poretl

I personally prefer to see a larger watch on a smaller wrist than a smaller watch on a larger wrist. The former gets more "that's a nice watch" and the latter more "what's that on your wrist? A watch?" I have an 8" wrist and I prefer wearing a 50mm watch than a 45" one.

keep it coming smarties, oh yeah! The newbie came on board to question the infinite wisdom of the veterans. We all get it, ok? We all get it. What does the newbie know about Seikos, about reps, about watches overall, about anything. After all, he only has one rep. Try to compare that to 568.

it's called sleeping in a dark room, not locking yourself inside a dark closet. I don't lock myself in ay closet but I have to confess, I sleep every night. I personally find it very useful in the middle of the night reading the time off of my watch that's next to me. And no, it's not an exaggeration. I have an Swiss Army Airboss Special Edition and it lasts all night. Not as bright as it is within the first 30 minutes but it's perfectly readable.

I already ordered 2 (like new) OEM straps. They'll be one their way tomorrow and while I'm waiting for them to arrive I'll wait untilt the N one comes out.

Because I'm planning to buy this one what do you guys think? I suppose the case and (almost- except in the 6 area and color of lume) dial are same as 005. Do you think that otherwise it's as good as 005? http://www.yourtrustytime.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=37_49&products_id=9109 I like the watch and that's all that matters but it doesn't hurt to know if there are major flaws as I could wait for the N version. Thx

@ Powermax So look at this newly released watch and see what it says about the lume: http://www.1-pc8838.com/pn366m02-366m-fu31119-p-11825.html You think I can indeed expect the same quality as the gen which by th way, as a gen owner, can you tell me if it indeed lasts all night (8+ hours)? I'm not sure about others but I like this feature on a watch. I already have another watch (gen) that lasts all night (approx. 7 hours) and I love it. Thx

very smart. Very classic. Not being able to reply directly to an argument and you have to reply to something that never happened, never been said. I have to tell you. You don't impress me at all. I'm not sure about others but you sure don't impress me. WTF exactly told you I never heard of OEM? All I asked was if it's ever possible for an OEM strap not to have the word Panerai on it. But once again, trying to be smart making comments on stuff you manufacture out of you butt. Easy. But only when you are talking to idiots. And let me say one more thing. What are you trting to prove exactly here? That you are a plain sucker? They give you garbage and you keep giving them your money as I understand you have millions of reps as opposed to me who only has one? You and I may be getting the same quality, the same garbage ans pay the same money for it but at least, and that's according to you, I have the illusion that I get quality. You, on the other hand, are fully aware you are getting garbage and not only you come back giving them your hard earned money (unless your mom gives it to you) but you go around bragging you have hundreds of them. And if you are so smart and want to reply again please reply to what I said. Not to what you would like me to have said. And regarding what I said before, it's not so much the business experience I have as it is the common sense I have. You, on the other hand, may not know exactly what that is because you are blided by your shiny hundreds of reps. But I forgot. They're garbage. Oh, well. I'm confused.

Hi and happy New Year. I was reading the other day an article that talked sepcifically about Panerai's great lume (was talking about gen of course) and its ability to glow up to 14-15 hours with one still being able to read the dial. They also provided charts that showed the lume intensity Vs time. 1. Let's assume that the above statement is true. But because it might be too big of an assumption let's lower the 14 hours down to 8 hours. 2. All the descriptions of the rep Pan claim the lume is so unbelieveably freakin good, like the original this, like the original that. Oh, I almost forgot. The latest 366 release, one of the dealers claims something long these lines: "the lume is BETTER than the original in terms of how long it last. Unbelievable but true". 1+2 above suggest that these reps lume can last at least 8 hours. Can you guys comment on that? Does your rep Pan's lume last 8+ hours?

It's business my friend. Business. Like any other business. You playing with your watches and me actually doing some serious business and understanding business at multiple levels all these years makes you no better to talk about the watch business. The watch business is first a business and then a watch business. It's a business where they have to invest heavily to produce what they produce. You think rep watches come to you just like that. Panerai themselves spend tons of money for R&D. From design to implementation to testing etc. Rep manufacturers have to do the same at the copying level. It's about investing and producing returns. It's a complicated game. Very complicated game no matter what you are doing. And if you indeed have more experience than me playing with watches then you should be the one to know the progress that has been made over the years. How did it happen, fell off the sky? If they didn't have pressure to produce better ans better watches they would settle where they were 5 years ago or 20 years afo where the Panarai logo on the caseback of a rep was a sticker! So if YOU think that playing with your watches and your straps you have figured it all out maybe you should reconsider and understand the real world goes beyond straps and buckles. Oh, and one more thing. I'm a consumer too. I happen to own a few gen watches. Not the $20 000 ones but own 3 watches of >$2000 and many over the years from $20-800. When I paid $2800 for a watchand when I look at that watch the amount is well justified. You can see and feel quality. I also owned over the years thousands of other items from cars, computers, furniture, phones, shoes, underware to nail clippers. By this time in my life I can tell quality from garbage. So yes, me having experience with one rep for over 3 years actually does put me in a position to understand if the product I got is of quality or if it's pure garbage. It may not match 100% the real, and a U-Boat person can spot it in under a sec, in the dark but this is absolutely irrelevant.

