PAMman

Cousins Material House, in UK, list the HE valve and crown in their current catalogue. Contact : www.cousinsuk.com I don't see it listed on their website but it is in the full printed catalogue. I will check price etc tonight.

I thought that, maybe, this watch is an export model, designed for the other side of the world. The good thing is that it should be OK when you go on holiday, providing you go far enough.

Some photos of genuine Panerai 111, but photos of different watches. One is an F series with a painted dial L Swiss L and another is a sandwich dial L Swiss Made L. 2 different casebacks and serial numbers are shown. This guy must think people are totally stupid, but it seems that he may be correct there. I see one bid retracted so possibly that bidder took a closer look.

Excellent photos. Having recommended this strap for the 'Panda' I was hoping that Relaxman would be pleased with the outcome. This thickly padded strap goes a long way towards any weakness of a 20mm strap on such a large watch. Wear it well.

If the screw hole is misshapen to the extent that the screw cannot be withdrawn be very careful, as trying to unscrew it in this situation is likely to strip the threads in the other lug, due to the inability of the screw to move as it’s being unscrewed. Your idea of cutting the screw in half and taking both bits out from the inside seems to be a logical solution. Best of luck, and maybe you should keep your hands in your pockets more often.

I fully agree that replicated parts should be as close to the genuine as possible - in this instance that means an internally sprung crown. Additionally, a 'H' series crownguard should be completely achievable - if the quality was equal to Jimmy Fu's standard CGs it would be a top seller. It should be the aim to replicate the OEM parts to be interchangable with the genuine items, in the way that Jimmy's are, rather than making them to suit any inaccurate cases etc. This is the only way that the standard will be raised overall. I would rather have to mod an accurate CG to fit an inaccurate case than have a range of parts that no longer fit rep cases when they improve. For example, my first rep Panerai (an 005) does not fit a genuine CG exactly, but later cases have an accurate side profile so Jimmy's CG fits perfectly.

As the 'California' text is outside the 'train track' it should be fairly easy to touch-up any scratches that you make, with matt black, before applying the varnish. The outer track should help to stop your eye from catching any detail on the edge of the dial. I recently had to touch up the edge of a matt black Seamaster dial and it is totally invisible through the crystal, even without any varnish. Please post pics of the finished article.

That's an amazing looking Panerai. I wonder if a rep will ever be available.

The CG that you have shown is too big in comparison to the pre-V style. BTW, the pre-A is the same as the A to F series, similar to the standard rep and exactly the same as Jimmy Fu's CGs. In order to get this right you will need to reduce the CG to bring it closer to the case. However, you haven't posted any picture of the side profile which is even more critical. The pre-V and the G series (and later) are very similar, in both front view and side profile. If you would like some good reference pics please send me you email address and I will send some to you.

Sorry, I thought that I had included the link but obviously not. I've looked at the watch listed again and I'm not sure about it. The brushing on the case is in the same direction as on the bracelet, but looks fairly rough. I think that the genuine SS versions are brushed this way while the reps are brushed following the direction of the bezel edge. The rough brushing suggests that someone has gone to great lengths to pass this off as the real deal, but has lost the plot by quoting the serial number. A rep can be bought, fitted with a Swiss 7750 and a genuine dial for approx $600USD, so I suppose there is an incentive to do this.

This one looks really good - it has a genuine dial and it looks like an ETA day/datewheel combo, so I suppose it has an ETA movement. However the serial number is the same as the rep and there is no box / papers. Looks to me like a Franken using a gen dial and ETA/Valjoux movement - just exactly what I am doing myself, but I'm not going to sell mine.

Hi Joshua, I think this is what you are searching for. It is available in various leathers and is top quality. It's available from Jeff and Val Meyer (Val's the Strap Diva) on Paneristi.com. Link to Strapmasters: http://www.strapmastersusa.com/Merchant2/m...harkmatchstitch

I too have the IWC Portuguese Panda and initially I felt that it wasn't quite 'me'. Then I put it on a black Hirsch 'Rally' strap, which is very heavily padded with three large holes on each side. Trust me, this transforms the watch from 'classic dressy' to 'classic sports'. I have lots of watches (30+), mostly genuine, including Panerai, Omega Moonwatch, vintage Seamaster 300, Marathon SAR etc and the Portuguese has attracted more compliments in 2 days, even from 'non-watch' people than any other watch ever did. I will try a couple of pics tomorrow, but I don't even know how to post them.

