uziuzi

Unless people have been living in caves for the last week, we've all noticed/experienced the problems with EL's Pilot Chrono (although I'm the first to say I love mine!)

As I see it, there are 3 main things at all potential purchasers are desperately keen to get answers on, or see tackled:

1. Day alignment - we know this is a well known problem, but please please can we get this right?

2. Lume - Angus's last post mentioned that he had some Lume from somewhere - can we get a defintive answer on this?

3. As we can see in the gen photos above, especially the last one, AR is a must on a watch of this size. Again we need to know what we're going to get here.

I'm sure Angus is paying attention to our humble requests!

Hilts

I am very confident Angus will do his best to get these things right, but I also hope he can give us an answer. I personally think day/date alignment AND ESPECIALLY FONT !!! is bloody important on the Cousteau (if you look at the gen the letters in the day as well as the numbers in the date have some unusual shapes/forms, for instance look at the "4" or the "A" ). I dont seem to understand how the hell they can pay so much attention to all details and so badly f*** up the date font/day alignment on the new pilot !!!! But maybe it looks worse in the pictures than in real, as it usually does......

Lume would be a huge candy for us and Angus would gain an enormous advantage compared to other dealers by lumin this baby right. I hope he will because this watch just looks awesome in the dark (I have seen the gen a couple of months ago at a friends place)

The third point I am NOT worried about at all as we have seen the strong AR on the Breitlings and the HBB, they are the best of all reps out there IMHO. I am also absolutely not worrying about the overall quality, feel and especially accuracy. Damn, just look at the HBB !!! I also hope the engravings are deep enough, but since the maker owns the gen as a reference, i dont see a problem of getting EVERYTHING right. Its just a matter of will and I am sure we will see a splendid baby, hopefully soon !!! Finally, I am hoping for a Swiss heart beating in this lady....

Tuesday tease.....some pics to keep our mouths water

Well i guess they only chaged the second hand and the caseback, everything else the same...and the caseback looks pretty bad (sorry to say this) and wrong logo again...this is not the Angus-type of high end rep i was hoping for......

VERY NICE !!!!

We need a datewheel fix though, ASAP....then this would be my favorite rep in terms of accuracy....but who knows for how long.....Mr Cousteau is on his way....

Can you make a lume pic ? I heard the lume is exceptionally good for a rep...

i spoke to a few members and decided that if there is another run. i will gladly remove your crystals and ship to cheiftang then reinstall and ship back if you are not capable to remove them yourself. there will be a bunch so i'd offer $25 per watch + $10 shipping to chieftang + shipping back to you. $35 total per watch for me + whatever the AR coating costs

Thats a really nice if you would offer that service. I will get back to you on that when the time has arrived...

Cheers !

ME THREE ! :ltongue:

Thanks for your feedback guys.

You convinced me (that waht easy actually) I wont take it for diving, but certainly for some light swimming i guess....

Actually i was always wondering if people who own the gen Cousteau actually do use it for diving. I would if i could afford the gen....

... I think that is a very bad idea!

IMO, you shouldn't even keep this thing near the sink, much less 20m below the surface.

are you serious ? I mean i know its gonna be a rep, but most of the newer ones are water resistant, like i went swimming with my pam 111h about two months ago, not paying any attention on not crawling and so....the baby survived without any problems...

I hope its coming soon...

I have diving trip planned for end of April and would love to do the hardcore test and take this rep to 20 m or so.... is it going to be that water resistant or is it a bad idea ???

Hi guys, nice to hear that another project has become a great success !!

As for photos, I can imagine it looks way better in reality but funny enough I fell in love with the help of a picture this time.

This is the picture of the GEN (found on timezone) that made me fall in love with this beauty....

Maybe the rep owners can try to make a similar one for comparison...

Sounds great ! Please post some pics of the Ingy !!!!

I guess the best thing would be to try it ??

Was there already a first run done ??

YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YEEEEESSSS !!! Thats all I can say...

Jimmy FU is a seller on ebay who owns a genuine Pam and did a 1:1 copy of the watch.. A TRUE 1:1 copy of the watch

Oh really ? Interesting...does he sell his pieces ?

Very unique and nice analysis ! What is JimmyFu (?)?? just the name of the gen case ??

Anyway, very well done !

I think he means to buy a generic aftermarket deployant buckle.

Thanks, now its clear =)

I got the clasp on e-bay for $200 plus and am very disappointed with the clasp. It is not comfortable and the stem that goes through the various holes in a strap comes out unless the hole is very small and snug and this is one genuine IWC straps.

My advise buy a single deployant buckle it is probably better!!

TimeShare

Did you get the 18 mm or the 16 mm ? There are two different versions. And what do you mean buying a single deployant buckle ? The one in the picture is a single. It is not double...Sorry but I am confused..

Can you post some pictures ?

Yea, I´m trying to find a gen kevlar, no luck so far...

A gen strap with buckle at my local AD is USD 400

I know its hard...I am trying to source the gen deployant clasp in 18 mm. I am not willing to pay 230 Euros for just a stupid clasp at the AD

As mentioned above. Short minute hands, wrong datefont and non-AR coated crystal is the biggest giveaway. If you have the chance to hold the genuine and have the rep, compare them in terms of movement winding sound. The genuine is using Pellaton winding system while the rep is normal ETA2824-2 ball bearing rotor.

Datewheel project is initiated (lello), AR Coating can be done, and NOBODY notices the sohorter hands, especially not if you put it on a genuine kevlar with gen IWC deployant clasp...I am working on this

...and the sound....I will try that tonight...

I totally trust Angus and his ambition for perfection...but honestly, I think this is even harder to rep than the Big Bang becuase of the inner rotating bezel...I could be wrong though...we will see

Hello !

I am another victim of the Panerai virus, and the way I fell in love was having a gen and two reps on my wrist....yes, a friend did this to me. He gave me the full dosis and after less than a week the incubation time was over and I was laying there biting my pillow not being able to wait for my first rep 111H to arrive.

Recently I have been moving on to different reps...but reading this thread the Pam virus seems to come back again.

I still think Panerai is the best rep you can get bc the movement (at least on the base models) is really almost the same as on the gen. That being said, I love the Pams but I think the gens are simply overpriced for what they offer....and many gen owners I know do certainly agree that the base models should not be more than 1,000 EUR on the bottom line.

So I think it really is a good idea to get yourself a first rep (my choice was the 111H) and then look for a gen if you are still crazy about it (my guess is you wont be anymore).

By the way, which Pam is currently the closest to the gen ?? Is it the 172 ? I have never been aware of that model, maybe cause I once looked at it, didnt like the blue hands and skipped it...but taste will change at an enormous speed.........

Here is my 111h...

Easy Job here: Thats a straight un-modded rep. Wrong date font and short hands...and no AR and wrong case back shape...

@shultz

I am in Germany so I am definitely in for the next AR run !! Hopefully as soon as possible. Maybe we even find an opportunity to get them coated somewhere in the EU ? Has anyone tried to find someone yet ? There must be a possibility without having to ship the crystals to the other end of the world....

Pugwash I am also in Europe and interested in getting a crystal AR coated next time. Maybe we could arrange with someone to send the watch as a whole to them, pop out the crystal, then send it over to the US? A middle man of sorts?

Good idea. Actually I would also love to take part in this, but my Ingy has just been paid and I dont know how to remove the crystal so I guess by the time i figure out, its too late...