I was recently doing a franken PAM001C Build and it occurred to me that I do something routinely in my builds that are ignored by the Chinese factories. The gold plated hour wheel.
It might seem like a miniscule detail, but if you know what you're looking for, it is easily seen and a major tell of non-OEM parts.
Master Marlin incorporates this detail in his PAM127 builds amount others, that make his movement SCARY gen like. You might notice the reference to the hour wheel being brass, but as far as I know, Panerai uses an actual gold plated wheel.
http://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php?t=109296
I'm not saying anything new that Marlin hasn't already covered, but it hit me that this is such an obvious thing, why not try to get the makers to step up their game?
Anyway, now that I've brought that up, I might as well show you my completed franken...
It started life as a PAM247 Ferretti I added a Sead CG, Jakob caseback and a Genuine PAM001C L SWISS L dial
The PAM247I is actually a very lovely rep. I almost wanted to wear it as for a while before tearing it down.
The Gen PAM001C dial is actually quite close in quality to the modern reps from Noob. The major difference is the fact that OEM Panerai dials are based on a coinage stamped brass plate. This stamping produces rounded edges on the numbers and markers. Rep makers haven't come close to that yet.
The lume is stunning, but again not far off of current Noob or H factory Lume
Now time for the finishing details on the movement. I didn't do a lot, but it was fun to do some easy things to make the build more gen like
I brushed the keyless cover, installed the gold H3 hour wheel and flattened/polished the cannon pinion
Pressed the hands
Greased the seals
She's ready
Then there's the usual CG work. I mainly flatten the pin, I haven't really gotten into the chamfering yet.... that's the next evolution
Here you can see the gold hour wheel peaking out. It's pretty obvious on sunny days, but no sun on this day.
Jakob does it again!!!
Hope you enjoyed the read
It might seem like a miniscule detail, but if you know what you're looking for, it is easily seen and a major tell of non-OEM parts.
Master Marlin incorporates this detail in his PAM127 builds amount others, that make his movement SCARY gen like. You might notice the reference to the hour wheel being brass, but as far as I know, Panerai uses an actual gold plated wheel.
http://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php?t=109296
I'm not saying anything new that Marlin hasn't already covered, but it hit me that this is such an obvious thing, why not try to get the makers to step up their game?
Anyway, now that I've brought that up, I might as well show you my completed franken...
It started life as a PAM247 Ferretti I added a Sead CG, Jakob caseback and a Genuine PAM001C L SWISS L dial
The PAM247I is actually a very lovely rep. I almost wanted to wear it as for a while before tearing it down.
The Gen PAM001C dial is actually quite close in quality to the modern reps from Noob. The major difference is the fact that OEM Panerai dials are based on a coinage stamped brass plate. This stamping produces rounded edges on the numbers and markers. Rep makers haven't come close to that yet.
The lume is stunning, but again not far off of current Noob or H factory Lume
Now time for the finishing details on the movement. I didn't do a lot, but it was fun to do some easy things to make the build more gen like
I brushed the keyless cover, installed the gold H3 hour wheel and flattened/polished the cannon pinion
Pressed the hands
Greased the seals
She's ready
Then there's the usual CG work. I mainly flatten the pin, I haven't really gotten into the chamfering yet.... that's the next evolution
Here you can see the gold hour wheel peaking out. It's pretty obvious on sunny days, but no sun on this day.
Jakob does it again!!!
Hope you enjoyed the read
