PAMman

I'd sell both of them and get a 002 rep with a closed caseback, Swiss movement, etc.

In my experience of messing about with 44mm handwind Panerai reps, and believe me there has been plenty of them, all the crystals have been interchangable, including gens, DSN's, Jimmy Fu's and regular reps from various sources. The difference that I have encountered has been in the bezels - some are designed to take the crystal in a teflon gasket (gen , JF, DSN) and others just press directly into the bezel. I know that JF's crystals aren't sapphire, but they certainly are harder than regular mineral crystals - they seem to be similar to Seiko's 'Hardlex' crystal.

I agree about the quality of the dial and the painted numbers. When you compare the genuine white and black dials it is obvious that the numbers on the white dials are painted onto the flat dial but the lumed digits on the B - G series black dials are 'cut outs' in a thin sandwich layer, similar in construction to the later, thicker sandwich type dials.

I have to agree with you. I have just received a genuine 114 / 010 'L' dial that is to be assembled into a JF cased franken, for the summer. It's a whole new strap experience.

Have you actually tried the larger Heritage? It wears a lot smaller than the specs would suggest, probably due to the downswept lugs that hug your arm rather than sit wide.

Hi & welcome here.

This guy has a number of genuine dials - I bought a 010 (white base) from him and it was perfect. However, he sent me detailed photos of all of the rest and, apart from a couple of white 40mm dials they were all damaged. He offered this one to me but the scratch around the secs dial put me off.

In UK I think that the genuine strap costs

Beautiful watch - wear it well. My 027 is just back from The Zigmeister with the same lume, gen crown, correct cyclops and I added a correct length sweep secs hand, with the lume dot further in from the end - this really does help make it look 100% correct. BTW, I just love your PVD.

I have a couple of gen PAMs (F & G series) and both series have AR coating. However, the F series, tobacco dial, has a very faint ?purple? tint, while the G series 005 has no visible tint at all. I totally dislike the rep AR coatings, but as most of my reps are of the earlier preV, preA, A, B & C series watches AR coating isn't correct for many of them anyhow. The only rep AR that I'm happy with is my ETA SOSF, which incidentally I consider to be possibly the best standard production rep ever.

I am in UK and the only watch that I ever lost in the post was coming from another member in Netherlands. Also 2 separate items (watchparts) that I sent to Netherlands took for ever to arrive so this is the country that I'm most wary of doing business with, even though we are both EU and it should be a 'penalty kick'.

I would buy it too and would value it at 20% below 'regular market' value. I know that the lack of box & papers is probably a bigger deal to 'Ristis than collectors of other brands and I would certainly buy the correct box etc it comes at the right price. I fully agree that the 'painted dial' models are the most collectable and I have a F116 (Ti base with tobacco dial and older decorated movement / display back). The Ti models do mark very easily but can be refinished satisfactorily - mine has light marks and I just enjoy it the way it is because I don't have to be over protective. I'm happy to know that it can be restored at some time in the future.

Yes there's an ETA and it's a great rep.

The IWC GST Ti is miles in front of the rest of the pack. Really, realy close to perfect. Buy one while you still can.

Buy his best parts certainly but don't buy complete watches.

Sorry UJ, I'm not sure that I understand you. I am suggesting that a regular rep case (which is very close to the correct profile for a preV case) could be converted to a preV 2-screw specification by drilling out the threaded lug to match the unthreaded side. Then the correct pattern preV screws could be fitted because the preV screws are identical in diameter to the later single, long screws. I have genuine preV screws (and I understand exact replicas are available from Dirk) and they are identical in thickness to the genuine or rep long screws, so they fit the unthreaded lug hole perfectly. I agree that DSN's 2-screw arrangement won't fit into the proper size holes, because his screws are grossly oversized. That's why his case lug holes are wrong too and together with the crazy tall bezel and too high crown his preV case simply looks ridiculous. There was no need for any of this nonsense as the normal rep case is almost perfect for a preV 5218/201A to begin with. I don't agree that it would be difficult to replicate the preV screws properly because they are identical to the long scews in every detail, except the length. Similarly the solid section is the same dimensions as the normal tube, except that it's solid and threaded at each end with the same size of internal thread as the regular lug. Therefore we are just utilising existing tooling, but don't forget we are talking China and the watch industry here. Small screws are no problem to the watch industry and these screws are enormous in comparison to anything inside a watch mech. However, as far as producing the correct pattern preV screws is concerned, that project is already underway.

UJ's picture illustrates the ridiculous profile of DSN's preV case, with it's 'much too high crown', 'much too high bezel' and 'much too large screws'. All he needed to do was use a regular rep case and drill out the threaded lug to match the other side. Compare the case profile with the genuine 5218/201A in this 'Risti article on that subject. The correct profile matches a regular rep case almost perfectly. http://www.paneristi.com/archives/casedifferences/index.html

V's new larger CG is correct for all series of the 000. Pop it on there to complete your watch.

Thanks for the pics. I have just got a genuine 010 or 114 white base L dial and the denim coloured strap would be ideal for it. All lined up to build into a JF case & CG with gen crown and rep B series caseback, using a decorated Swiss ETA 6497 or Hamilton 6497-2. Should be a winner.

That just looks like a regular rep caseset / CG / crown to me - and yes, if it is, it would be a damned sight better than DSN's usual tripe. However, his latest sprung crown is very good and better than the one on this case. DSN's crown has a too thick rim around the inset section at the centre, which this one doesn't, but otherwise it is an excellent crown. If DSN fitted his own crown & tube to a regular rep case then you would have a real improvement. This is really priceless. Davidsen is being applauded for his new, accurate caseset which accepts springbars properly and this is considered a major step forward. HELLO, WAKE UP, all the other dealers have been selling these for years at a fraction of the price.

Just buy a complete regular rep e.g. a Swiss 005 which will get you a good case with OEM fit caseback, sapphire crystal, unmodified Swiss ETA 6497 suitable for any solid caseback model, hands, clamps, seals etc. If you are lucky you may also get a decent, snug CG of the early, preA to F series style. If there is any of this stuff that you don't want then it can be sold on the forum. Don't forget that the 005 will come with either an accurate preV 5218/201A caseback or the correct 005 back. Both of these casebacks are desirable and will fetch a good price on the forum. The only parts of a Swiss 005 which aren't up to scratch are the dial and the crown. The rest of it is excellent. Altogether it is a better buy than purchasing parts separately.

The case that FGD got from Helenarou is the same as the first 005 rep that I bought from EL more than 2, possibly 3, years ago. I haven't seen any of those since and I now have 4 standard rep handwind cases - 005(EL), 001(EL), 000(Josh) and 002 (Sichuan from Repgeeks). The cases are all different in various minor ways. The original 005 case is the closest to the preV 5218 series case and really only needs the lugs drilled to accept the preV 2-screw setup to be really accurate. It seems to me that these all come from different sources and may all be available still - who knows.

Yep, it's Asian. However, even the 'most Swiss' of the Panerai style movements is largely Asian anyway, so it seems somewhat pointless to put any significant weight on the Swiss origin of the base movements.

I haven't ever pulled mine apart but I suspect that to assemble the 127 you should firstly assemble the dial and hands onto the movement (using a watchmaker's movement holder), then mount the unit into the case from the front, fit the stem and crown, fit the clamps, replace the caseback, then bezel and crystal.

I think that not all H series were L SWISS MADE L - certainly the majority are but it would appear that at least the early examples of the H series had L SWISS L. The H series caseback is 0016/1000 so L SWISS L may be OK.