Rolli/FGD/DSN PAM 036B - [pics heavy]

[kilowattore]

Luminor Marina Militare PAM 036

A review in two parts

PART 2 - the rolli/FGD 036B build

Here's the follow up to my review of the OOB new Davidsen's 036B, found HERE.
This is for sure the most elaborate and challenging project I completed so far.
The amount of work I put on it has been, well, a lot. But it has paid imho. Some details could still be perfected, a few problems arose and I had to work my way around them the best I could. Most of them I solved, for others I had to accept a few compromises. Watch has been assembled and disassembled completely a number of times before I was satisfied with the results.
I beg your pardon in advance if this thread will turn into a long read, those of you who are not that interested in the details of the build's process may skip the text and go directly to the pics

Ok then, but what did I do to this watch?

CASE

Davidsen's case set was my choice for this build, mainly because it's the only available case featuring the engravings on the back as per the gen. 
The case was completely disassembled and washed with chemicals in order to remove the dullish patina it had when I received it. Afterwards it went through a full spa treatment with a few different grades sandpaper, the area near the lugs was reworked to achieve a cleaner finish where they join the case although some of the machining marks could not be removed completely.
The crystal was re-seated in order to have a little less height above the bezel, crown was cleaned and repolished, I even polished the sides of the lugbars. Not a single part remained untouched

In the works:

Finished:

Old case:

New:

Old:

CROWNGUARD

I ordered an A-F series crownguard from Sead for this build as it is known to be the closest to the gen CG, and it really is. The lever shape is scary close to gen, it has a perfect curve and the tip points nicely towards the watch body.
Unfortunately though when I mounted it on the case I realized the fitment was not good at all, there was a 0.2 mm space in the upper and bottom part, where the CG should touch the case, due to the slightly different shape of DSN and noob cases.

So the choice was between a better overall CG with a perfect lever or a slightly worse CG and lever but with a perfect fitment. I chose the latter. I then disassembled the CG completely, cleaned and refinished a bit the inner shape, retouched the lever tip, shortened a tiny bit the steel CG pin and brushed it to match the titanium of the CG.

Old CG

New CG

Crown detail

DIAL

I managed to find one of the few dials produced by rolli at the end of last year. I was very lucky indeed as these have been sold out for a long time and no one knows if they will ever be made again.

As I stated in my review DSN's new dial is great, but of course it can't compare to this dial. Here's a GEN vs DSN vs ROLLI comparison

DSN

GEN

ROLLI

As you can see rolli's dial is scary close to the gen one, perfect sausage lume application with a glossy, raised and rounded surface. Perfect numbers shape and inscriptions font. Most of all a perfect match for the tobacco color which rolli claims to be painted using the same Pantone color used for the genuine Panerai dials. The gen dial looks to have a polished slope around numbers and indices that is not visible in rolli's, and that's the only difference I could observe. I talked with rolli about this feature and was told it's due to the coin stamping production process used by Panerai. From what I understood the press that stamps theindices and markers on the brass dial plate leaves a polished rim around the indices that remains visible even after painting the dial surface. Using the same equipment to produce these rep dials would have raised dramatically the production costs, making them too much expensive, so the contours have been machine polished achieving a similar result, close but not the same.

GEN

Rolli

I have to say this dial has a tiny blemish near the 3 marker on the seconds subdial, so tiny though that it can be seen clearly only under specific lights at 10x magnification. Nothing I worry about

The real issue I had to face here was with installing the hands: the FGD hands that came with the dial were not finished very well, there was a lot of lume spilling over the hands' sides and the seconds hand had a tiny blob of lume underneath that prevented the movement from working. It took me quite a bit of time and a mighty migraine to fix these issues, the  lume material in excess has been very gently removed with a tootpick from the side and the back of the hands but for the life of me I'm still not completely satisfied with the result, there's a microscopic spot that seems to appear and disappear like it's playing with me
Anyway I digress, maybe I will just ask rolli to sell a spare hands set to me with his new dial once it's released ;)

Here you can see clearly the lume glowing on the sides of the hands:

Way better now:

CASEBACK AND MOVEMENT

GEN

One of the details that were haunting me about this 036 build was the golden outline of the jewels holes in the gen movement. It's one of those things that you just HAVE to do something about it or you will never be satisfied, so here's where I got completely crazy
I found online a special paint with real metal scales in it and bought a micro-brush used in modellism, then I painted the holes by hand.

I cannot even begin to describe how much time and patience I had to put in painting those three little holes without spreading the paint all over the bridges, two movements where sacrificed in order to achieve an acceptable result. 

