V6F PAM 643 Photo Review - ( pic heavy )

[EvilT]

Hi all,
After Ale's massive and unbeatable '{*PCTeam*} Star Match - KW vs. ZFac PAM 505 O-series – Definitive Comparison Review' (https://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php?t=179812) I thought I could overcome my crappy week (forced to stay at home sick) with my first try of a review rather than shopping massively through Black Friday

I recently decided to practice my photography skills as well, hence my newly arrived V6F PAM 643 from chazingtime brings together all these thoughts, so here we go

PLEASE NOTE: I never did this before, nor do I claim deep knowledge of the rep or gen world. I just like nice watches. A lot.
I would also appreciate any expert to chime in and clarify, support and/or correct any of my claims to paint an appropriate picture of the quality of this rep.

As a starting point I tried to resemble shots from this horobox review http://www.horobox.com/en/review-detail/?UserKey=PAM00643-Radiomir-Ceramica&P=1 since it was one of the few real photoreviews I found so far. Overall I find this model is not going through the roof in being liked, but I have to say I love her more each time I look at her... Just like with my girlfriend. Awwwww...

So let's Kick off:

Horobox Gen:

Rep:

Horobox Gen:

Rep:

Horobox Gen:

Rep:

Horobox Gen:

Rep (hey, I had 40*C fever for the past 4 days.. Not suiting up more ^^):

But resembling shots is kinda boring I thought. Hence I freestyled from here on, looking to catch important details:

Starting with some general shots from different angles all around:

I find the case, dial, sausage lume application VERY WELL done (particularly looking over to the OMEGA 300 new batch QC pic enabled thread and their lume application issues...), so let's try to get closer to the base:

Lume itself is cleanly applied, and looks very nice when charged:

In full darkness:

But after ~8minutes we are knowing we live in a REP world, baby:

That's truly a pity, since lume is applied near perfect IMHO (more details below). I think particularly on a sausage dial people would ne happy to put a couple of $$'s on top and get proper Performance here.

So I tried to get down on the dial and the numbers/markers/applications in more detail:

...and while I think this shot nicely shows the raised sausage application and structure of the dial, my equipment and skills for macro photography end here. ^^

So I asked the MacGyver in me and came to the conclusion to glue a loupe to my iPhone (6s) for macro shots. These turned out to be a bit distorted and showing false colour contours (expected) but I find them indeed quite helpful to look into details (not expected ^^ ):

Please note the nicely aligned L SWISS L

So, who takes the task, applies performance lume matching this accuracy?
I know there are guys here who are capable, it just seems a horrible task to me ^^


But let's not stop here... The crown:

Logo is a bit too big compared to the gen, protrusion of the crown looks Good to me compared to the gen.

More case details:

Caseback:

One of the obvious flaws Ale pointed out: wrong series/serial number 'pot':

And Last but not least: rep buckle inscription:

I hope you enjoy the photo review, let the 'technical discussion kick off

I really find this rep extremely well done, happy to learn more!

Cheers,

T.



***
333 - Halfway to hell.

 

[EvilT]

V6F PAM 643 Photo Review - my 1st try, pic heavy

Thanks Admin Team correcting the thread title [emoji5]

 

[slaughterer62]

Thanks so much for this close-up photo review of the 643. I think consensus is that it is a nice rep, but the faux cannon pinion is too large. Althout it is hard to tell in your photos, it also seems that the colour of the dial print and lume is off as well. But, nevertheless, is an attractive watch.

 

[EvilT]

V6F PAM 643 Photo Review - my 1st try, pic heavy

Hi,
Thanks for the compliment [emoji5]
Towards lume color: it quickly picks up light, hence the more greenish hue on some pics. If you 'overrule' the 'constant glow' with brighter light, the colour is very close to the gen I tried at an AD (taken no pics there unfortunately).

Edit: please see here what I mean:

Gen on Chrono24:

CP: yes&no.. Since on the wrist it picks up the surrounding black colour it appears smaller in daily life fortunately


***
333 - Halfway to hell.

 

[hublotkingpower]

Excellent shots here really shows the detail of the 643. The CP does not seem to be correct though although the lume application and the rest makes up for it imo.

Considering on getting one now Wear it in good health mate!!


