Initial thoughts on the Watchdives 1860 vs. Pagani 1701:
1. I can't actually
build the Watchdives yet, as the case requires a
34mm movement holder (the 33mm is too small) and the 34mm ones are currently out of stock on AliX
2. Thickness: The WD1860 is 13.9mm thick vs. Pagani's 14.2mm (The Pagani is 14.5mm with the replica caseback - I haven't tried swapping it to the WD yet, but on side profile the casebacks look the same, whereas the original Pagani caseback was considerably more flat)
3. Bezel: The WD1860's bezel is the most 'accurate', and it sure is pretty. It's Aluminum rather than Ceramic, and includes the 'Dot-Over-90,' as well as the quirky unmarked 450 dot (i.e. there's a dot above 400 and below 400 on the bezel). The text is Aluminum on Black, AND the font is accurate.
The Pagani Design's bezel is Ceramic, so it has reflections, it does not have the 'Dot-Over-90' or the quirky 450 dot, and the font is fatter / wider. The text is pure White on Black though, so it is more contrasty / slightly easier to read. The entire bezel insert itself also appears to be slightly thicker than the Watchdives.
4. Crystal: There was a ton of chatter about the crystal on the WD1860 being worse than the WD1862; I haven't held an WD1862, so I couldn't tell you how it differs beyond spec (the WD1862 used a Bubble Sapphire, the WD1860 uses a Domed Sapphire) but this one seems perfectly fine. Maybe's a
little thicker than the PD1701's? They look pretty similar to me. The AR seems a bit better on the WD than the PD, and it doesn't have any discoloration - so if you don't like the blue hue that takes over the Pagani crystal, this is a good solution to that as well.
5. Pushers: The pushers are definitely heftier on the Watchdives than the Pagani - it feels like a switch on the WD, more like a button on the PD. I.e. the WD kinda clicks, and the Pagani pushes softly. That might currently be due to the VK63 movement inside the WD vs. the MoonSwatch's PE50 in the Pagani, so I'll check that again later too. The pushers on the WD also sit slightly lower in the case than the PD; the PD pushers top out slightly above the midcase angle, whereas the WD pushers top out slightly below the midcase angle. This is probably the one place where the Pagani wins in terms of closer to gen, as the pushers on a real Speedmaster (and on the MoonSwatches) seem to usually top out
above the midcase angle rather than below. They do appear to sit a little low on the WD1860.
6. Case Shape: I think the bezel height is the same between the two, which means the WD is likely saving 0.3mm on the midcase. The WD is roughly 11.6mm without the crystal, vs. the PD's 11.9mm. Again, the Watchdives looks closer to 'gen'. It's more angular than the Pagani, which slopes less and is more gentle in the curve, and does appear have an ever so slightly thicker midcase. It's
really hard to tell in person though, they don't visually stand out that much in terms of thicknesses.
7. Lug-to-Lug: I'm measuring these from the side of the bracelets on each so they differ a bit from advertised, but the Pagani Design is 47.9mm, whereas the Watchdives is 46.6mm, which is the same as my rep MoonSwatches.
Still dreaming about a true metal version of the MoonSwatch case (13mm thickness, really beautiful and balanced angles and portions between bezel and midcase and caseback), but the WD ain't bad.
8. Crown: The Watchdives Crown is noticeably larger than the Omega rep I put on the Pagani (can't find the OG Pagani one to measure against, but I did have to size down to get it to fit the crownguards on the Pagani case). The Watchdives is 6.4mm, vs. the Omega rep on the Pagani's 5.8mm.
9. Rehaut: Hard to tell and hard to measure, but it looks like the dial sits a
little deeper in the case on the WD than on the PD. That's in pretty stark contrast to the WD1862, which folks have said barely has
any rehaut and where the dial seems to jump out of the case. I'll reevaluate this when I'm able to actually swap a MoonSwatch dial into the case, and in any case they're both miles ahead of the gigantic 15.6mm VK63 blank cases on AlIX with huge rehauts that cause the dial to look sunken.
Side notes: The Watchdives bracelet looks better than the Pagani but both are pretty awful, especially when compared even to the rep Omega bracelet. This mostly comes down to the deployment clasp more than anything else, which is uncomfortably shaped and only opens in one direction rather than two, so it's not actually large enough to pass your hand through and then close down enough.