lhooq

Are you talking about the $17,000 6238 with the spotty dial, or the $17,0000 6238 with the badly-refinished dial?

Thanks, CP! I think filling in the moats would result in big, balloon-like numerals, but I'm curious to see what could be done. Either Davidsen needs to steal a different factory's sausage dials, or the factories should swipe Davidsen's blue paint! The 082's a bit of a sleeper, but I think it could be a big hit if people were more confident about its accuracy.

alligoat and I were watching an auction for a genuine 6238 silver dial, but someone snatched it out from under our noses. It better not be one of you maniacs!

It's a human-dog hybrid. And about [censored] time, if you ask me!

Great colors, F! Blue and chunky for me:

Thanks, guys. I'm still hoping that one of the factories takes a shot at the 082, or one of the other blue dial specials i.e. the 228, and... the 119. I had to Google that last one!

Here's an old favorite spruced up for 2012. Exactly three years ago, I received my first Panerai rep from Davidsen--an 082, or a PAM00082 if you like your reference numbers intact. I was still starting out with reps and figured that I ought to give these chunky Italian watches a try. I figured a basic model like a 111 would do, but got distracted somewhere between DSN's photobucket and nervously sending that first wire transfer to China. Make that twice distracted: First, I ended up getting one of DSN's lovely Blancpains, and then I was mesmerized by the 082's blue dial. Davidsen produced some of the best PAMs in 2009, but the development pace of Panerai reps since then has been relentless. Pieces that people once paid big bucks for would likely be rejected at the QC stage today. Now we expect crisp perfection straight out of the box. Modding, on the other hand, has moved well to the right on the curve of diminishing returns. Take a look at the comparison shot of DSN's old titanium case (with a non-DSN crown) and notice the soft, indistinct edges, the tall bezel, wrong crown position, and the CG. The old case just looked squat, and that's what bugged me in light of all the new releases from the H, N, or Whatever factories. But the 082 is special. It's one of the biggest compliment-getters in my rep collection, second only to the 288K. Note that when I say compliments, I mean from the general public. On the rep forums, the 082 gets a surprising number of "Is it gen?" comments during the wrist-checks. I think that says more about the rarity of this model, or how niche-y Davidsen has become these days. It's nowhere near super-rep levels of accuracy, but the look is right. While I wish Davidsen would finally put out a dial that didn't have "moats" around the markers, no one else has come close to matching the brushed finish and the just-right shade of metallic blue. The cartel attempted an 082 a couple of years ago, and the result was a little embarrassing. Go ahead and look at it now, if you want. I'll be here. Davidsen's updated the 082 a bunch of times (as recently as last month, in fact), so what you get from him today is noticeably better than what I bought in 2009. (It's a bit cheaper, too.) His now-engraved caseback and all-new CG are especially nice. The new dial features better spacing and positioning of the text, but it still has those darned moats. I didn't want to pay $280 for a few upgrades, so I went searching for a more recent Ti case. I found someone who sold me an old 177F caseset with much better dimensions, a great-looking CG, and a crystal without AR. That blue glare was a big tell on the DSN and, more importantly, it made it harder to appreciate the blue sheen of the dial. You can clearly see the bothersome moats here. Despite them, the blue dial is really something else when you see it up close and under a light: It was a quick and painless transplant. Movement, dial, and hands were untouched. The crown and caseback were carried over from the DSN. The Amerigo Vespucci is laser-etched rather than engraved (as on the current 082s), but it's still a nice caseback to look at: The strap is a cheapo "crocodile" leather from the world's online marketplace; stitching, padding, and texture are similar to the original, but that dark shade of blue isn't quite a match. Unfortunately, I'd lost out on a few auctions for OEM blue-green crocs. $200-300 ain't cheap! Did I mention that this watch is actually a franken? It's true! The two bars are OEM parts, therefore... SUPER-DUPER-FRANKEN-GENESTEIN!!! YEEEAAAHHH!!! Ahem. My DSN 082 came with a sharp-looking (and actually razor-sharp) titanium fishtail buckle, but I wanted to keep things as close to stock as possible. This titanium thumbnail buckle was a lucky find. Eddie Lee, don'tcha know? I'm still hoping that the factories take a crack at the 082 and get most things right at the first attempt. Alternatively, maybe Davidsen could figure out how to punch numerals and bars into a blue sausage dial without leaving outlines. Until then, this will do nicely. But do send me a PM if you find an OEM blue croc selling for less than $200! EDIT: Cleaned up all that cruddy <acronym> HTML...

Beautiful, K! I'd love to get my hands on one of those! (The gen, obviously.)

Lost in Space

Another Daytona Day

Damn you, Monday! Wearing the Daytona helps:

Offshore's account is a cracking read. I studied his and Tvt's notes intensely before my first (and so far, only) visit to GZ.

Here's mine: And here's one I bought for someone else:

Yikes! I seem to be infested with these buggers: And a couple of borderline silvers...

Thanks, R (and ! Now get that Snowflake back to the land of the living!

The Professional

Very classy, ubi. VC Wednesday:

Even though I already own the gen... Yes, me too! If a rep were available, I would love to try and mod it to have a huge Plexiglas dome (as on the '60s originals, and on the recent JLC Tribute to Polaris), and maybe swap the hands out for Tudor Ranger units. I thought about doing this to mine after the warranty period ended, but you do learn to love the LLD as-is--even with its flatter sapphire. I really don't know if a rep Compressor-type case will ever be available to us. It would be a pretty easy case to rep; the only difficult bit might be the star gear for the turning internal bezel. Actually, I would be very interested to ask someone who owns the Pleamar whether its bezel can be rotated. Here's the post I wrote not long after I bought my gen in December 2009. The last I heard (from guys who were looking), the Date version of the LLD is available from various ADs. The No-Date isn't listed on the Longines website, and was rumored to be discontinued. Thankfully, the rumors seem to be mistaken. The No-Dates are tricky to find, but they have been spotted recently at a few ADs. Old stock, maybe? Although one guy on RepGeek sold his for $1000 flat (!), current prices seem to in the $1200-1700 range. A new LLD is about $2100 at the AD.

"Does the second hand sweep? Yes? Well, it must be a Triple A-grade replica! You don't call counterfeits of this quality 'fake', y'see..."

Excellent post, JJ! Clear photos, smart observations, and good advice. I'm very interested in seeing how you narrow the inner crown guard gap.

That white-on-gilt is the best Explorer dial that Yuki has put out in almost three years. It's nice to think that this might have been how the 1016 looked if you'd bought one from an AD in 1964! That's a beaut, Brian, Congratulations.

Thanks, R, and ditto.

I think that's Version 2 you're looking at, and I believe its color is more accurate to the genuine 026. That said, Perfect/Trusty photography is -how do I put this?- terrible, so the real thing may be darker than it looks in the listing.

Congrats, B! Now it's YOUR turn to climb the mountain!

Stupid noob! Check out this thread to read more about that PAM 026K. And thanks!