PAMman

I bought a genuine B&R 03-94 and I love it. This looks great and it certainly hurt the pocket a lot less.

Very nice. An absolute gem. I know how hard it is to get all the bits to assemble a great Franken and I really love these GMTs. I have my 2893 029 on at the moment and it has the 'gen' auto crown, Finepics datwheel, correct size cyclops and The Zigmeister lume & build - I love it but the gen plain dial is something else.

Yes, I think that they were genuinely manufactured for Panerai but this specification may not actually have been used on production watches.

The only way that I can accept that the 'Turkish' crowns 'may' be fake is if someone can provide a reasonable answer to who and why? Who would replicate auto-fit crowns and then have no market for them, other than to dump them on Ebay? These were not offered to the replica community and why would anyone replicate the least desirable fitting so well without an end-user in their sights. These MUST be obsolete stock, otherwise it was the daftest project for anyone to undertake.

My gen 005G, gen 116F and gen 111F crown (directly from Panerai) all have 48 teeth, as does the manual wind 1.2mm stem Ti crown from Kruzer. However the SS auto-fit 0.9mm crown from Kruzer seems to have 52 teeth, at least after the third count I'm pretty sure that it's 52. For the record, if a new run of 48 teeth crowns is going to happen I am totally happy to pay significantly more. Don't forget that we now know that the quality and fit is good so there is no other unknown aspect to take a chance on.

I have a genuine 005G (SS) and a gen 116F (Ti) as well as a crown supplied directly from Panerai for an F series 111 - it's now on my franken preA1. I will count these when I get home this evening but I think that they are 48 teeth. I also have 4 auto and 1 manual Ti crown from Kruzer so I have plenty of examples. Will post later and confirm.

At the clasp end(s).

The IWC Portuguese bombed due to its troublesome movement. Otherwise it's a very attractive watch.

Excellent work. I'll certainly take 2 steel and 1 Ti at least. For those who have been asking if these will fit the 7750 autos I can confirm that the 7750 normally has a 0.9mm stem but a 1.2 stem is available from any material house e.g. Cousins in UK or Ofrei etc. If T hasn't a 0.9mm crown as an option then the regular manual version should be OK with the alternative stem.

I am in UK and can try one on standard rep and compare with a first generation Palp crown, latest DSN crown or gen crown on my franken preA1

Obviously I'm here because of an interest in watches, both gen and rep, and the knowledge and passion shared here is like no other forum that I have ever experienced. There just seems to be a genuine community spirit of likeminded people - I suppose it just feels like home.

I would go with the Breitling SuperOcean Steelfish, as already suggested. Robust, very close to the gen and will not arouse suspicions anywhere. Put it on a gen rubber strap and absolutely no-one will ever question it. Any Rolex, even a gen, is a fake unless proved otherwise - that's just the way people are.

Absolutely no idea what that is. While I know nothing about Photoshop there is something wierd about the photo itself. Is it posible that the actual pic of the genuine watch had a huge glare on the crystal and someone tried to provide a catalogue shot using bits of other Panerai stock pics to mock up a logo dial? I doubt if there is a service-replacement dial at all and certainly anyone getting one of those in his 5218/201A would be less than impressed. Just a thought - maybe DSN has the PANERAI contract for replacement parts??? LOL

I have a load of watches, both rep and gen, including gen Breitling, Panerai, 4 Omegas, Marathon SAR etc etc. One of the Omega is a Speedy Pro and another is a black SMP. If all the watches had to go these would be the last 2 and the Moonwatch would almost certainly be the final one. Keep it - don't be daft. There are very few reps that really are proper watches straight out of the box and the SOSF is one of them. Keep the Moonwatch and add a blue or white Swiss SOSF for variety, as it is a totally different watch and it will give you the date you want. I have a white one on a gen rubber strap and you will easily forget that it's a rep....honestly it's one of the few reps that really feel gen and no-one will ever 'call you out'......ever.

Hi Rob, I'm really sorry to hear about your injury, but I am glad that it isn't a bad as it looks. Take good care of yourself and I hope that you have a full and speedy recovery. Best wishes.

A genuine 000 or 005 has a CdG striped movement if that helps you decide. Scroll about halfway down this article and there is a comparison pic of the preV, preA and 000 / 005 CdG striped movements. http://www.paneristi.com/archives/PreA_Pan..._A_Panerai.html

Listen to the man, hang in there.

My experience with Wholesale Outlet was similar - wrong item (Bond insert instead of black SMP) - email him - send it back - nothing - email him x5 - agrees to replace but wants shipping again - argue and split shipping cost - new item is even more wrong than the first (now Rolex not Omega at all) - lots more emails then I give up. Next move he starts messaging through ebay asking for feedback - I ignore him - more messages - I respond and agree to leave feedback but tell him it will be a true reflection of his cr*p service & waste of my money. Then the [censored] replys and tells me that he will leave me negative feedback if I dare to do this. WHAT A [censored]!!!

FGD is correct. The dial on the left is the better of the two and forget about DSN's 'T' dial - it's rubbish, the fonts are totally wrong and far too large. My recommendation for a crown is one of the 3 following options; a gen handwind crown if you can find it, a gen auto crown which The Zigmeister can fit via a custom stem, or, DSN's latest 'preV crown which fits a JF tube and can be swapped for a gen later. BTW, DSN's crown is actually vey good and is close to the real deal.

PM sent.

Look really good - IMO this is DSN's best dial. My current project is similar, based on a genuine 'L' dial, but I am using an original pattern ETA 6497 and a solid caseback, to create a 010B rather than a 114.

You have posted a side-by-side comparison of your rep 01B with a gen preA1 which has a different dial altogether (unless that particular gen is one of the very rare 01Bs which fitted with the preA dial - there were a handful of them). The markers and indicies on a gen 01B are similar to your rep, but the preA1 had the same shape of numbers as the preV 5218 series watches. Yours is a lot closer to the gen than your comparison pics would suggest. Excellent rep and in my opinion these closed back B series 001 & 002 and the 000 are the best of the PAM reps.

I bought mine at 5 months old and still with the clasp and caseback protective stickers in place for

The first gen that you have shown is a preA1, with the T-SWISS-T dial (recessed indicies the same shape as the preV 5218 series, but the later Vendome font for PANERAI etc). This dial was only on the preA watches (before the A series of the following year). No examples of this dial on a 001A are known, but curiously a few examples of this dial appeared the following year on 001B watches. Your following 2 examples are 001A & 002A watches, with the 'T' dials (no hyphen) which ran throughout the whole of the A series and then continued into the B series when the more common L dials were introduced. It may be that when the 'T' dials were finished the 'L' dials still weren't available so a few of the leftover 'T-' preA dials were used, which would explain why there are known examples of the earlier dial 'leapfrogging' the A series watches.

Lovely collection. I have 3 Breitlings, an SOSF, a Navitimer with a genuine dial & ETA 7750 and a first series Ti chrono Avenger with gen dial. I liked the CA so much that I've just bought a gen and now will have to sell the Navi and the 1st series CA to help pay for it. That will leave me with just 2, a gen and a rep.