Sent from my KW iPhone V3

 

[bryan6512]

Very nice review...I also order mine after seeing your pics. Nice job


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kilowattore]

Thanks for the review, very good job!

From these pics I agree with slaughterer62, the lume color looks a bit too greenish compared to gen which looks to be a pale yellow. It's a common issue on reps, anyway lume application looks perfect and IRL this is more important imho than slightly different lume color.
Hobnail effect looks great and RADIOMIR PANERAI inscription have correct font and placement (tbh there looks to be more space between upper and lower inscriptions in rep than in gen, but it could be a matter of slightly different camera angle when taking the pics).

Cp is too big and it's pretty noticeable in direct comparison. This inaccuracies leaves me puzzled, how could they do this?
Hands look very good.

On the crown the logo is indeed a bit too big, and the teeth are slightly less defined and crisp.

Case shape and finish look perfect as far as I can tell, except the wire lugs look to be a little longer than in gen. This issue is easily fixed with a strap that's thicker at the lugs, but if you plan to use the rep asso there will be too much space between the strap end and the case.

On the back there's no comparison pic, but I guess the OP logo has slightly too rounded corners, and of course S/N is wrong as ALE said.

Very well made rep, congrats!

 

[peterpl]

I reckon the rep looks awesome. I will be pulling the trigger soon

 

[EvilT]

V6F PAM 643 Photo Review - my 1st try, pic heavy

Cp is too big and it's pretty noticeable in direct comparison. This inaccuracies leaves me puzzled, how could they do this?
Hands look very good.

Probably they started working on her, and received back the already really good dial from their lume-inator and thought: 'holy crap, this will be some decent rep, let's leave some space for a V2!'...?

Case shape and finish look perfect as far as I can tell, except the wire lugs look to be a little longer than in gen. This issue is easily fixed with a strap that's thicker at the lugs, but if you plan to use the rep asso there will be too much space between the strap end and the case.

Thanks for this! Actually this left me a bit puzzled after looking more &more at her. First I thought it just is because the rep Asso is thinner itself, then I felt the GEN lugs are just a bit more rounded along with the case shape (which still is what I think a bit), but the lugs being longer makes sense now! I will take a deep breath and mount the aftermarket strap I ordered in advance, this looks to be thicker in that area, and confirm.

T.



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333 - Halfway to hell.

 

[chris3007]

V6F PAM 643 Photo Review - my 1st try, pic heavy

Great review and very nice photos! Thanks mate.
Rep points added

Sent from my iPad Air 2

 

[mskwatch]

That's a great review, I've never been interested in black/ceramic PAMs, but I'm starting considering this one. Thank a lot

 

[Simonbolivar]

Nice job putting this together!

 

[automatics]

Great idea w/ the loupe + phone.
low tech way to get high-tech-ish results.

while it's off vs the gen.
i acutally prefer the logo sharpness/definition on the rep crown.

 

[mt666tm]

Here is my 643 with standard size CP hand swap + Noob ceramic crown. These have H3 CP, so only a CP polish and hand swap is needed

 

[ortho]

Great writeup!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[EvilT]

V6F PAM 643 Photo Review - my 1st try, pic heavy

Here is my 643 with standard size CP hand swap + Noob ceramic crown. These have H3 CP, so only a CP polish and hand swap is needed

Did you do that yourself? And sorry, read a lot here, but have not learned all short codes yet: what is H3? Thanks


Edit: my Bad: H3 Maker Hands and CP steht compatible and can be swapped in is what you say, right? So now-where to get these if I was adventurous?


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333 - Halfway to hell.

 

[chris3007]

H3 ist the high of the hour and minute wheel.

Sent from my iPhone 6

 

[EvilT]

H3 ist the high of the hour and minute wheel.

Sent from my iPhone 6

Ah great, learned something before lunch: check! ^^

Thanks


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333 - Halfway to hell.

 

[slaughterer62]

Nice to see that the hands can be swapped. Really no reason not to buy now if you like the design.

 

[ALE7575]

Thanks EvilT for this nice pictorial and review

Your post allows knowing this rep much better

Very detailed and interesting pics


Macros are specially good, and show appropriately the quality of the rep.
Definitively confirmed wrong O-series
I will add this linK in PAM GUIDE

Rep points added

Thanks again

ALE