w0lf

When is the 2nd run coming? I just managed to score me 2 pair of the 1st run

First you let this thing sit out on your driveway for 2 weeks before you even bother to pick it up, now this... this watch will last forever. I don't even wash my hands with mine on.. Maybe that's the secret looks like u both had fun!

The size of the rep crystal and cyclops are wildly different from the gen counterpart. I know a member tried fitting an ultimate crystal from luminor series w/ a 7mm cyclops onto his 243 without any luck. So it's almost a certainty that the WSO990 crystal at 35.5mm diameter will also not fit. The gen crystal wouldn't work either since it's 5.1mm thick I've never seen one for sale.

Yep, saw that too Not a huge fan of this but the fact that new PAM reps are still being made by factories warms my heart.

Yes, I hope so too but I'm a realist. I've been awaiting DSN24A since November 2009 when I emailed DSN asking about it and he told me it would be out in January 2010. I really want him to break his track record for abysmal cases, crownguards, crowns, datewheels, casebacks and general lack of attention to detail. I know the dial, hands and movement will be solid as is the case with majority of his recent projects.

DSN rejected some non compliant parts? Usually he builds watches with those... Hell is freezing over.

Hi Paul, Any news on the PreA buckle? With so many PreA FGD dial watches now in circulation and with even more base PreA dials on the horizon, the PreA buckle will be very well received.

A job well done, as always, Babola

All nitpicking aside, I think the issue of 24hr markers has existed on MBW and Cartel reps for years. So suppose you get the DG2813 as a base: - probably change the crystal to clark 25-127 with jmb's help (the crystal on the watch is probably made of melted margarine like the rest) - drill out the lug holes - have the dial relumed off white and 24hr indexes extended by The Zigmeister - don't know what to do about the seconds hand with its misplaced bubble (has there ever been a correct seconds hand for this?) CGs look good, anything else jump out at you?

Not really. But it's the only one out there.

Sweeeet They are really really really ridiculously good looking hands

DSN has a 55C caseback.

PT's version has a pretty bad shiny PVD and wrong CG (it's just a flipped non-destro one.)

Ronin, OEM 26 'B' series falls on the transitional period so both tritium and luminova dials were available (T S T & L S L respectively). The new 26 'K' is a reissue of the original 'B' model and has a sandwich dial treated with luminova, hence it's only available with an L SWISS L insignia. Afaik, there's no good rep caseback for PAM26 for any year mfg., and DSN's new 26K isn't very accurate by and large. The best all-rep build would be utilizing the discontinued fantasy DSN destro dial for PAM22/26 with T-SWISS-T and extra yellow lume. You can then have The Zigmeister relume the dial with a nice tritium mix and have him remove the dashes in T-SWISS-T. Case it in a quality caseset like older cartel or preferably JimmyzFu and finish it off with a thick old 'B' caseback. I know it's for the /3000 millesimation Marina run but you can't find a better B caseback with proper engraving. While you have The Zigmeister work on the dial have him also do an OEM PVD coat at the Lichtenstein factory. If you want to pull out all the stops, pm kye_lin, I remember he had an oem T SWISS T destro marina dial for sale but you're likely looking at $5K+ build if you get this dial.

245 comes with a mineral crystal 249 comes with a plexi other than that all non-vintage (PreV>>) PAMs are sapphire

Sweet, this means mine are on the way too

Doc, Technically every OP XXXX number signifies a different case. I've thought about this very same thing many times before and I pretty much quit and resigned to the following schema with building manual reps: JF or gen case for everything non PreV. EL/old cartel case for everything PreV. If you can't get JF or gen case - the next best thing is previous gen cartel case ('08-'09). Best Ti case is the '08 "best version" 177F with the engraved movement followed by the EL/old cartel 177/176. I started using this logic because it's my belief that realistically it's nearly impossible to quantify all the minutiae differences in OEM cases if you're using a broad criteria like prod-year. Even if you drill down to differences between same year OP # it's not crystal clear. Just think about the distribution of production run #s in a specific millesimation range for say OP 6502 case, and how simple parts availability affects the situation. Bear in mind that Panerai subcontracted case production so there's no granular in house QC but rather per-batch QC during assembly. Quick example - OP6502 is supposed to span two production years: A and B, and cover 6 distinct models (01,02,03,04,09 & 10 including transitional PreA's with up to BB971700 production run #) all models produced in different quantities. In theory this case should be the same as OP 6510, OP 6518, OP 6518, 6519, 6520 & 6521 that also came out for manually wound watches in 'B' prod year but the cases all have subtle differences in bezel height, midcase height, degree of "drooping" shoulders, etc.. So you understand now why I stopped.

My seein eye dog says - Yo mama

My seeing eye dog says that datewheel she asked to see looks an awful lot like a QR system

W, I think JV is much too light to be paired up with a PVD watch. AB Gator or DB Gator are a better fit imo.

Reg, Very interesting Would it be possible to see some more pics? Would it be possible to see the profile of those watches both with the crown guard facing the camera and also the other side? Just to appraise the lug shape and CG. Also a straight dial shot would be cool. I presume these are the fantasy 40mm PAM241 with matte PAM90-like dial instead of the hobnail one and PAM48? And looks like seagull st25 or 30 is powering those?

Thanks for ripping it to pdf! I can host this my rapidshare account in case someone can't download from filefactory.

Well if you know one, it doesn't hurt to ask but it is my understanding that most leaked OEM parts don't come from gray market but rather from loose PASCs or part-outs. When it comes to 40mm Luminor I think the latter is non-existent because there aren't many uses for a 40mm caseset and crystal, and parting out for just the movement & dial seems wasteful.

hmmm some board hickup...2x

I've never seen a gen 48/50 dial for sale and I've been trying to buy one for ages. During that time I've seen about 5 or 6 white dials for pam49 and one anthracite for pam70 for sale.