babola

7750 is a misnomer when it comes to PAM Daylight Chronos. 7750 mov't comes with subdials @ 6, 9, 12 o'clock position (also known as Tag Heuer chrono-style), in 7753 they're positioned @ 3, 6 and 9 o'clock, just like Pam 40 and 44mm chrono watches use. 188/196/250/251 reps come in two mov't flavors, Swiss ETA 7753 (Valjoux 7753), or Asian 7753 clone. If you can source a nice 188 or 196 with old factory case and Swiss ETA 7753 - go for it by all means, they're worth every penny. cheers, babola

Not a single PAM box, it's a custom made 8-PAM rep box, originaly available thru Homer for $100 delivered. It comes with a single OP aluminium stick plate attached and extra 3 stick plates as spares. cheers, babola

Hi mate, Gen PVD PAM 004B series came in both 'transitional' T-dial and L-dial flavors. So get yourself a decent 111 sausage dial with 'L Swiss L' under 6 o'clock and you'll end up with a ice PAM 004B. Some of the dealers should be able to get you the dial only. I'm currently partial to Angus' 111E dial as it comes with grooved indices and numerals, like the gen. DSN doesn't have any T-swiss-T dials left, also the 'dash' between T and Swiss is wrong for any watch except pre-A models. If you could source DSN T_dash dial you could create pre-A 004, however the shape and form of dial indices wouldn't be even close to the watch of that era. Drop me a PM if you'd like to talk further cheers, babola

Ditto. They work wonders

You're right, avoid BOB Sportivo line if you can't digest their stiffnes, that said, they're nothing worse than Toscana (both waterproof) but for half the price (negotiated with Mac, of course). Some fine examples from Vertigo and Marino lines are hard to beat for the money, though. cheers, babola

Eh? - PVD? So who's making you pesonalised 195 caseback then...c'mon spill the beans LOL! cheers, babola

Actually the biggest flaw of the rep 112/176 dial are dial numbers, more specificaly shape of the cutouts. Genuine Panerai sandwich dial numerals 12, 3 and 9 are shaped to closely mimic pre-V and pre-A dial numbers shape. Rep dial manufacturers simply used a modern Vendome painted/sausage dial template to create sandwich dial cutouts, which was abviously wrong :-( First rep H-series 111/177/112/176 dials came out with this flaw late '05, and have never been fixed since. It's not hard and not rocket science, one only needs to take a look at perfectly replicated Radiomir (183, 210) sandwich rep dial. ***end of rant*** babola

I'd love to see the "thick crown guard"...if we exclude DSN from the equation, he'd be the fist one to offer one, then. What about crown ? cheers, babola

Panerai minute hand tube has three functions, basically: - to keep the minute hand securely on the pin - ensure minute hand is positioned horizontaly to the hour hand and the dial, and not under angle - provides safe sub-milimeter distance between itself and the hour wheel (on which the hour minute sits), so that the hands ton't touch each other. So, in short version, the answer is: don't do it! babola

I'm not going to, I like you too much, mate

Stick to what you believe is right for you. As with many other things in life - horses for courses... ;-)

Couldn't agree more with both statements. I'd say find yourself a good DSN model and stick to it. The thing is - you have to "be there, at the right moment" and snap it up quickly. DSN has limited production runs and availability of his products, and availability good DSN watches/parts doesn't last forever. Remember his ver.1 5218-201a, 202, 203, Slytecs, T-dials with high horizontal bars on letter "A"...his second ver pre-A 002, 10/114 dial etc. As for the "DSN" buckle (it's actually not "his own" bespoke buckle), agree again, while not historically correct it's very nice and makes a good fit and alternative to OEM-rep ones, heck even renowned strap makers like Greg Stevenson use these buckles (different engraving, though) on his top straps...and those hard-core gen Paneristi seem love them, nevertheless stay well and keep your eyes peeled babola

Couldn't have put it better myself, mate :-) ...and I know you'll treasure your LA_005 for a long time ;-) cheers, babola

Mate, I have the very same 111F model, and did the SAME mods, E-series ultimate mov't, swapped the hands with DSN's (replaced original Swiss 6497-1 OPII mov't with squared bridges that came with teh watch) and relumed dial by The Zigmeister!!! This is an old-school 111 rep as you say, thick case, thinner dial and very asymetrical thick CG, where the lever sits almost right at the top of the CG. They had to do this to compensate for thinner dial, and the fact the whole mov't sits deeper inside the case. It also comes with one of the nicest finished dials, with thick dial txt font and markers and numerals that have a groove around them, just like gens. The new 111 dials are not near this nice, I must say. My crown is also now 'polished' in appearance, the watch is now over 1 yr old, and I wore it amost every day for a long time. I'm not changing it as it's as thick and nice as it should be. It's a keeper, mine's not going anywhere :-) Brother, great minds think alike :-) LOL!

