- 15/10/17
- 2,058
- 829
- 113
Dear forum members,
I've known watches for a long time. I am lucky enough to have an uncle who's a huge collector and who taught me the intricacies of the hobby, from the value of Rolex to the fine workmanship of Patek Philippe, to the over the top pieces of art from AP. Not been into them for a long time though, as they were for me just overly expensive pieces of jewelry. I mean, how could a sane person spend as much on a little thing strapped on your wrist as the average joe would spend on a car?
Then, a few years back, something changed. I had always been a collector of one thing or the other, so it was just a matter of time (pun intended) until I would fall for the ultimate men's collectible.
It all started with a Kickstarter watch found online and after discovering watch forums (in particular Watchuseek) a whole world opened up for me. There I was immediately attracted by the affordables section and by the concept of microbrand. What I really loved about it was that you didn't have to take out a loan to afford multiple pieces, but most of all, that they were all limited runs, making each model unique and rare.
How does this tie up with the watch in the title? Please bear with me another bit.
Through one huge thread in the affordables forum I learned of homage watches, and of one brand in particular: Panerai. It was love at first sight. I cannot point out exactly what made PAMs so appealing to me, be they Radiomirs or Luminors: their design, their incredible history, how they were originally built for the Italian Navy and used in countless missions during WWII, the ties between Panerai and Rolex, even their renaissance in the 90s thanks to Sly, everything in them was special. But boy, were they expensive.
At first I tried to calm my thirst by purchasing a nice Marina Militare homage, and, almost at random, I happened to visit DSN website, and learned of the concept of Replicas. From there it was a short walk until I found out this forum, around one year ago and the rest, as they say, is history. Or maybe not.
Thanks to the guidance of the experienced members of the Panerai section (in particular big thanks to mysterio ) I made my first few purchases, a PAM 564 and later a PAM 1392. But while I was very happy to have my first PAMs something still didn't feel right. In a way I didn't feel as if they were unique or rare enough, I was still missing the connection with the real heritage of Panerai, not the marketing BS sold by Richemont, but the real thing.
Of course being able to purchase a vintage PAM was out of the question, given their scarcity and their astronomical prices. but luckily RWI came to the rescue in the form of a very talented Watchmaker called Natas78. I emailed him expressing interest in a custom build and he told me to find some examples of what I'd like to build.
What I wanted was the original PAM, the most "pure" example ever built, the 3646 California Dial with Rolex pocket watch movement. I tried to be as historically accurate as possible in my request, making only one exception in regards to the size, as my skinny wrists wouldn't allow me to wear anything bigger than a 45mm Radiomir with wire lugs.
The build took a few months, which I used to learn even more about the watch I was about to receive. I discovered that the 3646 California Dial is not actually a 1936 prototype from Rolex as the BS department of Richemont claims, but that it was actually produced much later during WWII, during the Nazi occupation of Italy. As the true story goes, at a time in which it was impossible for Panerai to source materials to produce their famous sandwich dials, these watches were entirely produced by Rolex (movement, case and dial), and delivered to Giuseppe Panerai to protect him, his family and his employees from harm. The Nazis would have considered Giuseppe Panerai a saboteur to the interests of the Third Reich, if Rolex would have stopped the supply.
How ironic that my grail Panerai was actually 100% a Rolex!
A few weeks after learning this the watch finally arrived and I've been wearing it almost continuosly for the last month and a half.
Thank you for your attention. Before sharing a few pics of this beauty I'd like to thank again this forum and all it's wonderful members, and in particular Natas78 for his amazing work.
I've known watches for a long time. I am lucky enough to have an uncle who's a huge collector and who taught me the intricacies of the hobby, from the value of Rolex to the fine workmanship of Patek Philippe, to the over the top pieces of art from AP. Not been into them for a long time though, as they were for me just overly expensive pieces of jewelry. I mean, how could a sane person spend as much on a little thing strapped on your wrist as the average joe would spend on a car?
Then, a few years back, something changed. I had always been a collector of one thing or the other, so it was just a matter of time (pun intended) until I would fall for the ultimate men's collectible.
It all started with a Kickstarter watch found online and after discovering watch forums (in particular Watchuseek) a whole world opened up for me. There I was immediately attracted by the affordables section and by the concept of microbrand. What I really loved about it was that you didn't have to take out a loan to afford multiple pieces, but most of all, that they were all limited runs, making each model unique and rare.
How does this tie up with the watch in the title? Please bear with me another bit.
Through one huge thread in the affordables forum I learned of homage watches, and of one brand in particular: Panerai. It was love at first sight. I cannot point out exactly what made PAMs so appealing to me, be they Radiomirs or Luminors: their design, their incredible history, how they were originally built for the Italian Navy and used in countless missions during WWII, the ties between Panerai and Rolex, even their renaissance in the 90s thanks to Sly, everything in them was special. But boy, were they expensive.
At first I tried to calm my thirst by purchasing a nice Marina Militare homage, and, almost at random, I happened to visit DSN website, and learned of the concept of Replicas. From there it was a short walk until I found out this forum, around one year ago and the rest, as they say, is history. Or maybe not.
Thanks to the guidance of the experienced members of the Panerai section (in particular big thanks to mysterio ) I made my first few purchases, a PAM 564 and later a PAM 1392. But while I was very happy to have my first PAMs something still didn't feel right. In a way I didn't feel as if they were unique or rare enough, I was still missing the connection with the real heritage of Panerai, not the marketing BS sold by Richemont, but the real thing.
Of course being able to purchase a vintage PAM was out of the question, given their scarcity and their astronomical prices. but luckily RWI came to the rescue in the form of a very talented Watchmaker called Natas78. I emailed him expressing interest in a custom build and he told me to find some examples of what I'd like to build.
What I wanted was the original PAM, the most "pure" example ever built, the 3646 California Dial with Rolex pocket watch movement. I tried to be as historically accurate as possible in my request, making only one exception in regards to the size, as my skinny wrists wouldn't allow me to wear anything bigger than a 45mm Radiomir with wire lugs.
The build took a few months, which I used to learn even more about the watch I was about to receive. I discovered that the 3646 California Dial is not actually a 1936 prototype from Rolex as the BS department of Richemont claims, but that it was actually produced much later during WWII, during the Nazi occupation of Italy. As the true story goes, at a time in which it was impossible for Panerai to source materials to produce their famous sandwich dials, these watches were entirely produced by Rolex (movement, case and dial), and delivered to Giuseppe Panerai to protect him, his family and his employees from harm. The Nazis would have considered Giuseppe Panerai a saboteur to the interests of the Third Reich, if Rolex would have stopped the supply.
How ironic that my grail Panerai was actually 100% a Rolex!
A few weeks after learning this the watch finally arrived and I've been wearing it almost continuosly for the last month and a half.
Thank you for your attention. Before sharing a few pics of this beauty I'd like to thank again this forum and all it's wonderful members, and in particular Natas78 for his amazing work.
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