Yes despite a massive absence from the replica scene, I've somehow managed to go and fall in love with Panerai, despite having absolutely no idea why people liked them until recently.
The reason for my absence was a new house, a new job, a new car, and most of all, all of my reps failing. The crown broke off my Milgauss, the pearl fell out of my Seamaster (And the replacement pearl on the insert I bought of eBay fell out before I could even get it on the watch), the rotor is broken in my Daytona, and my other Daytona is just shit quality despite how epic it looked on the interwebs. It's manual wind and works but the crown is really hard to screw down, the thread is screwed. And the bracelet feels like tin. It's a DW gold vintage Daytona btw.
Dejected, I gave up on replicas and started hunting for a genuine Omega Seamaster Professional. I'm still looking, but somewhere along the way I ended up with a Noob PAM005M. Don't ask me how that happened
Quite simply, I am in love. It looks and feels better than any of my other watches, and what I thought would be too big for my wrist actually makes normal sized watches too small. The lume is terrific, the movement is absolutely solid and the tells, aside from the swan neck regulator, are non existant. For me it feels like I own a real Panerai because I just feel like the difference isn't really there like with other reps. The plan was always to eventually replace my reps with gens but I think even when I do have my grail Milgauss GV and Seamaster Pro, I'll still have this and rotate it with them. And to be honest I don't care about it being a rep, I've actually replaced the 005 caseback with a sapphire H-factory PAM111 caseback. Oh baby. Unfortunately the middle bridge bit thingy with the ink filled OFFICINE PANERAI is poorly finished so I'd like to get that replaced if anyone has that part, but otherwise the movement is completely solid. The whole watch is.
The genuine Panerai OP XI has a 56 hour reserve, mine stopped after 54.5 hours from a full wind, which I'd basically say is dead on. The QC timing from Puretime put the watch at +11 seconds but in 7 hours it hasn't gained or lost even a fraction of a second as far as I can tell. This is the best watch I've ever owned by a long shot, I'm completely in love with it and Panerai. It even uses almost exactly the same movement, and compared to some genuine Panerai's, a better movement! How can they charge so much!!!
That's my ramble. Future plans are:
Panerai Luminor Daylight PAM251K on bracelet. Rep.
Panerai Radiomir Black Seal Ceramica PAM292M on black leather. Rep. Plus tan calf Kain Heritage strap.
Omega Seamaster Professional 300M 2220.80.00 (The one Daniel Craig wore.). Genuine second hand.
Rolex Milgauss GV. Genuine new. Not for a while
And I'll leave you with two last things. A question and a photo. The question is, is there any sapphire caseback which would fit a PAM251, and the photo is my PAM005, on Kain Heritage Ostrich with Veteran Sub buckle:
(Actually I don't have access to a photo of the strap or caseback. Forthcoming, I promise!)
The reason for my absence was a new house, a new job, a new car, and most of all, all of my reps failing. The crown broke off my Milgauss, the pearl fell out of my Seamaster (And the replacement pearl on the insert I bought of eBay fell out before I could even get it on the watch), the rotor is broken in my Daytona, and my other Daytona is just shit quality despite how epic it looked on the interwebs. It's manual wind and works but the crown is really hard to screw down, the thread is screwed. And the bracelet feels like tin. It's a DW gold vintage Daytona btw.
Dejected, I gave up on replicas and started hunting for a genuine Omega Seamaster Professional. I'm still looking, but somewhere along the way I ended up with a Noob PAM005M. Don't ask me how that happened
Quite simply, I am in love. It looks and feels better than any of my other watches, and what I thought would be too big for my wrist actually makes normal sized watches too small. The lume is terrific, the movement is absolutely solid and the tells, aside from the swan neck regulator, are non existant. For me it feels like I own a real Panerai because I just feel like the difference isn't really there like with other reps. The plan was always to eventually replace my reps with gens but I think even when I do have my grail Milgauss GV and Seamaster Pro, I'll still have this and rotate it with them. And to be honest I don't care about it being a rep, I've actually replaced the 005 caseback with a sapphire H-factory PAM111 caseback. Oh baby. Unfortunately the middle bridge bit thingy with the ink filled OFFICINE PANERAI is poorly finished so I'd like to get that replaced if anyone has that part, but otherwise the movement is completely solid. The whole watch is.
The genuine Panerai OP XI has a 56 hour reserve, mine stopped after 54.5 hours from a full wind, which I'd basically say is dead on. The QC timing from Puretime put the watch at +11 seconds but in 7 hours it hasn't gained or lost even a fraction of a second as far as I can tell. This is the best watch I've ever owned by a long shot, I'm completely in love with it and Panerai. It even uses almost exactly the same movement, and compared to some genuine Panerai's, a better movement! How can they charge so much!!!
That's my ramble. Future plans are:
Panerai Luminor Daylight PAM251K on bracelet. Rep.
Panerai Radiomir Black Seal Ceramica PAM292M on black leather. Rep. Plus tan calf Kain Heritage strap.
Omega Seamaster Professional 300M 2220.80.00 (The one Daniel Craig wore.). Genuine second hand.
Rolex Milgauss GV. Genuine new. Not for a while
And I'll leave you with two last things. A question and a photo. The question is, is there any sapphire caseback which would fit a PAM251, and the photo is my PAM005, on Kain Heritage Ostrich with Veteran Sub buckle:
(Actually I don't have access to a photo of the strap or caseback. Forthcoming, I promise!)
