PAM 036B

[p550racer]

Lello,

Well thats Italian for ya

All kidding aside, if you went back to the 1998 version of the catalog, there is no mension of AR any where. It is the darn cut & paste bussiness that gets us all in trouble now, including Sig Bonati's clan. Ofcourse, little extra Cianti in the afternoon does not help either.

Carpe Diem

[PAMman]

Well starting with the 201 A in 1993 all historic pam dials were engraved all the way to the G series (2004). Just the Tritium/lume filling technique was different. The Pre-Vs had a very thin coating of Tritium on the inside of the engraving and then filled with varnish. The pre-As had more tritium but still concave. The As were right below the edge of the engraving to right at the edge. Starting with B dials all the way up to G dials is what are called the panited/some times sausage dials as the Tritium/lume was filled all the way to overflow, hence the domed/sausage look.

PAM 036 is an early B so it has the domed Tritium.

Carpe Diem

The preVendome 5218/201A, 202A etc and the preA 001, 002, 004 & 009 had the same style engraved brass base dial with the lume applied in a similar manner but the preV dials were filled up with clear varnish while the preA dials were not. The preA dials were identified by T-SWISS-T. Next came the 'A' series dials which were also engraved but the indicies were the more modern shape (2, 6 & 9) and now the engraving was overfilled with Tritium lume giving the 'sausage' effect. This style of dial was carried on into the early 'B' series and these can all be identified by the T SWISS T. However the automatic T SWISS T dials 027, 029 etc were not engraved but had the tritium applied on top of a printed marker on a flat dial, resulting in a more pronounced 'sausage' effect.

During the 'B' series Panerai introduced Luminova dials with the L SWISS L and contrary to popular belief these were neither painted on top of a flat dial or engraved into the dial but the black surface was a thin sandwich layer with cut out markers. I know this for an absolute fact because I had a genuine 111F and had to have the dial replaced under warranty because the black layer lifted around the edge of the 2. The narrow pointed part on top of the base of the 2 began to curl back from the sharp tip so I think that the black layer may be a solid black plastic or similar material. Possibly that is how the genuine dilas have a faint texture.

I have read an article where Dirk Grandy explained that some of the preA dials were actually preV dials refinished by Vendome by applying a similar layer on top of the original 5218 dials so this method of layering dials was already established before the 'B' series were introduced. I now have a genuine 005 and the edge of the top layer is clearly visible through a loupe.

Edited January 22, 2008 by PAMman

[V]

The preVendome 5218/201A, 202A etc and the preA 001, 002, 004 & 009 had the same style engraved brass base dial with the lume applied in a similar manner but the preV dials were filled up with clear varnish while the preA dials were not. The preA dials were identified by T-SWISS-T. Next came the 'A' series dials which were also engraved but the indicies were the more modern shape (2, 6 & 9) and now the engraving was overfilled with Tritium lume giving the 'sausage' effect. This style of dial was carried on into the early 'B' series and these can all be identified by the T SWISS T. However the automatic T SWISS T dials 027, 029 etc were not engraved but had the tritium applied on top of a printed marker on a flat dial, resulting in a more pronounced 'sausage' effect.

During the 'B' series Panerai introduced Luminova dials with the L SWISS L and contrary to popular belief these were neither painted on top of a flat dial or engraved into the dial but the black surface was a thin sandwich layer with cut out markers. I know this for an absolute fact because I had a genuine 111F and had to have the dial replaced under warranty because the black layer lifted around the edge of the 2. The narrow pointed part on top of the base of the 2 began to curl back from the sharp tip so I think that the black layer may be a solid black plastic or similar material. Possibly that is how the genuine dilas have a faint texture.

I have read an article where Dirk Grandy explained that some of the preA dials were actually preV dials refinished by Vendome by applying a similar layer on top of the original 5218 dials so this method of layering dials was already established before the 'B' series were introduced. I now have a genuine 005 and the edge of the top layer is clearly visible through a loupe.

Where else you can have Panerai History lesson for free than RWG? Good info my friend.. Wish new members could have constant access on this.

[bazonkers]

Where else you can have Panerai History lesson for free than RWG? Good info my friend.. Wish new members could have constant access on this.

You can't even learn this stuff at paneristi.com. I've asked questions there but they seem more interested in slapping each other on the back about their latest PAM purchase. The rep forums are a treasure trove of PAM knowledge.