PolonusTM

PAM 089E I got this watch from Joshua / Perfect Clones, being probably the first or second person ordering it Pam GMT, titanium and anthracite dial - enough for me Info about GEN 089E: TimeKeeperss comment: "The PAM89 44mm titanium GMT was made for D, E, F and G series in very limited quantities. The PAM89 was always a hot watch in short supply among authorized dealers and independent watch dealers alike. Most collectors simply refuse to part with their PAM89 titanium GMT and for that reason, there are not many of these available in the secondary marketplace. The PAM 89 44mm titanium GMT has a completely brushed/satin finished look with no shiny parts anywhere on the case, bezel or crown protector. What makes the PAM89 standout is the silky anthracite (fancy name for charcoal) dial with jet black sub seconds dial at 9:00. The anthracite dial is chameleon-like; many people would swear it is blue while others think it is black. In reality it is a smoky grey that depending on the clothes you are wearing or the light that is shining on it, it takes on the appearance of its surroundings. This is a classic and desirable Panerai watch that is available in very short supply and is becoming increasingly harder to find in the secondary market. THIS IS ALSO BILL CLINTON'S PANERAI OF CHOICE - THERE ARE MANY PHOTOS OF WILLIAM JEFFERSON CIRCULATING ON THE INTERNET WITH HIS FAVORITE 89!!!" Interesting. Bill and his 089. …back to the rep: Movement Asian 7750 with GMT module as per gen (which means it uses day wheel to move 24h GMT arm). When You pull the crown to the first position, rotating in one direction quickly set date while in other direction - jump-move GMT hand. It is my third watch based on A7750 GMT from H-maker - no problems so far. Seems A7750 GMT is exclusive for H-factory while i.e. A7753 is exclusive for Noob. Anthracite dial Anthracite is a type of mineral coal. Look here Anthracite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . I personally do not believe Panerai used real anthracite for their dials. To me it is more like fashion way of calling the color/effect combination as "anthracite". I allowed myself to quote aladin_sane/WUS on this matter: "(…) it is highly unlikely that anyone is using coal as a dial material for a couple of reasons. First, coal, even anthracite, is very soft, and friable. I don't think it would machine well or stand up to shock. Second coal is full of volatile materials. If you took slice of anthracite and encased it under a watch crystal, in a short time, the heat of the sun would vaporize some of the organic material or even water that is present in the coal and it would fog the crystal." Can You even imagine cutting out subdial or date window in such a brittle material? Or.. solder the dial feet in place, and watch it burn? (I know I know - just joking) So what is it? Anodized / vertically brushed aluminum? Maybe… Does it react to light as gen on various photos? Yes, it does! However making photo of vertical brushed lines is a pita with artificial light. Hands and lume Hands are perfect as known from previous H-factory GMT releases (237 & 088). Polished Cannon Pin - in my experience you can pull or push minute hand on the pin to adjust surfaces to the same level. Crown Guard CG internal edges are not sharp 90º angled corners. They are not even round, they look like three surfaces combined to make into a corner so I bet it was made by a machining process of broaching. Why broaching? Because CG internal corners are even more dull that on SS version of H-factory CGs, which is normal when broaching harder materials like titanium. You want to avoid 90º corners when broaching hard materials because the tool (broach) becomes dull too fast. The tool is probably custom made for H-factory replications, maybe they have two of them: one for SS and one for titanium (less pronounced corners). Why do I think they do this machining by broaching? Because broach is an expensive to make custom cutting tool. Easy 10-15 USD grands for one. Really. That's why they cannot just "sharpen" internal corners despite all our loud talking - the tools are too expensive to just forget about them. I guess Noob factory does the same job by CNC milling. More expensive, I guess - but gives you sharp corners. example broaching tools: Coming back to overall CG shape when comparing with gen: it is a bit different, but maybe can be recognized as variation in production as well. The arc of top surface of CG is a bit bigger on rep than on a gen (whoa… that was nitpicking at full speed!) Anyway, it is visible on the watch when looking from CG side. One-glance-to-know-its-a-rep is possible Titanium case-set Well, it looks pretty much the same as case-set for PAM 240J. Good, satin brushed surfaces, dull in look etc. But when looking on gen to rep photos kindly presented by Joshua on PC site, I found that there is something wrong in lug shapes… maybe the angles of as photos were taken… but no.. I did quick overlay job in PS and here is the result: But guess what.. The lugs shape CHANGED on the gen: the gen E-series are having lower top of lugs while F-series of 089 have the same shape as from H-factory! Look: The top of gen CG is more flat than the rep CG anyway, regardless series… So… when someone knows about the lug shapes in connection to E and F series - he can prooobaaaablyyy spot the lug shape difference when handling the rep directly. But on Your wrist - never. FINAL CONCLUSIONS pros: - they got the anthracite dial RIGHT - sapphire with polished internal side walls of date loupe - GMT mod of A7750 is already proven one and works well - superlume - titanium caseset is nicely machined - nice strap in case of this version of watch bundle cons: - wrong CG shape - wrong lugs profile for E-series but correct for F-series so no problem on a wrist - price… but prices are slowly getting higher and higher Possible modding: source Noob factory titanium CG… but the lever has a roller which is wrong for 089E… so maybe H-factory titanium lever will fit Noob CG? As a watch: it is amazing! Anthracite dial makes it! Look very elegant / tasteful in combo with titanium case-set. Super Rep? With correct CG it would be easily Super Rep, hands down. Now it is between First Class and Super Rep in my opinion. And HD Video:

