PAMman

Agreed - I had a PVD one of these and I can confirm that it's the battery indicator.

Excellent collection. Love them all. Have you tried swapping the CGs between the 176 and the 118? It seems to me that the width of the crowns may suit the alternative CG better.

PM sent for the remaining 'second quality' cyclops.

Agreed - no AR. Generally AR was not present on the 'T' dial watches. Not sure about some of the subs that had tritium dials much later than the 01 / 02 etc which were phased into Luminova and AR during the B series. Seriously though, there are a few members here who are more knowledgeable about the earlier (real) Panerai models than most of the Paneristi. If you think that I

Enjoy your watch - it looks good. Don't worry about the crown 'going back' as you wind it. This a characteristic of this movement - just watch the large ratchet wheel as you wind slowly and see how far you have to turn the crown before the ratchet engages. The crown will turn back to remove the slack after the ratchet has engaged. All 6497s will do this, even the gens.

I see that someone has posted a poor picture of a Davidsen 026 on 'Risti where it is causing a bit of headscratching. hxxp://www.network54.com/Forum/353391/message/1195990051/PAM+26+with+a+pre-A+dial

Fix the datewheel certainly...but the cyclops will be tricky. There is another magnifier within the dial of the 027, both rep and gen, which mitigates against the 'sunken datewheel' effect that arises due to the Sophos module that sits between the movement and the dial. Introducing a correct diameter cyclops will also increase magnification to the extent that the date may become unreadable and indeed too big to fit within the upper magnifier. However different cyclops from different modders may vary but just be aware of the potential mismatch.

I fully agree with all that has been said about the quality of the 027. I have a friend, who is a serious 'watch nut' with loads of really expensive gens, including a gen 027A. The dial of the gen is different from the rep because of the low bars in the rep's 'A's and the gen PR scale is mounted behind a cut out window, almost like a sandwich dial. This gives a recessed scale within the main dial which is not evident in photos of the gen. It's not really obvious in real life either for that matter so I wouldn't wory about it. I can say that the quality of the printing on my rep, which is one of River's recent batch, is every bit as sharp as the gen. The genuine tritium is more cream in colour but that's a minor detail. Get a genuine crown from Kruzer or a Palp crown, a Jimmy Fu CG and Lello's datewheel and you will have a superb watch which will last as long as the genuine. Kill someone if you have to but get one.

Try Jimmy Fu - he had Panerai style hour & minute hands, but in 3 colours - gold, silver and glossy blue/black. I know that the shape is the same as Panerai but the colour variation makes a significant change. Many 'Ristis used his gold hands on their 210 for a totally different effect.

I have just checked my scans of a preA dial, which uses the same engraving, and a scan of a 5218/201A dial. Both of these genuine dials are bare, uncased and show the dial edges. The artwork shown above and the prototype dial both have the numbers and indicies too close to the dial edges. This will be more noticeable when it is cased and a particular problem for anyone wanting to reduce the size of the Davidsen dial to fit a normal case. I also don

The preA 002 dial has exactly the same shape of 6 & 9 as the 5218/201A. The preV and preA used the same dial blanks which were different to the 002A. The 2 of the 12 is also different and it looks like Davidsen has got it correct - the curve hits the base at a lower angle than the later dials. I have a straight 1:1 scan of a genuine preA dial taken on a flatbed scanner which I can supply, together with completed artwork for the 201A dial. This is a fantastic opportunity to get this right at last. Now we also need 1:1 crowns and 1:1 preV crownguards which will also be correct for the G series 44mm models.

Looks good so far. However bothe the 6 and 9 should not have a smooth curve. These have slight bumps where the 'tail' joins the 'hook'. Please try to replicate this. Also the logo which you have previously used is incorrect for the 5218/201A dial - the correct logo shape is longer and thinner. I can supply a high quality scan if it helps.

I would not buy Davidsen's because of the terrible dial font colour. It's totally wrong. Also QC has always been an issue with most of his watches. While you may be fortunate on the quality side the dial will still be woeful.

