numbers.

 

I've posted some of these photos before, but do so again for comparison purposes and obviously for some of the newer members who don't know the history nor the product, these are the ORIGINAL photos as posted by TTK for the ORIGINAL Sub 16610 and LV 16610.

 

 

THIS WAS THE VERY FIRST LV OFFERING WHICH WAS VIRTUALLY THE SAME WATCH OFFERED BY ALL DEALERS, A TYPICAL CHINESE FACTORY PRODUCT IN LATE 2003 / EARLY 2004 AS YOU CAN SEE IT WAS POOR QUALITY, NO FAT HAND / BEZEL COLOUR WRONG etc etc.

 

MD5.jpg

 

THEN YOU HAD THE NEW AND IMPROVED LV VERSION OFFERED BY TTK AND MARIA, SINGLE MOST DETERMING FACTOR IN THESE OIVER ALL OTHER VERSIONS WAS THE LACK OF A 'WOKKY' REHAUT.

 

075LVSUBMARINERTEXT.jpg

075LVSUBMARINERTEXT2.jpg

 

074751.jpg

074ROLEXSUBMARINERWBM4.jpg

074NOOBMARINER5.jpg

074NOOBMARINER6.jpg

 

 

 

Six years later, there are plenty of good alternatives to the 'Noobmariner', a lot of fixes have taken place, the wokky rehaut has been fixed, crown guards are 'better;' and so and so forth, but NONE of them have any relationship to the the original Noobmariners, however the one factor that TTK always advocated as the most important aspect of the Noobmariners produced in Bangkok, was the RELIABILITY factor, they were assembled properly and you will see very few posts across all the forums about 'bad' items from this supplier.

 

Nuff said, carry on.

 

PS as Sconey stated Maria is a man and YES he and TTK were indeed humping, they were humping all the members on these forums by buying a cheap Asian Sub and selling it at vastly inflated prices on these forums, as all dealers do :lol:

 

ON A FINAL NOTE, I WOULD LIKE TO SEE A FORUM BAN ON THE USE OF THE TERM 'NOOBFACTORY' BY ALL DEALERS, IT'S SIMPLY MISLEADING MEMBERS AND CAUSING CONFUSION, WHERE THE AIMS OF THIS FORUM SHOULD BE FOR TRANSPARENCY AND CLARITY WITH REGARD TO THE SERVICE THEY PROVIDE MEMBERS.

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trailboss99

Sorry guys but I maintain the below as the truth.

 

The current batch of "Noobfactory" watches being sold by the GZ based dealers are using the caseset of the first Noobs.

They are coming from the Noob Factory in China which did the ceasesets for the the TH assembled noobmariners.

This is the same factory that makes the casesets for George and he in turn makes their moulds. The original Noobmariner moulds

were made by George. This is the same factory that made the SSD until recently. I have an example of every single 16610 sub made including Narikaa's and several advertised as "noobfactory" watches by the supplying dealer. THEY ARE IDENTICAL IN EVERY RESPECT TO THE ONE SOLD BY NARIKAA

 

I am not saying Narikaa is not buying his in TH, how would I know? I AM saying that the ones he gets are 100% identical in every regard to the the ones coming out of the Noobfactory in GZ. Same case, same bracelet, same dial, same eeeeevery thing. That is not an opinion or a piece of hearsay, that is a verifiable fact. Narikaa's may well have passed thru one more set of hands thus making them a "gen" Noobmariner but for all intents and purposes there is no difference.

 

 

 

Col.

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Brightlight

It's become clear to me I don't contemplate the ins and outs of my navel anything like enough, I should also get a mirror on a stick and study my arsehole more often........................

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