the GMT hour hand jumps while in setting mode; it moves slowly one rotation per 24h.

I received that new version of DSSD with Swiss movement. Butter smooth winding and it is -0.5 sec after 5(!) days total ! So I think it was right decision.

the Andrew's version has better ceramic bezel, better shape of seconds arm (that overgrown bulb on the other end) and better pearl.

I don't know if it is against forum rules, but I made a review of this watch on i.e. rep geek: http://www.repgeek.com/showthread.php?t=192314

When ordering from Perfect Clones, there is an option to choose to stay with regular synthetic sapphire or go with real sapphire for $145 more.

It is an option to choose real or synthetic sapphire while ordering.

stil wrong, saying 2016 is the year of production

I ordered graphite dial Skyland Avenger, from Joshua /Perfect Clones, the H-factory remake of their V2 from 2008, I suppose. Some things were corrected, like superlume. There are several excellent reviews of Noob and H-factory versions of this watch so I found it matured rep project and decided to make that little departure from my usual Panerai gusto. I allowed myself to put all pros and cons in one table: More details: - I got the watch on Pro-2 SS bracelet with additional croco print walnut strap with rep Breitling buckle - the AR is very nice - it is very easy to hold the watch in such a way where sapphire totally "disappears". - it is my first rep with A7750 where chrono minute totalizer advances exactly at the right moment! - I love matte grey dial! I don't think black one is right for this watch - too much contrast and it hurts eyes, I suppose… - the softly embossed hour digits (gen and Noob have it sharp embossed) - are not a problem, You need to inspect it closely to spot this flaw. Bracelet: - quite well executed with some weak points - it's easy to call it "rep" for these awful bolts for bracelet length regulation - bolts are biggest tell, there are not "almost-flat", they are different to each other - heads shapes are all over the place. Only ONE bolt is correct to the gen, as you will see that on the video. - when you adjust clasp elements a bit, it starts to close with a nice, powerful click - correct markings with production date set to year 2007 - need additional polishing (few minutes with CapeCod polish will do) since edges had some glue(?) residues Leather strap: - nice quality, probably one of the best rep straps - nice printed croco pattern - all correct markings apart from the stamp "Cuir Veritable" where "Croco Veritable" would be correct, since the strap has croco pattern. It is a matter of personal taste, but I would suggest to buy this watch with a nice rep strap instead of a bracelet which is awful light reflecting thing, way beyond my taste :/ Even in gen. The bracelet "eats" the watch while nice strap works particularly well. No mentioning metal parts scratch everything (i.e. caseback) and get scratches and swirls from everything, too. Ordering this watch with a strap has an additional benefit of avoiding scratches between lugs - inevitable thing during the process of bracelet installation, especially in rep-factory Short advice - skip the bracelet Some photos: Photos from QC procedure: Overall, I am VERY impressed by this watch. Visited local AD, the gens are not more impressive than this, really. Skipping the bracelet, of course Lume is OK, since it is Luminova but You cannot expect too much with these small points and tiny hands. It is not Panerai's "demolish them with lume" thing, not at all. Little HD showcase: [/media]

I just put together all versions pros and cons, in table

...and what about latest V2 remake from H-factory as delivered by Joshua/Perfect Clones? Upgraded C1 lume, what else? Maybe correct production date encoded between lugs (instead of 2016)? Color of subdial hand tubes is now correct, according to QC pictures I got.