As mentioned above, while so called "jimmyfu" case set is probably the nicest 44mm Luminor rep case you can get these days, it varies in quality, finish and fit from case to case, CG to CG, and it's far from being a 'perfect rep case' - the term many noobs use these days when refering to a particular case. Also, the lack of prominent cut between the lugs is not only a feature that came on Jimmy's cases and gen pre-E Series 44mm Luminor cases - old-school Pam repo cases from late 2005/early 2006 also come without it, I myself own 3 of the starndard (not JimmyFu) rep cases from that period, 2 S/S and one PVD, with thicker sapphire without A/R - the cases are perfect, and currently housing my 001,002 and 009 B-series, solid casebacks. These old rep cases are extremely 1:1 with both JimmyFu and Gen cases of the pre-E series (pre 2002) era, and are keepers FYI, Panerai introduced cut between the lugs on their recent series, and the current standard rep cases match it to a tee. That said, I'm not a big fan of standard 44mm Luminor rep cases since the dimensions have slightly changed some 9 months ago, and the case is now slightly wider and not visualy that close to gen any more. As Pamman mentioned above, JimmyFu's cases have their place, but if you're after a perfect 'historic' match for the later gen PAMs (elongated lugs, no cut between the lugs, A/R on xtal)...it ain't exactly perfect cheers, babola

He gets his UPO from the same supplier as everyone else (except Sillix). Just a word of caution with the guy, he will tell you he'll send the pics of the exact watch you're getting - well, in my case - not quite. Some guys said he used to do this in the past, but ain't doing it now, I can tell ya'. The pics shown were of a different watch, and I cought him in a lie. He drop ships just like 99% of them, so just be careful and keep your eyes peeled. cheers, babola

Wow, I totally agree with Pamman, something peculiar with that Cg+crown set...exceptional good and gen-like looking bits, the crown is almost Palp thickness, CG is better finnished and looks like larger in radius ?! The CG lever inner tip is finally long enough to push the crown close enough to the case...new factory ? new version ? dying to know more...;-) If this is the sign of the things to come in the future - I'm looking forward to it Could you please post the photo of CG from the side, please ? many thanks, babola

Nope it won't, it will stay the original color for a very long time. I've sent you a long-ish PM on RWI, check it there mate. babola

C3 will produce green color when charged, but creamy yellowish when not. Most of the PAM historics, going back to between 1999 to 2002 come with almost pure unadaltured C3 superlume. Later models beggining from E-series onwards use custom mix of C3 and (most likely) C1. H-series onwards are mostly off-white (C1?) lumed, but again mixed with a small portion of another SL either C3 or C5, or again something completely different. If what Tritec claims is anything to go by, Panerai always used C3 and nothing else on their watches, which is IMO incorrect. Panerai might be sourcing C3 from Tritec, but then another luminous compound from somewhere else, without telling Tritec about it. It only takes a quick glance of later series Pam000 or 005 @AD to come to realize the lume is almost completely "white". cheers, babola

Mate, my heart has just skipped a beat...awesome collection, even better attention to those small fine details...finally I find a soulmate in my hystoric 44mm PAM craze (well, bar V and few others of course). Those 002 and 004 DSN dials are awesome, gen 003 dial is simply to die for. Agree, Palp's crowns and top of the line straps simply complete the picture. Good on ya ! babola

The movement shown is Asian ETA 6497 clone, nothing less nothing more. All the usual Asian mov't tell-tale bits are there, visible without loupe. Stay away from it. Your watchmaker is either not telling you the truth, or he's unable to identify Asian ETA rep. Even if it was a gen ETA 6497-2, $375 (475 with the 'service' ?!?) for the movement in that state/shape and form is hardly worth dishing out. babola

Far from it, it's a single barrel reworked Asian 6497 Asian mov't. Pretty bad job at that, I agree. Save yourself $80 and look away cheers, babola

Yup, my package arrived today as well...'t was a heck of a long wait (almost 5 weeks) but well worth it It must have been summer holidays in Germany that slowed down the whole process cheers, babola

Still stand by everything I said re blue SFSO...I was asked and I obliged. And for those off-the hip shooters out there, I don't come to conclusions like the one above lightly, it's usually a lot of research and work done on my side to support them. As always I'm open for discussion and debate Pug, you're spot on mate...again. I sometimes wish people read past posts and use search function more often babola

So true my dear, so true...you hit the nail on the head with this statement for a lot of us PAM-crazies. The others that question or don't understand this are, well...just collectors cheers, babola P.S. Know anyone with a spare E-series see-thru 44mm caseback ? LOL!