Different versions of Pam cases. Please help!

[ninjagaiden]

Folks. Please can I ask your help. I have previously purchased a sub $100 Pam 297 on a leather strap. A few weeks after I got it I saw a real Pam in the store and was convinced my rep was a toy because it looked nothing like it.

Now I've been looking in more detail at some pictures of Gen Pam's and there seem to be two types of case style:

First a Gen Pam 005

Then a Gen Pam 212 : this is sooooo much nicer to my eye!

Then my Rep 297

So I am now very confused because I though the main 'tells' of my rep (polished SS case throughout, crown guard lever pointing upwards, 'thick' case side, flat crystal) are all to be found on a gen 005! I'd like to get this straight in my head before getting a rep 286J.

Thanks

N

[PeteM]

Well for starters,

the first is a manual Luminor case, the second a fifties style case (Chrono) the last is an auto case..

PAM cases come in several variations... different cases, different CGs, different crowns, etc etc etc etc

You need to examine your rep preferences against the gen models then decide what you like and if its important.... whats accurate

The only way you will ... un-confuse yourself is to do research

PS Yes I know this is a late reply but I was searching the pages of this section for another reason and found this... which I must admit I found surprising..

[Watchmeister]

Don't know how I missed this one as well. Exactly as Pete says, there are a number of different case shapes and so you always have to compare the exact same model rep to gen to get an accurate fix on how good that particular rep is.

[ninjagaiden]

Thanks guys. I did my research since posting this and came to the same conclusions. Consider my wrist slapped! My preference is for the 212 shape, but I have yet to see a Gen in the flesh, which is part of the problem. Hmm, feel a layover at Geneva airport is necessary...

[StormTooper4]

Nice post with the Pics and descriptions.

The 212 is a 1950 type case. Though generally confined to the radiomir case set, the 1950 can also descried as "Cushion or Pillow" in shape. The 1950 was 47mm and way too big for my puny wrists but its appeal was evident so they made shrunken versions with the domed Crystal in to a few Chronograph models 212 253 etc Pete has great posts on them . This is what you have stated you like. I'm not sure if it was a cop out cos the crystal dome's are probably more difficult to make, but they then made the 312/320/359 which has a similar 1950 case but with a flat Crystal . If the 1950 is too big for you there was a "fantasy" mini fiddy made and I think some of the Vintage Rads were/are less than 47mm.

Cheers

ST4