Sacrificed movement

I didn't have the guts to do this on a swiss hi-beat movement worth 250-300 usd so in the end I opted for a hi-beat asian 6497-2 I sourced from Helena Rou. I have to say it is a little more expensive than the usual a6497 you find on the bay but it was by far the cleanest and nicest looking I have seen so far. This means though that there is no Y incabloc installed on this movement and since swapping it is far beyond my skills I will have to live with this flaw. As I said there are always compromises you need to accept

Here's the final result:

NEW

OLD

Now I'm sure I wrote too much as usual, but I tried to describe what goes behid the scenes and unnoticed each time we look at the nice builds that some members are posting. I'd like to thank each ad every one of them for the inspiration and for what I learnt reading and looking at their builds. 

On to the rest of the pictorial:

Final wristie!

:rockon:

[kilowattore]

Sorry for double posting...  

[RageRover]

Your're killing me, Great Build!

After 10yrs of being in to reps (never bought many, always bought or at least tried to buy the best, 1:1s, etc.) the Panerai bug (and Rolex, I NEED a 1665!) finally "hit me" about 2yrs ago.

I want to pull the trigger.  I've read everything I can, but just more confused.

It seems for a Pam Noobie, the Noob 111 is the one to go for... supposedly, minimal mods needed, can be worn out of the box.

I like the weight of a watch, so I was never in to titanium too much.  That said, titanium has a great, grayish finish, which is also brushed.  Probably the reason I love your build so much!

With the Pam 111, it also seems like a relatively affordable (~$250 +/-) depending on where you buy it from.

But like I said, I'm sitting here drooling over your pics.

Like Rolex, there are SO MANY variations, limited editions, etc, after a certain point, can you really say with 100% accuracy whats real and whats not?

Like I said, I think a Pam 111 + I want to add a solid back, and basically I have 2 mods in mind: 1) Gold "classic hands" like on the Pam 605 and Polish the top on the cannon (which doesn't seem it really needs going by pics).  I do love looking at movements, but a closed back will certainly "confuse" or maybe stop someone  from saying "you bought a fake.  NO ONE, EVER called me out on any watch and some were worn in to authorized dealers (ADs)...

Great build.   I'm truly jealous, because I don't think I can do it... I'm afraid I'll likely mess up and need a new case! 

For a fee, would you be willing to mod my lugs?

Or, would you mind going in to a bit more depth about what you did?  Just sand paper (I'm assuming 400-600 grit at 1st, maybe then 800? then 1000? 1200? to finish it off with a nice factory brushed finish?

Thanks for any help and thanks for the pics... i can NEVER get enough pics!  

[hugop]

Congratulations Kilo, your 036 is well worth every minute/$ you put in! Really great result! I am glad you were able to find one. The color is really something very special.

I have also built Rolli's fantastic dial into my own 036. At present she lives in a Ti case without engraving but I have the engraved case in waiting for a complete disassembly/rebrush and replacement of the crown tube. Even in the temporary case the dial takes the build to a whole different level than other Pam reps.

Here is a quick pic of mine. (Nowhere near your photo quality but you can still see the beauty of that great dial!)

[AGONZCA]

Great review. Now I think I need that engraved case for my franken 036B.

[kilowattore]

Your're killing me, Great Build!

After 10yrs of being in to reps (never bought many, always bought or at least tried to buy the best, 1:1s, etc.) the Panerai bug (and Rolex, I NEED a 1665!) finally "hit me" about 2yrs ago.

I want to pull the trigger.  I've read everything I can, but just more confused.

It seems for a Pam Noobie, the Noob 111 is the one to go for... supposedly, minimal mods needed, can be worn out of the box.

I like the weight of a watch, so I was never in to titanium too much.  That said, titanium has a great, grayish finish, which is also brushed.  Probably the reason I love your build so much!

With the Pam 111, it also seems like a relatively affordable (~$250 +/-) depending on where you buy it from.

But like I said, I'm sitting here drooling over your pics.

Like Rolex, there are SO MANY variations, limited editions, etc, after a certain point, can you really say with 100% accuracy whats real and whats not?

Like I said, I think a Pam 111 + I want to add a solid back, and basically I have 2 mods in mind: 1) Gold "classic hands" like on the Pam 605 and Polish the top on the cannon (which doesn't seem it really needs going by pics).  I do love looking at movements, but a closed back will certainly "confuse" or maybe stop someone  from saying "you bought a fake.  NO ONE, EVER called me out on any watch and some were worn in to authorized dealers (ADs)...

Great build.   I'm truly jealous, because I don't think I can do it... I'm afraid I'll likely mess up and need a new case! 

For a fee, would you be willing to mod my lugs?

Or, would you mind going in to a bit more depth about what you did?  Just sand paper (I'm assuming 400-600 grit at 1st, maybe then 800? then 1000? 1200? to finish it off with a nice factory brushed finish?

Thanks for any help and thanks for the pics... i can NEVER get enough pics!  

