Watchmeister

You two are like an old married couple.

Great part II. On the lume I have always wondered how the rep factories apply it? It can't be a stylograph - can it?

The El Primero movement in the seconds at 9 is every bit as complex as Rolex's second at six. Both require building a new movement from the ground up (if you want working chrono, proper case thickness and pusher and crown placement).

As I understand it: V1- Brushed case V2- Factories sandblasted remaining first run already brushed cases ending up with wrong finish on all "unfinished or polished" surfaces Both V1 and V2 lack polished CG edges. Both V3 and V4 have all the right polished surface areas. V3 Proper sandblasted only case V4 Same as V3 with better date section (font and ar?) and supposedly better case back.

Great post. It really helps us understand all the steps and materials to make a Panerai dial. IMHO no one ever has a prayer of ever successfully reproducing a gen dial. Heck it is almost impossible to properly refinish an existing gen dial. The finish is just never perfect. But IMHO it does at least start with proper dial thickness and rep dials are usually half as thick and of course proper materials - brass. Without knowing all the processes involved I concluded years ago that there is no point in sinking money into a PAM franken without a gen dial.

Veyr nice custom. Take that baby out to the Hamptons next summer and you will be beating them off with a stick.

Very nice piece. The case color looks fantastic. And for those who didn't know the 360 is another Panerai homage piece. It is a homage to the 195 which was the original Risti designed piece with the first run actually engraved with the owner's name. And although I am sure everyone wanted a 360 for their love of Panerai I suspect no one minded the fact that they would triple or quadruple in value the minute you owned them as is what happened with the 195. And of course people are already selectively selling them. I think there is even one on ebay as we speak.

I prefer to trade at this point. but I may ultimately give in.

Glad you followed through. Panerai's are such large watches that the first place your eyes go to (unless you are one of us OCD idiots is to the dial). The days of crown guards and crowns looking way off are now long gone. On the daylights I wear the gen dial and upgraded datewheel frankens everywhere without giving it a thought.And with the Swiss movement it will last you a life time. By the way, my gen Daylight needs more frequent servicing than my frankens. Guess I shouldn't be surprised.

On a humorous note, I ran home a couple of weeks ago from a meet-up with a Risti to pick up my new JV strap which caused me to start this thread. I went to put it on and finally noticed.....it was an XL - too big for me. He accurately advertised it. I just didn't notice. So now the challenge starts. Find a person who wants to trade a regular for an XL. This could take a while.

Congrats. The watch looks terrific. Wear it well. And I am with you, a franken PAM starts with a gen dial.

It's good to know he visited the Panerai museum with his watch. My guess is that you made the right decision.

It makes sense and that would be great news. Hope springs eternal.

I don't know enough about the rep versus gen date wheels but the font is correct and the silk screening or whatever they use to apply the numbers looks remarkably good.

They are.

What are the gen parts beyond the dial and hands?

Glad to hear it. Many of us don't spend a lot of time on other forums so it is always nice to hear. In any case, glad you are here and enjoy the ride.

Looks like you are off to a great start. Loving that dial. Now comes the hard part....finding a case worthy of your other parts.

Assuming the pearl is luminova there should be aftermarket dots available but someone else who is more knowledgeable can chime in. On my older subs I just leave the hole empty when they fall out or break - they always do.

My other hope for 2012 is they start incorporating micro rotor movements (and other sophisticated movements now manufactured in China) into some of the dress watches made by folks like patek and whoever else uses them.

This is actually old news. They have been trying to get out of supplying ebauches (actually money losing venture) and parts to competitors for 3-4 years. The initial request to the Swiss authorities was made in 2007 or so and they were given a 4-5 year ramp down schedule so now it is 2011-2012, All of the better watch companies which were ETA based have been developing in-house movements (Panerai, Breitling, Hublot, etc.). The lower end companies will move to Chinese or other Asian country movements. The slow down in supplying movements and parts has already spawned at least one new Swiss manufacturer and numerous Chinese movement companies making better movements. We are already seeing more reliable tourbillons and micro rotor movements coming out of China. At some point Switzerland will wake up and be out innovated.

Looks great. The Pilot is a great watch and I know you will get years of wear out of it. Enjoy it.

Dirk is one but I would bet some of the lesser expensive guys - Bon, Panatime, etc. would have them as well.

Honestly not a big fan. Agree with the too shiny and also not the different color keepers. If you want olive I would vote for olive shark because it mixes green and grey/black flecks in the skin which should meld nicely with the DLC. But that is my 2 cents.

The 9 o'clock sub-dial looks kind of wonky or crooked in the pics but that may just be the angle. I also always wonder whether the rep maker got the correct blue and red.