babola

Awesome result - one of the best looking 205/A reps out there for sure! Could you tell us a little more about those two tan straps on 201/A and 001 pre-A, please? Thanks. cheers, babola

Awesome collection, mate. Those DSN 27A dial and hands are simply Not that anything's wrong with the 202/A or 232 Wear them in good health! b

Top notch result buddy - TOP STUFF!

Ah, so that's what it probably was...cheers!

Hmm, I wonder what happened to the rest of our replies from yesterday...?!

Drulee, the measurements you posted here are of the crown tube neck, the wider bit that sits outside of the case not the tube body itself. I believe T's asking about the diameter or a tube body, i.e. the part of the tube that sits inside the case. To measure this you will have to either remove the tube from the case, or have a spare tube on its own. I have two cartel spares and they both measure around 3mm mark (2.99mm and 3.02mm) However if T decides not to go down the new tube path, all this is irrelevant, anyway. cheers, b

T, if it helps at all... Cartel crown tubes come in different varieties and inner diameters as well, depending on when and where the watch was acquired. I have cartel reps that come with rigid 1.85mm and 2mm crowns (measured at neck), as well as 2.2mm spring-loaded crown that came on 001B from Eddie Lee in 2006. The crown tubes on these will be of inner diameter to support crown-neck diameter of these crowns, although a little wider (never measured it though) as you have to factor in the inner o-ring seal that sits inside the crown tube to provide greater water tightness. DSN crowns are almost exclusively 2.2mm at the neck. In general, DSN crown tube will fit the standard cartel case. I have done this transplant successfully few years ago, but cannot guarantee if the same applies to his more recent cases/tubes. cheers, b

For the price he's flogging those off - they better be!

Sorry mate, but this statement couldn't be further from the truth ... Ditto what Pete said. PAM127 reps these days are luck of a draw with many 'issues', some smaller than others. Unfortunately DSN ones aren't an exception and there's no easy fix to it, depending on how close to the real thing you'd like your Fiddy to be. Most noticeable are incorrect case corners and lack of sharpness (rounded instead of pointy corners), unfinished area around the lugs, wrong dial txt color and substandard crystal with "coke-bottle-bottom" effect making the numerals and markers looking smaller and squashed towards the dial center. Honpo/EL/River Fiddy from the past is another story altogether. I always firmly believed the factory that made the Fiddy that Honpo and EL used to distribute from must have had a genuine for a sample. The level of finish and closeness to the genuine was hardly ever matched with any Panerai rep that followed. Sadly these were gone from the market in late 2007, and good ones (upgraded mov't to E-series, A/R removed, case re-brushed, CG refinished, hands upgraded to DSN ones, dial relumed) would have cost you a pretty penny these days, as you said $600-700 could source you a nice one, like the one Kool_Watch sold last week in RWG sale section. Have fun and good luck :-)

Good one, mate! That T-lume on your 001 looks very close to the real thing, actually...aged yellow almost mustard color. Still awaiting few pieces to finally finish pne of mine ;-) Wear it proud, b

Hey T, your PM Inbox is full, mate. cheers, b

Okabum, so the rumor has it you can replicate just about any Pam steel part as long as you have the original to copy from? Guys, can some of you send him a JFZu polished CG or LH pre-V CG...or even better - a genuine, so that okabum can have a go at it? I would if I had one of those, but don't anymore The possibilities are mind boggling, I'm sure most of you would agree

Okabum mate we need to talk - seriously, though!

Oh I could go on about him, no probs ;-) We've had few head on collisions over there in the past at the time I used to post on 'risti more frequently (under different member handle, of course ) Life's good...

Not bad at all for a 009B-L, although it's still a lot of money for such a watch. I agree with others, Panerai pricing in general is out of kilt, for not so rational reasons but hey, it's all driven by a WIS and collectors hype isn't it We've seen it all before with other watch brands and Panerai isn't an exception, unfortunately. You may want to consider a PVD Marina model from the same series as well, 004B-L which is currently being offered on Paneristi sale board for about the same price or less by a member called Max. Check it out if you like this one more than a base and if you can bear dealing with annoying and obnoxious character like Max. Good luck. cheers! b

LOL! No worries, mate :-)

If it's of any help, DSN never produced a 127 dial of his own. He's been using the cartel Fiddy dials available from the rep factories at the time. They were the best in early '06 (Honpo, Eddie Lee, Angus and River were some of the dealers that had them at the time) then slowly degraded in print quality as well as color of the dial text which turned from a good creamy/ivory color to a light even dark brown on some dials. I personally owned 3 of his 127 reps over the years, with the last dial on his 'ultimate 127' from the early 09 being the worst of them all. I kept his first from '06 and sold the other two. Again - not his fault, he installs the PAM127 dials he sources from the rep factories. cheers, b

Certainly one of the best DSN Pam reps ever made. Not exactly an affordable rep by any means, but with that dial/hands and gen ETA2892-A2 with Soprod 9040 module - worth every dollar IMO. Even the PVD he's currently using is a step up from his original one. A little Cape cod polish to it and it's very gen looking. Enjoy!

The CG engraving depth and font on your DSN is per gen specs, nothing to worry about. The text position should be a tad closer to the case, but that's minor. GETAT/Jackson hommage cases shouldn't be used as a reference, IMO. They differ from the genuine cases quite a bit actually. I've handled both their 44 and 47mm cases and they're sub par compared to standard cartel/DSN ones. See the pic of a gen below for comparison: cheers, b Still kicking, mate thanks, b

Show us a photo if you could...thanks.

You nailed this one pretty well, mate! :-) The logo should be just a tad more towards the centre, but that's hairsplitting now, really. Excellent work!

That's my understanding as well, unless there's someone else I don't know of ;-) Veja, for what it's worth, T-60 are a very nice and well made crowns, although not gen-like it beats any other standard rep crown hands down. And at the price te few remaining ones are going at the moment I wouldn't hesitate to get one or maybe two. cheers.

Just wondering how does this DSN case compare to your EL cased 205/A ? Do you happen to have a side by side lug-side photo? thanks, b

She's a beauty, mate! That is one of the best DSN cases, for sure. Wear it well!

Nice gen mate ;-)