This watch likes brown matte straps; some photos of mine on Orloff's strap:

H-Factory announced their 299N version, where dial is the same like 104N. I preordered so there will be photo-review soon.

there is an underdog proposal from H-factory (to be available with better version soon) - 292J dial in 380 case. Supposed to be 261 but correct caseback and new placement of L SWISS MADE L still to be expected.

Looks that there is more than one maker trying to replicate the look of movement. Slightly different shapes of bridges to be mentioned first...

Dead On Arrival This particular screw on swan neck becomes quite loose, sometimes. I had two watches where I actually had to seal these screws using wife's nail polish to keep them safe. Otherwise they were falling out by themselves. So it is possible the screw got out after the assembly of the watch and will get into gears. The whole swan neck solution on rep movents seems to be more of apparance than actually - regulation. It will work without the screw

I will post some good pictures of it in a week, I believe

The real problem is that the missing screw can be inside the movement somewhere. You can expect DOA condition, unfortunately. Of course that is nothing a good watchsmith couldn't sort out in few minutes for you Is it Noob version? Looks like it is - too shallow serial number engravings...

The gen watch reception was a bit lukewarm. The same was with the rep, I suppose. Anyway, I like the concept and design so I ordered one from Joshua. He eventually got one for me but was unable to pair the watch head with proper black strap - it was an asso strap available only. I don't care since all regular Pam straps are too short for me anyway. I suppose the rep of 366 is a kind of rarity now that's why Trevor tried to persuade You into some Noob production. The movement is rock solid high beat A6497 from the era preceding "platinum plated" bridges. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

AFAIK this watch is only available from H-factory. It is he same movement like in H-factory 005 - no problems. The only problem seems to be this watch is hard to get now. I was lucky I got one in shipment now.

Do we know the weight of the GEN? Rep weights approx. 212 grams.

Now that is confusing the crown on 4 hour position is only to be used when dealing with A7750 inside (time, date etc.) - it doesn't affect inner bezel at all. I am writing it since you mentioned trying to rorate bezel in "all positions (in the position to manually wind, in the position to adjust the date, and in the position to adjust the time)". But back to the bezel - your crown (that one on the 2 pm) probably miss the small gear at the end of the shaft. I think it is that way, since that loose gear would stop the movement eventually - that's why I assume it is missing at all.

Thanks Marblegranite for a nice review. I am still waiting for my diver 4000 to come - with new stock I think there are more differences between V1 and this version: - height is correct since V1 version wasn't so tall (the manufacturer based on King Power caseset) - a bit different machining overall (more accurate on V2 version) i.e. bezel now looks more correct to the gen - the inner bezel is unidirectional as on a gen (movies on TD shows pre-production item with bidirectional bezel, as on V1) - movement was changed to modified A7750 - which is closer to gen (HUB1401 is 7750 based) As for seconds hands smoothness - it is a long hand on the Diver, which makes all ticks more visible. Never be smooth, more important if ticks "steps" are equal to each other... BTW I am wondering if you could repair the bezel thing yourself.. what exactly happen? You unscrew the bezel crown and what then? The crown moved freeley without engaging the inner bezel? Or maybe it was screwed in so hard you believed it was stuck? The construction makes it disengaged from inner bezel when screw in or screwing back after regulation. Inner bezel is in operation only when the crown is fully out, not pressed. When you press the crown toward the case (for i.e. purpose to safely screw it back) - it disengages from the bezel, otherwise you could do unwanted changes to bezel position when securing the crown.

..as for now - PAM 237H - quite nice out of the box.

...and this is Low Beat.