Regardless of what the dealers say, regardless of what one should or should not do with their rep watches, does anyone have any experience with getting their Pan reps wet? From simply wasking the watch, wash their hands with it, taking a shower, or swim with it? How well do they do with water?

quality and spotting it from the real one are 2 TOTALLY different things. Say I follow the exact same processes Panerai follows and create an exact same watch except the color of the lume but still of the same quality lume (the only thing different) anyone then will be able to tell the 'fake' from the real. Anyone. It's only a matter of being able to tell orange from green for example. Once you know what to look for you can spot it in under 1/10 of a secong. You don't need to be an expert in watches. Does that make the 'fake' a bad watch??? Of course not. So don't forget. Quality, in the context above, is only in the sense of how well built something is and not how close to something else it is. Of course with reps the objective is not only to make the watch of high quality but to make it look identical to the gen but that's another story. Here we were comparing Seiko and Rep in terms of quality. I'll put it in a different way to you. One pays $250 for a Pan rep. You know how much an Emporio Armani watch costs in the mall? $300+. Emporio Armani. EA watches are Mickey Wouse watches. Personally, if both were no-name watches I would use my money to buy the rep. Not the EA.

not true. The rep industry is much like any other. You have to try hard to produce results in order to survive and to thrive. Think about this. Their best customers and their biggest chunk of revenue coms from returning customers and from referrals from other satisfied customers. And who are they competing against? Top watchmakers who put out there some super quality watches. The bar is already set extremely high for them. When you give the Chinese money and show them how (here comes the copying part) they can too produce quality. Chinese quality is identified with sh1tty quality but the price we pay for the Chinese product is shitty too. Much like with food. Let me charge you $300/person for dinner and I know how to make a nice presentation too. You give me $5 I can barely cover the cost of the materials I'll use for your dinner. I bet you, if you give for your Panerai rep another $250 (making it total $500) these reps can easily exceed the quality of the gen. But there has to be a balance. In any case, the Chinese know they have to produce quality too (up to the extend that $250-300 allows). Noone is willing to pay $300-350 for a rep that's pure garbage. I know I don't. With $400 I can get a super authentic watch from a middle range manufacturer. And I'm not so sure if a Seiko is much better than a Breitling or Panerai rep.

that looks great. Especially with that rubber strap. How come they don't provide side by side images much like they did for a few of the other latest releases?

oh I see. How about the circle I drew on the gen one. There seems to be a red (screw?) ans a smaller silver screw next to the blue one. On the rep you can't see those.

Is this the best (in therms of closeness to gen) there is to date? http://www.kuvarsitwatch.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=31298

do you have a pic, probably it has been created before, to show me exactly what that is? Like side by side to see exactly what five sit way in less than a sec? Perhaps it was discussed in another thread in the past?

I personally have no desire to convince anyone a rep is a genuine watch. And I know this will never be an issue in real life when you wear it. I may give my watches to friends to look at etc but my friends would already know a watch is a rep not because they could spot it but because I would tell them. We pay tons of money to buy expensive gen watches because usually with high price comes high quality. And personally this is the only thing that concerns me. By making sure I get a watch that's 99.9% close to the rep you know what that means? Not that I can walk into ADs shops around town and fool them but it only means that I get to weat a watch of pretty much the same quality as the real one. And that feels good. The quality feels good not the illusion that my watch can fool an AD. This is what satisfies me. I would be the same satisfied if the watch was of the exact same quality, say, as a Panerai but it was not Panerai. These guys who make the rep try REALLY hard to come as close to the gen as possible. That means indirectly they are increasing more and more the quality. And this is what I like. That I can wear a watch of super high quality. As far as my U-Boat I have to tell you. When I wear that watch it truly feels I wear a 1 milliin bucks watch. I really mean it. Or rather I really feel it. This is all that matters to me. Now that the dealer could not spot it the only pleasure I get out of it is just a confirmation that the watch is indeed of high quality, NOT that the watch is identical to the real(for one thing, he probably never saw the real one) That, I don't care for. IN FACT, that watch does not look exactly like any real watch I've seen. The facrtory improvised and put a silver bezel on a black case which I have not seen in any gen picture. But get this. This (non-gen) look, I like so much better than any of the real ones. As far as the screw, thanks for the tip. You are right. I turned the world upside down for that screw and I could not get anywhere. I had to talk to one of the dealers here.

True. Let's replace 'all' and 'many' that have been suggested by MOST. I'm in search of a tunnel OEM strap. Anyone has one? http://www.watches24seven.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=20193

I'm about to buy 2 from here for starters: http://panatime.com/

I'm convinced. You are right. The plan now is to get second hand quality OEM or non straps.

because I never owened one so far, do you know how mm thick are the OEM straps?

Panatime.com looks good man. Did you order from them before?

Thanks. So you got the $100/each straps?

Anyone bought this watch? Looks like it's readily available. Comparison pics too: http://www.1-pc8838.com/pn366m02-p-11825.html What do you think?

I never said I would be able to fool a Panerai AD that a rep is a gen. You can put as many words in my mouth as you want and try to prove me wrong so you look good but why don't you try to give a smart reply to what I'm actually saying? Dare ya!, as you likes to say. You are implying I said something while I said something else. Maybe similar but not the same. Much like your gen Pan and my Rep. Very similar but not the same. Still, $9000 price differential. And by the way, this is exactly why I didn't take my watch to a U-Boat AD, this is why I did not call U-Boat for help and this is why I asked the dealer in the mall if they carry U-Boat before I asked about my "U-Boat". That being said, my point remains valid.