I'm not confident to work on other's watches, too many things that can go wrong or break. But in the future, maybe. In the meanwhile make up your mind about which PAM you want, may I suggest you to check PAM 390 (closed CB, gold hands) and PAM 176/177 (brushed titanium case, sandwich dial, open CB)? They are as close to gen as a 111 and might suit your likes better

[fitch]

Beautifull build and great write-up! thanks for sharing these amazing images and great story of building it as well

wear it with pride (and lot's of joy )!!!

[kilowattore]

Congratulations Kilo, your 036 is well worth every minute/$ you put in! Really great result! I am glad you were able to find one. The color is really something very special.

 

I have also built Rolli's fantastic dial into my own 036. At present she lives in a Ti case without engraving but I have the engraved case in waiting for a complete disassembly/rebrush and replacement of the crown tube. Even in the temporary case the dial takes the build to a whole different level than other Pam reps.

 

Here is a quick pic of mine. (Nowhere near your photo quality but you can still see the beauty of that great dial!)

Thanks mate, your builds have been very inspiring to me and after seeing your post on RG next I have been thinking about a 082 for a while now, I might try something next year

I agree with you, the dial makes the watch, the rest of the mods are essentially a lot of work to get to that 0.001% closer to the gen.

Case-wise, there is no perfect choice for this build: noob/Hfac cases have a better shape, DSN has the engravings and that's why I chose it. Besides it has a round crown tube already installed although maybe not exact gen dimensions. And I had to forget about Sead CG.

Decisions, decisions...

Great review. Now I think I need that engraved case for my franken 036B.

Mate, you should be VERY happy with your franken, don't touch it

[hugop]

Kilo you will love the Vespucci! I regret not buying Rolli's 082 dial when I had the chance but c'est la vie...maybe one will fall out of the sky someday. I am very happy with the new DSN dial. The surface color is unique, beautiful and constantly changing. I did opt for the engraved case back, Sead Ti A-F cg and DSN hand set. Keep us in the loop as you build it. The 036, 082, and 243 have became my top choices to wear from Panerai. I am thinking I want a 087 too though...

[kilowattore]

 

 

Kilo you will love the Vespucci! I regret not buying Rolli's 082 dial when I had the chance but c'est la vie...maybe one will fall out of the sky someday. I am very happy with the new DSN dial. The surface color is unique, beautiful and constantly changing. I did opt for the engraved case back, Sead Ti A-F cg and DSN hand set. Keep us in the loop as you build it. The 036, 082, and 243 have became my top choices to wear from Panerai. I am thinking I want a 087 too though...

 

From my preliminary thoughts I will use DSN new dial and CB on a noob or H case set and Sead CG.

Pity I can't re-use the CG I bought for the 036 build as it got destroyed during my "experiments"

Well, I'm surprised you didn't get a 087 yet. Mine came in yesterday, and I'm more than impressed.

Great case and beautiful dial, bezel and pearl. CG lever operation is good, bezel clicks fine and is tight, not wobbly. Even the strap looks awful but feels better than any other rep strap I had so far. And that dial... trust me you need one

Imho one of the best reps of the year and based on the success it's having I would start to make room for a 064 and a 024/025. Now they made the case set they would be crazy not to release them all.

[hugop]

I have to sell down some of the Pams to make room for the 087.

I listed my Steven Dexter 202a on another forum a week or so ago but it hasn't sold. When it goes the 087 can be ordered.

[5imon]

Kilowattore

May I say, I absolutely love the build you have made. I can see you have spent a lot of time Producing a watch you must be really proud of.

I understand some of the decisions you made to complete the build must have been difficult, I will say from my vision of the beautiful timepiece you have produced you certainly made the write one's.

5imon

 

 

[Grimlocktime]

Awesome post Kilo!  

You say it all, but Let me try to add to the bottom line. When I built the franken 36B for Agonzca, I  had the opportunity to have the. genuine 36B dial side by side next to Rolli's 

the color is identical

the text is actually cleaner and more crisp on the Rolli dial

the lume application is more cleanly done on the Rolli but matches the gen almost exactly.

the overall quality would lead me to believe the Rolli dial is a NOS tritium service dial, even though I don't think those exist. Extremely amazing. Probably the best dial he has ever made. You are lucky to own such a great piece. Congrats!

by the way, if you ever decide to upgrade to the Hfac case, I know some people that could add the engraving. Also, there's rumors that a 1:1 caseback is being crafted by a certain caseback maker we know;)

 

 

Edited January 3, 2016 by Grimlocktime

[kilowattore]

Very interesting information about the case engravings and CB!

New hands are coming my way already, and a Y incabloc is under the radar.

If the 061 case can be engraved, I might think to upgrade, although it will be hard to separate from a case I worked so hard on

[hugop]

I am also interested in the engraving as well. Grim could you include me in that info also?