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this is a serious quesiton, is there a quartz mvnt that'll fit?


8o8

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I wanted to get a persent for someone who's not very mobile, and cannot see 100%. The PAM I have is big enough for them to see easily.

So I was thinking, is there any quartz movement that will fit any of the 44mm PAMs? I think a base would be ideal. I love to find a base with a sandwich dial but I havent seen one.

Edited by 8o8
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I wanted to get a persent for someone who's not very mobile, and cannot see 100%. The PAM I have is big enough for them to see easily.

So I was thinking, is there any quartz movement that will fit any of the 44mm PAMs? I think a base would be ideal. I love to find a base with a sandwich dial but I havent seen one.

The difficulty with this is finding a quartz movt big enough for the base watch. The 6497 movt is 16.5 lignes (37.15mm) and is one of the biggest movts there is. Originally it was designed for a pocketwatch and would have had the winding crown in the vertical position and the seconds counter at the 6 o'clock (turn it on it's side and bingo - a wristwatch!). You would need to have a spacer ring machined to fit a quartz movt then find hands to fit the cannon pinion and hour wheels, and the stem might not fit the crown. It's not impossible but not easy either.

Why not consider an automatic movt model. Your friend only needs to have it wound fully once then continue wearing it to keep it wound (and maybe a winder for when it is not worn) - they usually have around a 40+ hour power reserve when not worn. This would likely work out cheaper than modding an existing watch and I would imagine that someone could easily reset the time if it wavered.

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He doesnt get to move very much, only a few steps each day. So I was concerned about the automatic not being very practical.

I might just have to investigate with the purchase of a power reserve model just to double check ^_^ hehe

thanks for the info on the 6497 movement, i'll keep it in mind.

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Dude, let's face it- a PAM that does not come from Panerai is not a PAM...

(POP!)

I personally like the sentiment of constucting a special watch for someone physically challenged.

-O

sorry for being misunderstood...

the idea of 8o8 is ok...but i just wanted to say that it isn't anymore a PAM...that is all...there are a lot of nice quartz watches...but if the guy prefers a PAM then let it be so..

BTW....trusty was selling a BASE PAM 112 with sandwich dial...and asian unitas...check it out...maybe it is the right piece for your friends watch!

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the reason i choose the PAM is because they are occupying most of my waking thoughts :p well the fact that they are nice and clear and also masculine pieces.

recently, I thikn I have seen some IWC watches that looked large, and the it was black numbers on white dial. which looks very clear, but I dont think it is as fun a watch as a PAM

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He doesnt get to move very much, only a few steps each day. So I was concerned about the automatic not being very practical.

I might just have to investigate with the purchase of a power reserve model just to double check ^_^ hehe

thanks for the info on the 6497 movement, i'll keep it in mind.

It takes surprisingly little wrist movement to keep an automatic wound.

I have a couple of low-end Chinese reps that have a working power reserve indicator.

I can put one on, cold, when I leave the house in the morning - by the time I have reached the office, about 40 minutes drive - the watch will be fully wound.

I'm a sedate driver and use major roads... so not a great deal of wrist movement is involved. Yet it is enough...

Happy timekeeping!

Clive

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Is your friend able to wind a manual watch? If so, one of the manual wind 6497 based ones might work as is. The 009, 112, 114 and 210 are "base" models that don't have a second sub dial. I have seen a good sandwich dial in a PAM112H (no flag on the '1' and correct sized numbers), and that dial should be available with both the ETA 6497 as well as the Chinese 6497 movements.

The 44 mm Luminors might be a little easier to wind as you only need to pull out the lever before winding it, although the crown guard may get in the way. The Radiomirs have screw down crowns, so that might be a bit difficult. However, I'm sure you could have it modified to do away with the screw down feature.

I have known people who weren't disabled who couldn't keep an automatic watch wound, so an automatic may not work for your friend.

I'm sure you could find a watch maker to install a quartz movement into a PAM replica, especially a two hand base model. It's true that the 6497 is a huge movement, but it's much easier to put a small movement into a large case than trying to put a huge movement into a tiny case ;-) Some sort of spacer ring would need to be made, but that shouldn't be that difficult. I suspect it might be a little difficult to find hands you like that are long enough to fit the quartz movement, but I'm sure something could be found.

Besides Panerai, you might also consider some watches from Zeno or Glycine. Both companies make a number of larger watches - up to 52 mm for Glycine and 55 mm for Zeno if I'm not mistaken. They make the PAMs look rather tiny. And not only are the diameters of the cases large, but the dials themselves are very large. A huge watch with a bezel surrounding a tiny dial is no easier to read than a small dial in a small case.

I believe than Zeno makes a number of watches that use a quartz movement, although I don't think I've ever seen any of their simplier designs with a quartz movement - contact the company and perhaps they can suggest something. I have seen one Glycine Incursore with a quartz movement that would be very easy to see, the Glycine Incursore Service (about the price of a PAM replica) Both companies make a large number of large, very easy to read manual wind watches.

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