Looks fantastic, and great photos. I haven't seen any price listed anywhere........how much?????

I don't know if anyone has already posted this link, but it may be the solution for those who have stripped the threads in the lugs of their Pannies. http://www.network54.com/Forum/353393/thre...ial+Spring+Bars

I'm not sure that there aren't 2 different sizes. There are 2 different sizes of Navitimers (Joshua sells the smaller) and only the larger size is correct and will fit the original / genuine dial.

When I saw this posted on the Paneristi site it made me think that if you had a standard 24mm springbar and a Panerai screw, that it might be possible to cut the slot end off the screw, drill the inside of it and fit it over the tip of the springbar. You would need to use only the end and leave enough room for compression. Alternatively, the end of a springbar could be built up using solder, which could be shaped and slotted to look like a slotted screw end. Don't forget most people need only one of these so it might be worth the effort.

In my experience, if you have actually got it and can take photo then you didn't buy it from Sichuan (unlike my PAM176).

The Zigmeister, thanks very much for taking the time to advise on these points. When I get the Portuguese chrono a service will be on the cards. I have a Swiss 7750 and genuine dial that I want to have fitted to my IWC GST but I need to know about the hand sizes before I can be sure that I have all the bits I need. Confirmation on this point will be helpful.

Surely, the subdials at 6 and 9 are in the same locations on both the Swiss 7750 and the Swiss 7753. If that is the case I would assume that the sub-dial at 3 is similarly aligned and spaced from the centre and that the modified Asain follows the same principle with the sub-dial spacing. Therefore the subdial spacing and 'holes' in the dial should be the same for both movements. Am I missing something obvious here? I also was of the understanding that the newer, high frequency, Asian 7750 does not have the same hand sizes as the older Asian & Swiss ETA /Valjoux 7750 movements. Can anyone confirm? I have one of the new IWC Portuguese chronos on order. It has the new Asain 7750 with seconds running at 6 and no 30 min counter. My long-term concern (at least I hope it will be long term) is about the durability of the modified movement. I have thought that, in the worst case scenario I could replace the movement with a standard Swiss 7750, with the running seconds gear removed, and use the 30 min and hour counters only, in their original positions. In this case the sub-dial at 6 would be incorrectly labelled as 0 - 60 rather than 0 - 30 and I could then leave the chrono running most of the time. Is this a viable solution?

I have had the same discussion with Jimmy about getting the 'H' series CG made and got the same response. He also told me that he originally intended to assemble and sell 'no-name' watches in the Panerai style but then abandoned the idea. This was before decent quality Panerai reps became widely available and at a time when the genuine collectors simply thought that the reps were amusing. He only had 200 of each item made so he then started to sell the parts on ebay, as Panerai spares. It was never his intention to get involved in the rep scene and he is a highly respected Paneristi - his picture has been posted on the Paneristi boards at various functions. I am not 100% convinced about the manufacturer of his parts now being out of business - I think Jimmy just wants to get rid of his parts and have nothing more to do with reps. I agree that his CGs are now in short supply and I know that the quality is first class. So are his cases and some 'reputable' collector/dealers have used them to recase scruffy PAMs without declaring the change. These cases are a different league to the normal rep case and are 100% accurate.

You don't say whether your Navitimer is the standard 7750 layout (sub-dials at 6, 9 & 12) or the 7753 layout with sub-dials at 3, 6 & 9 but you refer to the center dial at 6 so I assume it's the 7753 style. The current genuine Navitimer uses the Swiss 7753 which has the sub-dial at 12 moved to 3 similar to the modified Asian 7750. The Asian 7750 is a direct swop for the Swiss 7750 so the unaltered sub-dials at 6 & 9 should be the same on the modified Asian and the Swiss 7753 - there is no scope for movement or variation. This leads me to think that you have a genuine Navitimer dial from a non-7753 Valjoux/ETA movement. Older Navitimers used a range of other movements with the same basic layout, including Valjoux 72, Venus etc. Is the dial configuration correct for the 7753? i.e. running seconds at 9, 30 min counter at 6 and hours at 3?

The Invicta 'sub' has the Invicta name engraved along the case side, between 8 and 10. It would be no good as the basis for a Rollie rep.

Payment sent and receipt of my order confirmed. Thanks to Kevin for organising this on our behalf.

Can those members who have already received their watches post some pictures please, and confirm the case daimeter and dial daimeter. I have a genuine dial but it is approx 2mm larger than my 40mm 'Fighters' series rep so won't fit.