The 5218-205/A
Luminor Submersible
Sly Tech Panerai
A pictorial review
Luminor Submersible
Sly Tech Panerai
A pictorial review
Once I decided I wanted to expand my collection with some Pre-Vs, it took me a while to decide which one should have been the first.
Then I stumbled into this thread from Cpairways HERE and fell in love with the 205a, the black dial with non matching hands and indices was exactly what I was looking for!
THE GEN
This watch has an indeed particular history behind, which speaks of how a company that spent decades designing and producing watches and other devices for military purposes and mainly for the italian Marina Militare, turns into a luxury brand and gains the interest of the Vendome group (now Richemont) who will later acquire the entire Panerai company, its brand and its know-how.
In 1993 Officine Panerai launched their first limited editions meant for a larger public: the Luminor logo 5218-201/A in 44 mm and the Mare Nostrum 5218-301/A in 42 mm, while the PVD 5218-202/A was specifically designed for the italian navy. As anybody could tell nowadays, these new references had potential, but they needed a boost to reach a larger public.
First ad on the italian press in 1993
According to the legend, in 1995 Sylvester Stallone was recording the Daylight movie in Rome when he first saw a Luminor Panerai and immediately fell in love with it. So much so that he wore that watch during all the movie, and then asked Panerai to produce a special limited edition for him named SLY TECH.
At least that's what we are told, in any case a very smart marketing move I would say
Extract from the 205/A brochure
The first Slytech reference to be released is the 5218-205/A: It features a standard 44 mm Luminor polished case, brushed crownguard, black dial with tritium lumed indices and numbers, small seconds subdial at 9 and closed caseback. The movement inside is the basic, standard for that time, swiss Unitas 6497 without swan neck.
The dial is customized using the inscriptions LUMINOR SUBMERSIBLE (this term is used for the first time afaik) and SLY TECH PANERAI, while on the closed caseback Sylvester Stallone's signature and "SLYTECH PANERAI SPECIAL EDITION SYLVESTER STALLONE" are engraved.
Again an extract from the same brochure
Another interesting fact is that the initial prototypes have been produced using the 201a caseback, with serial numbers 872,873,875,876,880,881,882,885,886 and 887 (others say the prototypes were 12 with consecutive serial nos. from 872 to 884) . In perspective, this specific rep is my goal since I like the simple 201a caseback more than the 205a.
The regular production was estimated in 200 pieces, but only 95 were effectively made, of which 38 were sold to Vendome in 1997.
A few other sly tech models have been released, the white dialled LUMINOR DAYLIGHT (ref.207/A), the DLCed LUMINOR BLACK SEAL (ref.209) and a couple of MARE NOSTRUM chronographs (ref.302 and ref.304), all were produced in very small quantities and are extremely rare and collectible (and expensive
).Well, I was forgetting PAM 225, no rep of this that I am aware of, but an incredibly good looking "real" submersible imho:
Anyway I'm digressing, here's
THE REP
Model: 5218-205/A
Maker: Davidsen (DSN)
Movement: a6497
Dealer: Davidsen
This is the latest version of the 205a from DSN, it features the most recent case, crownguard and non matching dial/hands.
The first impression is extremely good, the watch is solid, all screws are tight and so is the CG lever. The crown operation is precise and winding is smooth.
The case shines nicely and the dial is gorgeous.
Like all Pre-V cases, there's no notch under the case between the lugs and so straps can easily be damaged by rubbing against the case.
The watch comes with a real leather strap with sewn-in Pre-V buckle. The buckle and strap are nice enough, but I had a special Orloff waiting for this one
CASE
Case shape is simply great, very close to gen imho. All surfaces are very well polished, all edges of the case are smooth, I could not find any sharp corner all around it.
Cushion shape looks great from the front and from the side.
Lugs are slightly too fat, but it's a microscopic matter.
Overall very impressed
CRYSTAL
Crystal is sapphire, without AR as per gen.
As a matter of fact it is so clear that it reflects less than some of my AR'ed reps from the big makers. Again very impressed.
