[*=center]*}The Panerai SLOB prototype
A new release from Davidsen
Hello guys
This is my first review since becoming a member of the PAM Consulting Team, so I want to say a big thank you to ALE for giving me this opportunity, for his support and credit. It's a pleasure and an honour to be part of the team and I hope to live up to the expectations
Another huge thank you is due to Grimlocktime, without whose posts I would have probably never explored the fascinating world of Pre-Vs, thank you mate and keep up the good work!
So, I recently bought a couple of these Pre-Vs from Davidsen and for the first time I will attempt a pictorial review. Please consider that these are very rare and expensive watches so the available gen references are far less than what can be found about the contemporary Panerai production.
This is much more true for the Panerai SLOB prototype, only 5 of the programmed 10 pieces were actually made back in 1998, and apparently only one made it out of the Officine Panerai buildings. Most gen pics I posted come from a sales thread where this watch was listed for 225,000 usd. :hypno:
I will try to describe to my best the differences I see between the gen and the rep, and the overall quality of this rep.
Let's start with what I found about
THE GEN
According to the certificate of authenticity issued by Panerai in 2006, the SLOB is a series of prototypes produced in 1998, it is believed to be the first prototype produced after the company acquisition by the Vendome Group, I think this qualifies the SLOB as Pre-A.
It consists of a Luminor case made of bronze and then PVD coated, uncoated titanium caseback, crown, CG lever and pin, and a domed plexi crystal.
Surely it represents the first attempt from Panerai to produce a bronze watch and probably the first time they used titanium parts. It is also most likely the first Panerai to use Luminova on the dial instead of tritium.
One more interesting fact is that, despite what stated in the certificate, the gen case seems to measure only 43mm instead of 44.
The case bears the same Luminor Bettarini shape used in Pre-V models since Panerai quitted working for the italian Marina Militare only and opened to the private market.
Lugs are thicker than modern Luminors and the shapes are less "rounded", more rough. Between the lugs there's no notch to prevent the strap from scratching against the case. This is the only Luminor Bettarini with a domed crystal that I am aware of.
The dial is black with white numbers and indices, the LUMINOR MARINA and PANERAI inscriptions are yellowish, similar color to the bronze plate under the dial. The font is modern sans-serif.
The most striking detail though is the bronze showing around the dial, which gives the watch its special and unique look.
THE REP
This is the first attempt from any maker to rep the SLOB, before this release some efforts were made by pasionate forum members, but as I found in my research, the misleading informations available led to experiments with DLC'ed titanium and SS which revealed to be inaccurate.
When I noticed this release in DSN's subsection I was very excited, and even more once I read that Grimlocktime had been involved in this project.
At first sight the result is very good, the watch looks great, dial is crisp and the white indices are striking. The bronze under the DLC gives a very particular sheen to the case. The color looks a bit lighter than gen, DSN's dlc is known to be more grey (pencil lead) than other factories, this was my first and I now I understand what it means
Let's see it in some detail:
CASE
GEN
REP
So, as per gen, the case is fully made of bronze DLC coated.
It has not been beadblasted before the DLC treatment, therefore the surface is not as smooth as other reps I own such as kw 504, nonetheless it's pleasant at the touch and apparently pretty solid.
The gen case looks more squared, with a less evident cushion shape than modern Luminors. The overall shape of the rep is very good imho, it could just use a bit of smoothing of the angles to be perfect.
GEN
REP
The lugs are fat Pre-V lugs, just a tad too fat. The flat part under the lugs should be a tiny bit longer. Lug holes are well placed imho.
The rep features the Pre-V lug system, i.e. there are screws on both sides of the lugs. The gen, instead, shows newer styled lug bars, with screws on the CG side only. The rep looks better in this regard though imho
CRYSTAL
Crystal is a very nice domed plexi, which reminds me of the low domed crystals seen on 3646s. I think the idea will be later used by Panerai while designing the 127. It is perfectly replicated as far as I can tell.
DIAL
GEN
REP
The SLOB features a black sausage dial with white numbers and indices. All around the dial a bronze ring is visible, I'm not sure if it is polished on gen, it isn't on the rep however.
The rep dial is well made, indices and numbers are accurate in shape, above we can see the technique used by Davidsen to recreate the gen effect: as shelby1501 correctly pointed out in his DSN 036 review (HERE), the indices look to be outlined in order to mimic gen sausage dials where indices were engraved on the surface of the dial, then filled with the lume material.
The outline makes them appear slightly fatter than gen, they look nice at a normal distance anyway.
LUMINOR MARINA and PANERAI inscriptions are a bit too yellow, they should be a warmer bronze color, the fonts are sans serif as per gen and slightly fatter.
Lume is good.
HANDS & CP
Hands are black, the gen shows a mix between Pre-V and modern hands: the lume portion is thicker like Pre-V hands, and the length is like modern. Davidsen got the correct length, but not the thickness. Also,hour hand is longer than gen.
While they look good anyway from the front, they could be finished a bit better on the side imho.
CP is slightly sunken, like almost every PAM rep. It is also not flat and not polished, although this is almost invisible on the wrist.
CROWNGUARD
GEN
REP
Crownguard is fat Pre-V type, the contrast with the particular DLC color of the case and the grey titanium of crown and CG lever is simply beautiful.
The overall execution of CG is very good on this rep, even though the inner corners are slightly more rounded than gen and the lever tip could be a bit closer to the case and maybe a bit fatter.
Lever has no ball bearing, which is correct for the time period. Lever shape is nice enough, it closes firmly but the "snap" could be better.
CG pin is ever so slightly raised in gen as far as I can tell from the pics, much the same in the rep. It looks perfectly placed.
The crown is very well done as well imho, and the fat polished round crown tube looks great.
Just a note on the CG, I'm not sure if it's a problem only on mine, but in the pic above you can clearly see that, even if securely screwed on to the case, the fitment is not perfect in the upper side.
CASEBACK
GEN
REP
Caseback is titanium, just like the gen, and pretty accurate. Fonts are close except the "bronze-titanium" engraving which is a smaller size on the rep.
Radial brushing is very nice but could be more evident. The engravings are crisp, but closing up the slightly worse finish becomes visible.
Anyway the only visible difference without direct comparison is the shape of the fish, which has a wider tail in rep.
CONCLUSIONS
Reading back at my review I am afraid I did not stress enough how extraordinary and hard to rep this watch is. Bronze is no easy metal to cast and machine, think about what happened with the release of the 382. Moreover only a bunch of internet pics are available as reference, so I can only imagine how challenging it could have been to reach this great closeness to gen for a one man show like DSN, even with the help from our great Grim.
Davidsen is not a big player in the rep game like the Noob or Z Factory and the likes, he is in another league made of men with great passion and dedication, and this deserves recognition in my book.
The result is a beautiful and solid rep, well built and refined, with a very distinct personality.
Sure, some improvements are still needed to reach the quality we are used to with the most recent reps, but at the same time the uniqueness of this rep and its design makes it an unmissable addition to any PAM collection imho.
Good job Davidsen. :thumbsup:
Now, a few more pics to complete the review:
Final wristie
As always, and even more this time, I'm asking for your help to point out any inaccuracies and any detail I might have missed.
Thanks for reading
:cheers:
