449 SLC Macro shots and Mini Review

[firesuite]

Here's a few macro shots I snapped of this evening of my new 449 SLC, others have been asking about this watch and how it is. Bought this one from PsychoSpike and it arrived today. I am by no means a PAM expert, but I'll try and give you some ideas as to how this watch is before you decide to pull the trigger on one, so here it is -

Already I think my crown is not screwing down quite as snug as it could, minor adjustment of the stem, I'm not brave enough to do that, so looks like that will stay as it is.

Movement looks great, you can't see it here but the grain on the main two plates doesn't quite line, right side has a little of an angle on it, no big deal but its there.

Finish is really something, the teeth on the 449 are much smoother than my 292, which has actually grazed where it pushes against my wrist, not a problem here though.

a couple of dial shots to gauge the depth of the sandwich dial, I'm no expert so feel free to comment on how it looks -

SLC engraving -

back case -

Case finish and polish are really good, I did however catch one or two little scratches here and there, nothing cape cod wouldn't fix though, strange as it did come with a rubber case cover on it.

finally a couple of the buckle -

I am as I said by no means a Panerai expert, I do however love the brand, especially the Radiomir's for me, I spent a couple of weeks on a project in Chernobyl, Ukraine a few years ago so all things relating to radium and radioactivity interest me greatly.

The watch is a nice piece, I'm sure you guys can pick out the flaws, the strap is cardboard as someone else said but its wearable, certainly until I can find something better. If anyone can point me to the closest possible aftermarket strap for this I would be very grateful as I would like to keep it all how it is.

I Imagine this is very close to the 448 in terms of build, apart from some engraving and the dial anyway, I hope this gives some of you some info before you decide to buy one, feel free to ask me any questions.

Cheers!!

 

[Alex_T]

Good review and fine photography.

Kindly report back on this new clone(2) movement power reserve and time accuracy.

Congrats on this fine piece.

 

[Norrie]

Wow! That's a stunner. Congratulations. I always thought SLC meant it had a pig on the dial. I stand corrected.

 

[firesuite]

Good review and fine photography.

Kindly report back on this new clone(2) movement power reserve and time accuracy.

Congrats on this fine piece.

Many Thanks!

One thing I forgot to mention is the lume, but its just as good as any other Panerai rep that I've owned, pretty much what we've come to expect there.

Not sure how accurate I can gauge the time given the minimal dial and no seconds hand but i'll try my best, I'll also report back in a couple of days with the power reserve

 

[kilowattore]

Great pics!
Thanks for sharing your impressions.
The dial looks pretty good to me, both indices and RP engravings look deep and sharp.
The angles of the cushion shape look a just bit thicker than what I've seen of the 448, but it's hard to tell from a pic.
Pity for the issue with the crown not screwing in completely in, it's probably the stem as you mentioned,
but it is something that should happen on a 400 usd rep IMHO.

Anyway, this is a lovely watch and it's on my wish list for sure!

 

[ebzen02]

Wow..impressed by the dial..overall a great radio. .would love the set..

 

[ALE7575]

Many THANKS firesuite for this nice review and very good pics. They are really useful to evaluate this replica

From your pics and review, I have the comments as follows:

DIAL and REHAUT
PAM 449 rep dial seems better than expected

Maybe the biggest flaw is a very white L SWISS L, in your case very enlarged for the Plexi crystal distortion. But, anyway, gen is always clearly less light, way more discreet and less obvious.

The overal layout is good enough and there are no significant differences

Sandwich cutouts are really impressive, sharp and clean just like gen- maybe markers (either sticks or dots) are a little bit thicker

Dial colours seem accurate, the markers are ECRU like gen and the RADIOMIR PANERAI engraving clearly yellowish like gen. Maybe the contrast is more obvious in rep where both colours are more evident. But this subject is difficult to say without a side by side comparison. Anyway overall very accurate colours very similar to the gen.

Surface dial is black like gen but the gen has a texture which is less marked in rep. This is few noticeable without enlarged pics or under nuked eye.

RADIOMIR PANERAI engraving seems deeper and sharper than in PAM 372 reps, rep depth is smaller and the contours are not as well defined as in gen. Rep is more "V" shaped engraved whereas gen seem more "U" shaped engraved. The inner part of the engraving is very clear and defined in gen and with a very uniform colour whereas rep engraving is more sloppy and less uniform, even seeing some black inner points without paint.
Engraving fonts are good enough, but a more detailed inspection shows that rep fonts are a bit wider but also a bit smaller and some differences of font shape.
These font differences are very evident in the R (tail and inner upper part), in the A (very low rep A horizontal bar showing a bigger inner triangle and the tip is blunt in rep whereas in gen is sharp), O and E are also a bit different.

S.L.C. engraving in rehaut is nice, well placed and accurate

HANDS AND CANNON PINION
Hands shape is good enough, with less sharp edges (as usually) and a bit thicker lume (as usually). It is very difficult to talk about the blue colour, because dependiong on light conditions varies from light Blue to black. But following comments from owners of PAM 448 the colour is accurate.
CP has a flaw, because rep CP is smaller than gen. But in some light conditions and following projectologist comments the differences are not so noticeable and this flaw doesn't seem as serious as we thought. Indeed I have seen some rep CP pics that seemed like gen.

CASE , CASEBACK, CROWN
Really awesome finish and qulaity
Cushion corners in firesuite pics seem similar to PAM 448, I think we can assure that PAM 449 pics on catalogues are slightly wrong. False alarm IMO.
Crown and crown logo are really good
Caseback nicely engraved very gen-like
VINTAGE and PAM000449 engravings between the lugs have accurate enough fonts, very deeply engraved, maybe a bit exaggerated and even deeper than gen. Fonts in rep are abit thicker and external contours are overpolished making overall engraving much less clear than gen. Anyway really good for a rep and very similar to PAm 372 engravings

MOVEMENT
Firesuite pics clearly show an awesome P.3000 Clone2. very well finished with nicely polished edges on bridges and with impressive engravings very sharp and clean, really good. Big improvement from Clone1 in this regard.


I'm glad to see the quality of these last reps of PAM 448 and 449. I had given to PAM 449 an evaluation slightly smaller than PAM 448, but considering firesuite pics and review I should to consider this difference of evaluation. We will see bearing in mind the comments in this thread.

I will try to make a complete dial review, with Photoshop comparisons as soon as possible using the pics kindly taken by firesuite

Of course this link will be included in PAM GUIDE
Rep points added

Thanks again, keep the good job
ALE

 

[ebzen02]

Good points ale..this is a winner especially for the brand whores, me included, that need the reminder that it's a Panerai..lol

 

[d4m.test]

OP thanks for these great shots!

Ale, thanks for your analysis awesome as usual

I am really a big fan of these new "super" clone based watches. Besides the movement there is so much that is great about this watch in terms of accuracy: cushion shape, crown dial colors, engravings are all very accurate.

But there are a few thing that keep this from "Super Rep" status:
- movement: ironic that one of the nice features of this watch hurts the accuracy
- caseback: I could be wrong, but I see the tell tale blue-green edge of a mineral crystal, not a sapphire, which I believe the gen would have
- L SWISS L: the worst thing of all a screaming Neon sign. It might as well just read L REPLICA L

this is certainly a first class mid grade rep, but without some small improvements, I feel that is the limit.

 

[firesuite]

Thanks to Kilowattore, ALE and Grim for your invaluable input,

A couple of days on this watch is still a pleasure to wear, still looking for a decent strap though, one thing I noticed that I failed to pick up before is the lume on the hands is slightly more yellow than the dial, its very subtle but its noticeable,

still working on the power reserve, 36 hours and counting so far

 

[firesuite]

Guys, just an update on the watch, I got 6 days and almost 14 hours out of the power reserve on this piece, that's pretty darn good I think, downside is its losing about 45 seconds a day, so maybe i'll send it to my smithy for a regulate or maybe i'll just keep it how it is, nether less still very happy with it.

 

[pm-guy]

Great review and awesome pictures!

How is the strap changing system? Had a 380 before but always find the strap changing of Radiomir troublesome

 

[Virpag]

Great review and awesome pictures!

How is the strap changing system? Had a 380 before but always find the strap changing of Radiomir troublesome

mine is not too bad need patience and its ok but tubes don't work with the bars i find this a bit easier than my AP44ROO which was a nightmare

 

[firesuite]

Great review and awesome pictures!

How is the strap changing system? Had a 380 before but always find the strap changing of Radiomir troublesome

Screws are more visible on this 449 than the 292, thread well and don't appear to be an issue so far, the 292 is black so the screws are real hard to see, not like that with the 449, all in all a great build so far.

 

[PAMISTI91]

Hello firesuite , thanks for the review . Really enjoyed. I want to ask one thing , and its bout the strap . Is it 26/27 mm. ? I saw on panerai source that the gen one have the 27 lug width .. And that confuse me as the usual panerai 47 mm uses 26mm for the lug . How bout yours ?

 

[hotwheels]

Hello firesuite , thanks for the review . Really enjoyed. I want to ask one thing , and its bout the strap . Is it 26/27 mm. ? I saw on panerai source that the gen one have the 27 lug width .. And that confuse me as the usual panerai 47 mm uses 26mm for the lug . How bout yours ?

Should be 26mm

 

[PAMISTI91]

Should be 26mm

Yes i think it should be 26mm , but i not owned it yet

 

[ericb196]

I like that watch, I should definitely consider buying one in the future

 

[sasa408]

Hello firesuite , thanks for the review . Really enjoyed. I want to ask one thing , and its bout the strap . Is it 26/27 mm. ? I saw on panerai source that the gen one have the 27 lug width .. And that confuse me as the usual panerai 47 mm uses 26mm for the lug . How bout yours ?

Radiomirs are 27mm but 26mm also works fine. 26mm is for 47mm Luminor cases.

 

[jd01449]

I have this for a few weeks and I love it, however I did lose a screw. 26 and 27 mm straps should fit fine.