My delimma with the state of Base PAMs

[MP5]

Hi All, I have been reading much here and on the RWI site. I am very thankful for all that have given great info before my time. We all know that having a good and passable rep takes some work but I am kinda surprised the base dials are so hard to come by. I have seen many members here with lots of time and work put together some really great watches. Could you please lend some knowledge to correct what I have gleaned here?

My first interest is in Luminor bases, with closed backs specifically:

1) the Pre A 002- FGD has a magnificent example with Jimmy Fu case and his own dial and hands. The Jimmy Fu cases from what I gather are pretty much unobtainium. I havent seen a dealer sold base watch I could work from and if you know of one please let me know.

2) the Logo 000 - Our dealers have pretty good examples

3)009- PVD version of a B series- this seems to take a bunch of work and the dial and PVD would be an issue

4) 004- Luminor Marina- seems like I could get a Ultimate 111E and a 001B caseback and T45 crown but the T dial would not be there making it an easy spot.

5) 055 - Ti based Luminor with Tobacco dial- seems the hardest to do and find

These are my primary concerns and I have contacted some of the members that mod but I am aware they usually are hesitant to deal with noobs for obvious reasons. If I have made any mistakes please let me know- meanwhile I will continue searching and enjoying the forum. Thanks!

[jitai]

IMO, I think you've made the correct choice for leaning towards sausage dial and close back PAMs as the details accuracy are closer to the gen article as compared to see thru caseback and sandwiched dial PAMs.

If I were to choose which one to start off with, I will go for PAM01B as the time and the cost for modding required is quite affordable.

- Puretime/trusty basic PAM01B with correct OP6518 B series caseback and Swiss or asian movt of your choice

- Strip off AR coating (normal PAM rep will have this blue tint / hue )

- Relume the dial and hands (Gen PAM01B also comes with "L swiss L")

- Swap out the crown and out T45

Once the above are completed, strap on a nice looking strap and you have a highly satisfying pam.

If you have no interest on PAM01B, IMO, the rest of your interested models will take a longer time to complete or higher cost to gather the correct and best parts. Patience is the key to this hobby.

Another way is to keep a close look out at the for sale section if I want to have a modded or rare piece. Nice base models are hard to find these days.

Hope this helps

Edited January 3, 2009 by jitai

[MP5]

IMO, I think you've made the correct choice for leaning towards sausage dial and close back PAMs as the details accuracy are closer to the gen article as compared to see thru caseback and sandwiched dial PAMs.

If I were to choose which one to start off with, I will go for PAM01B as the time and the cost for modding required is quite affordable.

- Puretime/trusty basic PAM01B with correct OP6518 B series caseback and Swiss or asian movt of your choice

- Strip off AR coating (normal PAM rep will have this blue tint / hue )

- Relume the dial and hands (Gen PAM01B also comes with "L swiss L")

- Swap out the crown and out T45

Once the above are completed, strap on a nice looking strap and you have a highly satisfying pam.

If you have no interest on PAM01B, IMO, the rest of your interested models will take a longer time to complete or higher cost to gather the correct and best parts. Patience is the key to this hobby.

Another way is to keep a close look out at the for sale section if I want to have a modded or rare piece. Nice base models are hard to find these days.

Hope this helps

It helps a whole bunch! do you know if the dealer 01s come with the proper caseback or is that something to do? May I pm you later? Thanks

[jitai]

Hi,

All the members here are friendly and very helpful.

They are not hesitant when dealing with noobs but I think they they will prefer that the noobs do more research and expect what it takes to go through the whole process themselves.

Here's an example of my modded PAM01B

Gen pic to compare

You may like to contact any of the highly recommended dealer about the PAM01B for now and read more about what details to mod and also try to find out who can do the mod for you.

Good luck

[PAMman]

Don't worry about the L dial for a 004. The 004B had an L dial - at least the majority of them did.

[LegendofSpeed]

There were some transitional 004 and 001 B series dials that were T's.... but like PAMman said, the majority were L's... i hadn't seen one with a T dial as high as 1579 though.... very interesting...

[archibald]

I think you're on the right track--if you're going to dump some money on a base, you better do a damn rare one because it'd be tough to build a great rep or a decent franken w/o going over 50% of the shocking used "standard" Panerai valuations which, IMO, are going to get more shocking, I'm disgusted to say, as more people have to choose between keeping their houses and/or cars for a few more months or selling their watches.

[babola]

Here's an example of my modded PAM01B

Very nice find that early PAM040 Davidsen T-dial, jitai...great "Tritium" lume as well. Did you manage to remove the dashes in T-SWISS-T by yourself?

Wear it in good health!

cheers mate,

babola

[jitai]

Very nice find that early PAM040 Davidsen T-dial, jitai...great "Tritium" lume as well. Did you manage to remove the dashes in T-SWISS-T by yourself?

Wear it in good health!

cheers mate,

babola

Hi Babola,

Dashed removed and tritium lumed by The Zigmeister. His work is simply amazing.

Cheers