Which caseback to finish off Pre-A 002?

[Hongkytonkman]

Hi gentleman,

I've acquired a 2nd gen FGD pre-A 002 dial months back,

yet to have finished the project.

Now I'm trying to finish the deal.. but not sure of which caseback to use..

Which one/dealer has the most accurate Pre-A 002 caseback?

Thanks for your input.

HKT

[Hongkytonkman]

(If DSN, which model should I mention to him?)

[mat944]

Since FGD's dial is TSwissT the caseback should be OP 6500. You may want someone to confirm though.

[dluddy]

Here is the one you want from DSN:

[ubiquitous]

I've got this one on mine:

Only major glaring flaw with it (aside from the font type) is that the depth rating should be 30ATM, not 300M.

From a well known P-site's archives:

All in all, there are two ways of checking whether a watch is genuine pre-A.

1) The relationship between serial number (BB) and millesimation number (/1000) should be consistent and logical.

For OP 6500 watches, the last 4 digits of the BB-number or serial number should equal the 4 digits of the millesimation number.

OP 6501 watches are always considered pre-A.

For OP 6502 pre-A watches of the second batch of the first series, the last 4 digits of the BB-number or serial number minus 400, should equal the 4 digits of the millesimation number.

For OP 6502 pre-A watches with prefix "A", the last 4 digits of the BB-number or serial number minus 1400, should equal the 4 digits of the millesimation number.

2) Assuming that no more than 1300 pre-A Luminor and Luminor Marinas were made, ANY Officine Panerai watch with a serial number lower than BB 971700 is a pre-A watch.

1000 total OP 6500 Luminor and Luminor Marina (PAM 001, 002, 003, 004, 009 and 010) 0XXX/1000 and OP 6502 (PAM 001, 002, 003, 004, 009 and 010) AXXXX/1000, and

400 total OP 6501 Mare Nostrum (PAM 006, 007 and 008), and less than 300 total OP 6502 Luminor and Luminor Marina (PAM 001, 002, 003, 004, 009 and 010) A0XXX/1000

Total: 1000 + 400 + max. 300 = max. 1700 pre-A watches including the Mare Nostrum.

How many of each? Luminor, Luminor Marina, PVD, white dial? No one really knows...

[fitch]

Great post ubi! Do you also know from which source the OP 6500, BB 970099, 0099/1000 caseback is?

[milesd]

DSN makes the 0099/1000. However the font he used is way off. I bought one and decided not to use it because it was that bad. I had to wait and buy a 401 serial. The 0401/1000 has the correct font, but is states 300m where it should read 30atm I would rather have the better font than the correct text.

[fitch]

Thanks Miles,

I'm slowly working my way up in understanding all the differences between the parts available and I've just started looking at the caseback variations.

this caseback will be coming my way pretty soon:

but from what I understand it has the incorrect font..

so allready there is a good picture of the DSN caseback with the correct font (shown by ubi). could somebody please also post a pic of a correct 6502 caseback (which is more correct for a pre-a 002?) and the 6500 EL caseback for reference?

tnx!

fitch

[ubiquitous]

I've got a 6502 back in my parts bin. I'll snap some pics tomorrow...

[Hongkytonkman]

thanks everyone for the details.. now lets see how I can find a 6500 0401/1000 caseback.. hmm

[ubiquitous]

6502 caseback:

6502 pre-A watches of the second batch of the first series, the last 4 digits of the BB-number or serial number minus 400, should equal the 4 digits of the millesimation number.

[PAMman]

Also, don't forget that 'preA dials' appeared in small numbers of B series watches in addition to the preA series. All preA watches had T-SWISS-T dials, all A series had T SWISS T dials and then the B series started off by using up the remaining T SWISS T dials, the remaining T-SWISS-T dials (only very limited numbers of these) and then on to the L SWISS L dials. So, if you don't find a preA caseback, then a B series is not necessarily incorrect, just very rare. Check out the archived article on Paneristi: http://www.paneristi.com/archives/PreA_Panerai/Pre_A_Panerai.html

[w0lf]

PAMman,

I think you mean that preA dials appeared in small batches of A series w/ OP6502 casebacks and a run number <= 300 /1000. I don't believe that you could get a T-S-T dial in a B cased watch unless it was a service center redial. Now, there was a transitional period when B manual winds came with T S T dials but those were contemporary style dials not preA. The bottom line is there is no good rep preA caseback in existence. 0099 is mapped incorrectly, over-beveled and the font is off. 0333 and 0401 are better but they have the incorrect 300m instead of 30ATM.

[fitch]

so the question is; wil somebody produce a correct series..? there is an interesting project over at the geek but I believe the main focus is pre-v casebacks... has somebody asked DSN? (if not i will ) because if I understand correctly it is only the changing of the 300m to 30ATM (the rest seems ok)

[w0lf]

To sum up, the order of correctness for preA:

1) 0099 (terrible quality, font is wrong and mapped improperly, spacing is off, bevel is incorrect)

2) 0333 & 0401 (300m instead of 30ATM, otherwise acceptable)

3) A0042 (BB number should be 971442, 300m instead of 30ATM, otherwise acceptable)

I don't think DSN will change anything.