PAM 448
Radiomir California 3 Days
Radiomir California 3 Days
Here's my recently acquired PAM 448, one of the most interesting releases from the SF factory, famous for the P.3000 clone movement used in his reps, basically a manual wind movement with a 150 hours + power reserve that resembles pretty closely the genuine P.3000 movement, without being cloned part by part though (as is the a7750 for example), thus the "superclone" definition used by some dealers to advertise it is incorrect. In any case we are talking about a huge step forward in movement accuracy for our reps.
This movement has been first released mounted on a 372 in the early months of 2014, and has proven so far to be reliable. That's good because my main concern is that, if it ever breaks, it could be hard to find a watchsmith with the necessary skills to fix it and even more hard could be finding spare parts for it.
A big thank you to Silverclaw for his very well written review with great pics HERE.
THE GEN
PAM 448 was presented during SIHH 2012 and later produced in a limited edition series of 750 pieces. The watch inherits the design of the oldest model produced by Panerai: that 3646 developed for the italian navy in 1936 with the help of Rolex.
The first prototypes had this particular dial with a mix of arabic and roman numbers, an upside down triangle at 12 and bars at 3-6-9.
While the purpose of using of this dial was probably in relation with the harsh environment and extreme conditions were the watch was meant to be used, the "California" name was probably born later: one of the most recurring hypothesis I read says it comes from a small California based dial company named Kirk Rich that used to paint these kind of dials in the '80s, when these dials were very popular due to them being used on a number of vintage Rolex models.
THE REP
Model: PAM 448
Maker: SF Factory
Movement: P.3000 Clone3
Dealer: Supermirrors
Sead has done a great job sourcing a perfect example of this watch. The transaction has been easy, fast and efficient as usual with him. Definitely a recommended dealer.
Please note the movement on this watch is a more recent version in comparison to what was used on the initial release date of the rep, but it's not the latest. You can find in ALE's thread HERE all the info about this movement's evolution.
CASE
The case is a 47 mm Radiomir, with the characteristic wire lugs and cushion shaped mid case. The mix of curved and sharp surfaces and lines on this case is unmatched in the modern watch industry.
Its timeless design reminds at the same time a pocket watch conversion and an essential and modern look, added to this the incredible history behind the brand and the specific models.
While on the wrist my favour goes to the Luminor Bettarini case, the Radiomir is imho the most fascinating iteration of the Panerai brand.
Until this release, the available 47mm Radiomirs were not good in terms of case shape, the corners were too rounded and the side of the midcase was too short, making the watch appear exaggeratedly round from a front view. This was the case of my 232 from DSN, still a great watch, but a real 1:1 rep was needed definitely.
The SF factory has done an impressive job in this regard, all the shapes and lines are there, perfectly defined and clean.
Seeing pics of the owners of this watch in the last few months, I had the impression that in some watches the corners were not sharp enough, too squareish. Now that I have the watch on my hands I think it is just a problem of the way the light is reflected by this case, some of the pictures I took showed squared corners as well, but I am certain they are perfectly shaped.
The polished bezel is tall, vintage styled. I noticed a crevice right above the "VINTAGE" engraving at 6, I think it might be used for removing the bezel, but I have not tried it. Also, I think it was not present in Silverclaw's reviewed watch, so it could be a recent improvement.
Talking about the engravings on the case, they are very well executed, on par with the ones on my noob 372 case, thus the best currently offered by the rep industry. They are deep, defined and crisp, even inside.
The wire lugs are fixed with good quality screws and feature an O-ring in the inner part for a perfect and tight fit. Very well done, and the same system used on my KW 346. Unluckily I forgot to shoot pictures of it. :facepalm:
On the inner part of the bezel, at 12, the CALIFORNIA engraving is thick and crisp, sorry for the out of focus pic.
CRYSTAL
The crystal is a thick (2.8 mm) and clear plexiglass, another vintage heritage.
Some distortion can be seen around the edge of the crystal, maybe it's because of my limited photographic skills, but I have seen noticeably less distortion around the edges on gen pics.
Still the front and side view are very appealing and the distortion effect appearing only at certain angles looks natural anyway, subtracting just a little from the quality of the plexi.
DIAL
The dial is the distinctive detail of this watch and, again for the first time, it has been repped in such a good way no maker achieved so far.
Indices and numbers are engraved on the dial then filled with the lume material, just like in gen. The effect is very good as the lume looks slightly recessed on the dial but flat, and not rounded as in rep sausage dials.
As observed by Silverclaw, the lume material has a grainy consistency, more evident in close ups. It might be a flaw and incorrect compared to gen, but I do like it very much, imho it gives a more vintage feel to the dial
Numbers are slightly different in shape compared to gen, but still very close to me.
L SWISS L is well defined and quite subtle due to the grey color, not like the 449 and 425 where it's white and clearly different from the gen.
The dial itself has a nice matte and grainy finish, more visible under direct light
Lume is very good.
HANDS & CP
GEN
REP
Hands are double pencil shaped, the hour hands is divided in two by a sector. The minute hand has the tip slightly bent downwards, exactly as gen, another homage to the Radiomir heritage.
The SS has been heat blued obtaining a very good looking shade of blue, it changes color from almost black to light blue depending on how the light catches it. I was genuinely impressed by their appearance in person.
They are so awesome seen from the front that it's a real pity to see that the finish is not as good on the side.
***[FONT COLOR=RED]EDIT:[/FONT] According to Grimlocktime what I saw under the hands is some lume material overflowing and by removing the hands it can be easily cleaned. That's good to know, it's something I might try in the future
The CP, even if slightly smaller than gen, is one of the best that passed through my hands. It's very well polished, perfectly flat and flush with the hands.
CROWN
Crown is another good point of this rep. While the OP logo engraved on the side could be thicker, the onion shape is very good and the teeth are rounded so that it feels comfortable on the wrist.
Crown tube is well made, it's thick and the good threads allow the crown to screw in smoothly. Distance from the case is as per gen from what I can see.
CASEBACK
The display caseback is, again, executed very well. It's thick like in many vintage 3646s, with the classic dodecagonal shape. I like very much the contrast between the central part, which is brushed and presents deep and accurate text engravings, and the polished and slightly sloped edges.
Very well done SF
GEN
REP
The movement is, as said above, the clone3 version and has been updated since the initial release, being now even more similar to gen thanks to the addition of three more jewels on the decorative plates. Text engravings on the decorative plates are very good imho, on the other hand jewels color and placement are still in need of an improvement.
On a side note a clone4 has recently been released with upgraded jewels placement as ALE promptly noticed and will probably be mounted on the soon to be released ZF version of this watch.
On my watch the movement suffers from the uneven brushing direction of decorative plates already observed in some of these (vader1 spotted the issue HERE. It's noticeable on a macro pic but almost invisible to the naked eye.
On the case corners, the identification numbers and references are crisply engraved as well.
CONCLUSIONS
I must admit it, I was pleasantly surprised by the build quality of this rep. As much as I look at it, as much as I find there are only minor imperfections in this rep. All the big flags are checked: great case, great dial, great hands, great crown, great caseback, and considering the updated movement is not so obviously detectable I think we can start to say great movement as well. I really wouldn't know how this rep could be made better (well, tbh I would have liked a better finish on hands
)
Some more pics for your consideration:
And a 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:
