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PAM 177 Ultralite


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As an aside to asad's 100 dollar DIY post, I did nearly the same thing. I did indeed go off on the fantasy side a bit more ... but to be honest, I have been waiting forever for Panerai to build this watch to no avail :( , so I built it myself.

I used many of the same parts asad did, altough I did have to pay a little more for them as I did not source them in bulk like he did.

About a month ago, I got an idea for a Frankenstein project. To some, this may just look like a menagerie of parts, but to me it is the watch I always wanted Panerai to build. A full Ti watch with a real carbon fiber sausage dial.

Here are the parts I used:

1 real carbon fiber dial and hands from an old fantasy Yahoo! Auctions rep

Ti Case and fat Ti Crown from my PAM 036

Crown Guard from the same watch, which I reshaped to the case with flushed the lever pin

1 6497 unbranded movement from sizzlinwatches on EBay

1 Sapphire crystal with light AR I scavenged from another project

1 Ti see-through case back with a minimal amount of engraving

1 Ti engraved buckle

... and 1 old rep strap for the photos :p .

My Franken is MY watch and no one can tell me my "6" is squished or my 2 is not quite right ... my "L Swiss L" is too close to my "6" because there is no gen to compare it to ;) .

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I LOVE the way I got the AR to pop in this shot. I could never do this again if I tried:

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... and my unbranded swanie ... it's a Franken so no one can call me out :p :

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Awesome! Congrats!

I am amazed at how two great fantasy projects came out right now that I too am getting close to post my own...

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Thanx for the kind comments all.

Teejay, I considered it, but the real CF on the dial and the faux CF on the band seemed to fight as opposed to match. Believe it or not, for the moment I have settled on the rubber strap. If Panerai ever built an "Ultralite" version like this, the rubber strap just seems to complete the package and make sense.

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These "fantasy" carbon fiber dials can be found at some of our dealers, but usually on the asian movement without a swannie or with a closed back, either in Stainless or PVD. I had never seen one in Ti or with one of the nicer movements.

The dial came to me as part watch I ordered before I found the boards ... it arrived DOA. I pieced the rest of it together from other donor watches and parts I was able to find on EBay. From my perspective anyway, there isn't one part on this watch I would change. The only PAM that gets equal wrist time is my beloved 172.

If you can source a dial and follow asad's tutorial, you can build one too ;) .

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Thanx for the kind comments all.

Teejay, I considered it, but the real CF on the dial and the faux CF on the band seemed to fight as opposed to match. Believe it or not, for the moment I have settled on the rubber strap. If Panerai ever built an "Ultralite" version like this, the rubber strap just seems to complete the package and make sense.

Ahh, that's fair enough, afterall, colors can clash, so quite understandable... Rubber's always a good choice :good:

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