Crystal height looks fine to me.
*EDIT*
As commented by atomic_doug the rehaut should be polished. This is something I totally missed from the pics, but I'm sure in real life makes a noticeable difference.
DIAL
GEN
REP
The gen tritium dial is especially hard to replicate due to the numbers and indices being very deeply engraved, so much that they look "carved" on the dial.
Moreover, the non-matching effect of the gen is due to the ageing of tritium on the dial combined with the varnish used, which made the color of indices get darker with time, varying from beige to different degrees of dark yellow/orange. The hands were not threated with that varnish so their color does not change with time, thus creating the color difference.
The DSN dial replicates this look very well, but there is a cost: the indices and numbers on the dial are NOT lumed, only the hands are.
Obviously this is a pity, but the effect under natural light is indeed very good and is the most important thing imho.
In the macros you can see the indices look hand painted with the paint showing small cracks inside, almost invisible to the naked eye anyway.
GEN
GEN
REP
Fonts are very good, they have the slight, almost imperceptible serif of the gen. Placement of inscriptions looks accurate and printing is crisp.
*EDIT*
As ALE correctly spotted,the inscriptions are slightly bolder and narrower in gen.
The black finish is semi-gloss (or semi-matte?). I have seen members using some finish on these dials to make them look a bit more grainy/textured, honestly I can not say from the gen pics I saw if this is needed, this dial looks very good to me as it is (except for the missing lume on indices that is).
Lume shot:
Not only lume is exclusively on the hands, it's pretty weak as well.
I don't think a 20 years old watch lumed with tritium would shine very bright anyway, but since I never saw one in person I don't know for sure
HANDS & CP
GEN
REP
Hour and minute hands are black Pre-V, seconds hand is white. Their lume color is lighter than the color of indices, a very nice and warm beige. The finish is nice enough but could be a bit better.
I must admit I noticed some imperfections in gen hands as well so maybe it can all be justified with the "age"of the watch
Black color of the hands is spot on to me.
CP is flat and polished in gen, while pointy and not polished, but at least not recessed in rep.
CROWNGUARD
The overall shape of the CG is very good in my eyes. It's the fat Pre-V CG with a nice brushed finish.
Inner corners are sharper than expected, but not perfectly finished.
Common flaws we are used to with almost all PAM reps, I'd say.
GEN 201a
REP
The upper side is almost flush with the case, very gen like imho.
CG pin is slightly raised instead of recessed. It is not polished, like in gen.
Crown shape looks good as well, the outer edge is polished and sloped as per gen, the inner part should be the same but does not have the same nice finish.
The lever has no ball bearing as per gen, shape is a bit too fat in the inner part, but it is almost perfectly flush with the CG body.
On the other hand the lever tip is a bit too long and distant from the case. Moreover it looks straight while it should be slightly curved towards the outer side of CG.
CASEBACK
GEN 201a caseback
REP
My rep came with a 201a caseback instead of the expected 205a. It would not have been a problem if the serial number had been one of those stated above because it would have been correct just the same (and it would have been exactly what I was looking for). Unluckily the serial is not matching
Anyway, the engravings are crisp but the fonts are slightly smaller than gen, especially the 5218-201/A and 30 ATM, the serial number has different font as well. Logo is placed correctly.
The biggest concern about the caseback though is its shape: it's too flat and thin, wearable but not satisfactory
CONCLUSIONS
This is indeed a very well made rep, I was really amazed by the beautiful polished finish of the case and its smooth edges. The clarity of the crystal is also extremely good.
The painted dial appearance is very good and convincing, even though not lumed. An upgrade might be necessary but not mandatory.
On the other hand the caseback is screaming for improvement, it is not up to the quality of the rest of the watch as it is. Luckily enough a Jacob caseback is not extremely expensive and is a very good alternative.
Now, a few more pics to complete the review:
Final wristie
As always feel free to point out any inaccuracies and any detail I might have missed, I am glad to update the review with the members input.
Hope you found this useful, thanks for reading
:cheers:
