lfovco

Yeah I know you are not blaming Josh, but you know how it is with those reps, it really is a lottery. The fact it none of the movements are put together properly, some are better some worse. You may be super lucky and have your unserviced piece run for years, it does happen.

The links you have posted are not of a trusted dealer on this forum, so I would recommend to stay away from them and use a trusted dealer. They are also lying about the crystal in the 253 being sapphire crystal. All versions of that model ever repped use synthetic crystal. So be aware it is more prone to scratches then sapphire crystal in 177, you'll have to be more careful with it. 253 looks way more sexy and expensive on a wrist then base Pam. In the end it is your personal preference what do you like. They are both nice although much different Base movement in 177, even unserviced will be more reliable. Either way, you should save up and have it serviced no matter which one you buy. There is no way of saying how long either one will run unserviced, could be 6 months, could be few years. It's really a lottery with those things. If this is your first rep I would start with 177.

First of all, that has nothing to do with Josh or any other dealer. This is a problem with all factories and their reps. Noob and H factories suck equally bad at that. They do not assemble movements properly, they do not oil parts properly, almost always they don't oil parts at all, or over oil some of them while not oil others at all. In many cases they use faulty parts or wrong parts all together. That goes for all reps, no exceptions. Some will run longer some will not, it's all luck. Older reps, from 6-7 years ago had better movements that were put together with more care although still not oiled properly, but were less accurate visually. Today reps look better but less attention is being paid to movements and from what I was told there are new problems coming up that were not there before. That said, all that is fixable. If you want to have your rep run well for a long time, get it serviced before using it.

Damn... this looks really nice.

Replicas are fun, but it's a hit or miss game. If I get one that I really like, for instance the recent 390. I have it serviced. Service report will list things that were just either assembled in a wrong way, parts that were over-oiled or not oiled at all etc. I have some reps with 6497 movements that were serviced and some have been running for over 7 years with no issues, but I would not get Asian 7750 again.

That does look really, nice. First time I see a good pic of this rep. Asian 7750 are hit or miss. I had one, even had it serviced and it still died after a while. The only rep I smashed and trashed , it was fun ripping it int pieces.

That it is pretty sweet!!!

Yes, pretty much. There are some reps that are more accurate then others. Some are amazingly close to their genuine counterparts, but none are perfect. As you spend more time on the forum you'll learn a lot. People here are really cool and very helpful here.

Entire coating is way off, it is not the same material that Panerai uses and it has too much purple hue on the case, CG and crown. the dial looks ok. But then if you don't mind that, it is a nice watch, some people are more picky about details so it's really up to you. It looks pretty nice on Andrew's QC shots. I was thinking of getting this one when it came out, but I would like it to be much more accurate like some other models.

That is so true!!!! It's probably even safe to say "every rep" without "almost"...

That one is not good. It's all weird and purple. Very few people got it so most likely you will not see a review. It's not recommended model to get.

Very nice!! Gen is a Gen... It would be cool to see side by side. Rep will never feel like a Gen, not even close, but for the price it is really not bad at all although there is tons of differences. Despite that I really like the look and finish of my 390 rep. it is a keeper for sure.

That is an absolutely amazing piece!!!

I think that's a cool idea.

Looks awesome, and that strap is very cool.

You really need to look closely at the pictures. N factory reps are not always more accurate then H. It changes from model to model. I haven't looked at 005 differences but I can tell you that for instance the 111N Noob which is newer release then 111N H-fact is not as accurate to Gen as the H-Factory 111 and some other cases N will be better then H. Spend some time looking at shots and see what you can catch and what you can live with, and have fun with it.

As a first Panerai you may want to go with 005 instead 029. Definitely service it if you are planning to keep it for a long time. Servicing the 6497 movement in 005 will also be less expensive then 029 and potentially more reliable long term. As far as the strap, if you really like the black crock then go with it, it will fit the watch well. The strap is really you personal preference and you may hear countless opinions about that. There is so many great aftermarket straps to choose from and many of them are nicer and less expensive then genuine Panerai straps.

It will most likely look amazing if they are taking time with it. That blue face looks so cool on the Gen.

Just wait for the N Noob for 2 weeks and get that. There is really not much to think about.

Totally agree. I know few women that wear 44mm models, 111's etc. Couple of them have wrists smaller then 6" and it still looks awesome, especially with custom sized straps like 110/65.

Damn.... that looks really sweet. Pretty awesome.

Very nice, it's crazy how great those reps look today.

Wow, 2 days... that's fast. I already have 390 but I am so tempted now to get another one in PVD case. I guess the only PVD case that H-Fact has is the 360. That could be pretty sweet.

The current Asian 21K's are pretty good, there is really no reason to spend extra money for the Swiss version. The markup on the Swiss version is way too high as well. You'd be better off putting the money you save towards servicing the movement and an awesome custom strap.

26 of those bids are his 2 buddies jacking it up, the rest are plain idiots.