projectologist

That watch was designed by the same person that went on to start his own company after leaving Panerai. This is the first watch his company produced... you can see the similarities...

There was no related difference with matching or non-matching being thicker or thinner. The color of the hands depended on if the vendor used the varnish that yellowed too quickly or the one they switched to that didn't. A separate issue from the dials yellowing and/or thickness/thinness.

Gen buckle is easier on straps. But sanding, then polishing as you described works great on rep buckles.

This one was built to last... can't say that for all of OP's straps

For comparison... before and after... and no fuzzy thread. Found these before pics still on my phone from a year ago. ... and one year later.

Back to this one...

My post is from August 2011, so the rep is an H Factory V1. They do turn up in the sales forum from time to time. But now the current Noob Factory version is even nicer and available from most trusted dealers listed here at RWG.

Toro... first time ordering with him, good communications and nice packaging.

The watch arrived yesterday and I'm very happy with it. All that was needed was to flatten and put a high polish on the lever pin, with a little re-shaping of the lever tip to follow. Other than that there's nothing left to do but wear it Here's hoping they do a 24/25 with this level of accuracy!!! The last 2 phone pics taken indoors with my work lamp.

Great comparison! Thanks for taking the time to put it together and share with us!

Looks great, makes the watch pop! I resize in Photoshop since I sometimes will convert/save the pics as TIFFs for printing.

Didn't save the original, but this one had been in my Trash folder before emptying it. I decided to see how good Snapseed is at salvaging a sucko image. This pic was taken in a recessed area above our fireplace this morning while it was still overcast outside. The light was overly shady, so the original image was way underexposed, edges a little soft and overall noticeably grainy. In Snapseed I used Tilt/Shift to selectively blur the background, Details to selectively sharpen case and dial, then Tune Image to adjust the White Balance. Finally Frames to give the pic edge some interest. Still using my trusty iPhone 4. Original image was 2100 pixels wide, I reduced it to 900 for uploading. Photobucket's compression dulled the pic a little, but I think it still holds up.

My second most favorite behind the JV... Asso...

First batch sold out several months ago. Several have been posted here.

Not true... just depends how you take care of it. Treat it like you would a nice pair of shoes and it will look fine even a year later. Just like you wouldn't wear those nice shoes when you mow a lawn or clean out a garage, do the same with a watch with a nice strap, wear your beater watch instead. Simple.

Such a classic franken build! Well done my friend!

Some more phone pics from today. The 390 has become my favorite daily beater.

Thanks.... but getting tired of Photobuckets compression sucking the life out of my pics. Guess I need to do my own hosting

Every time I get out my phone to make a call, I just have to take some pics of this watch. One of my all-time favorite reps. From today...

Any authorized AD or order directly from the Boutiques.

Here's my 390... Noob cg on the HF case. Fit fine without any filing necessary.

JV by OP...

It's a different type of leather than what's used for the calf straps. They use a much thinner layer of leather for the calf straps and a lot of wool padding to build up the thickness.