I fixed the floppy lever on my Fiddy by removing the pin and sleeving the inside of the hole in the lever with metal foil. I actually cut a small rectangular section out of a disposable foil plate, the same height as the thickness of the lever, wrapped it tightly around the pin and cut it to length so that there was no overlap. This meant that I effectively had a split tube with an inside diameter that matched the pin. I then put a couple of spots of superglue inside the lever, and pushed the foil 'tube / sleeve' inside and used a straightened paperclip, in a circular 'stirring' motion, to press the foil against the inner surface of the lever. The result is a pin which is now a really snug fit in the lever, to the extent that I had to use a silicone lubricant to get the pin into it initially. I know that this is really fiddly work but it really works very well and costs nothing. I also cut a small circular washer out of the same foil and superglued to the underside of the lever before fitting it all together. This removes any up-down movement in the lever when its open. The whole thing now feels totally smooth and tight and simply a precision fit which wasn't the case initially. As I did both of these mods together I don't know which delivered the most benefit. TIPS: 1. ensure that the joint in the foil tube is located at the outside of the lever when it is closed - this means that there is no pressure on the weakest point of the foil tube, 2. before dismantling the lever hold a pencil against the underside of the lever, against the bridge, while opening and closing a few times. This will mark an arc which will give you a good indication of the diameter of the washer to be gluded to the underside without being visible, and 3. use a silicone lubricant (e.g. WD40) in the reassembly process - it makes everything smooth from the start and the aluminium (aluminum in USA speak) is soft enough to quickly bed into place. Brass foil may be a better option, but I didn't have any that rainy Saturday afternoon and it is still as good as new after 12 months use.

Hi Kostas, I have a WM vintage 45mm Radiomir with a solid, plain caseback. This would suit you I'm sure but I don't know how to make contact with WM. Maybe someone could help with contact details???

The BPs are high on my list also. I've just pulled the trigger on a MKii Seafighter which should be available in Feb '08. It should be a good quality watch at reasonable cost and will be a good companion to my Blackwater.

In my experience the crystals are all the same size but the bezels vary in size, at least between JF's and the regular 44mm reps. That means that you need the appropriate teflon ring to make the crystal fit the bezel. In my case I have fitted the normal rep crystal into JF's bezel, using JF''s teflon ring, which he normally supplied with his crystal.

Seems to be a situation similar to the fake Seamaster 300. The 300s use a genuine Omega movement with everything else faked. Maybe this BP is the same setup. I understand that the SM 300s originated in Vietnam with a small back street jeweller being responsible for the whole operation. I sourced one of those through a well known Vietnam-based internet seller of genuine watches. I had bought a number of gens from him and he agreed to source a fake SM 300 for me, but I must stress that he didn't deal in fakes.

Hi Warren. You have an email from me already. I need at least 1 but will take 2 to make up the numbers if needed.

hxxp://www.network54.com/Forum/353391/thread/1193885674/PAM111+-+Finally+posting+pics Check this out - is this a DSN 111 on Paneristi without raising any suspicion, so far? I know the photo quality is poor with the watch being (deliberately?) out of focus, but the sandwich seems to be thinner than the gen, the numbers too fat and misshapen (see the 6), the L SWISS MADE L too close to the 6 and the

Following on from all that has been said, I think that the stem is just marginally too short. Consider the problem like this; When a sprung crown is initially unscrewed it 'pops out' to its full extension in the winding position, then is pulled out once to change the date and twice to set the time. Next, to reverse the procedure and screw the crown into place it has to be pushed in twice, to return to the winding position. Now if the sprung extension of the crown has a greater 'travel' than the gap distance between each of the 3 positions (hand setting / date setting / winding) then the crown itself is absorbing the pressure that should be transmitted through the stem into the keyless works. If this is the case then pushing the crown in the first time, to get from the hand setting to date position, probably means that the crown is being pushed almost into contact with the tube already. Then it becomes impossible to get to the winding position because the travel within the crown is greater than the remaining distance between the crown and tube, and the resistance of the spring within the crown is less than within the keyless works. What's the solution? Simply a longer stem, a shorter tube or a crown with less 'travel'. Lubrication won't help. It's almost certainly a mismatch between the sprung length of the crown and the overall length of the stem and the tube. In most of my watches (rep and gen) it's not normally possible to return from hand setting to date setting in one step. Pressure on the crown normally results in jumping straight to the winding position unless I am being really careful about advancing the crown inwards.

The Speedmaster in this auction is the automatic, reduced size, model and is genuine. It has a smaller dial than the original Moonwatch and the running secs is at 3 not 6. Nice watch but too small by current standards.

I have found that you need to be careful with Parcelforce's website. It's correct that you can track from the beginning using the senders tracking number but as soon as it enters the UK system the package is given a new GB tracking number and the original number will only link to the new GB number for a short time. It is too easy to enter the EMS number and not notice that the result which first shows its location within the UK is now also showing a new tracKing number. Any later search using the original EMS number will draw a blank.

I bought mine from PT and it has the correct length hands and the correct HE valve position. Review here: http://www.replicacollector.com/members/in...showtopic=21941