Began searching for a good Panerai rep, but got lost in the volume.

[nimofan]

I'm looking for a black bezel, like one of the Luminors 40 or 44mm, so I can mod it with a nice strap. I want a decent quality job though, and have no way to distinguish between the dealers, even the RWI recommended ones. I can't believe that some of these replicas are around 100 dollars. I have a plastic G-Shock here that cost over 400 dollars, so the mind is boggled a bit. This forum is fantastic, but there's so much stuff out there, making a final decision is proving harder than expected.

(I'm also up for a nice Anonimo if anyone happens to have a pointer, I know this is the wrong section for that though.)

Have any of the guys here actually bought a black Panerai rep and are happy with it. How much did you pay, and who did you buy it from? Was it recently?

Something like this would be ideal
http://www.watcheden.com/panerai-lu...ith-black-dial-leather-strap-i-48334-p-1.html

Really some encouragement or direction before I loose steam would be great!

 

[COLDI]

What you are looking for is a pvd or dlc case

You can go with one from dealers and the pvd will be shinny and not much like gen. Then there is davidsen aka DSN who has a nice pvd. And then the last is avitt who does dlc services (and soon our very own takashi will be offering this).

Great out of the box reps will be from davidsen. I think its the 027 or 028 that you might like. Its an automatic.

If you want a manual wind a 195, 202, 203 might be something to consider.

Hope that gets you on a good start

 

[nimofan]

What you are looking for is a pvd or dlc case

You can go with one from dealers and the pvd will be shinny and not much like gen. Then there is davidsen aka DSN who has a nice pvd. And then the last is avitt who does dlc services (and soon our very own takashi will be offering this).

Great out of the box reps will be from davidsen. I think its the 027 or 028 that you might like. Its an automatic.

If you want a manual wind a 195, 202, 203 might be something to consider.

Hope that gets you on a good start

Thanks COLDI, I did some research on Davidsen there - he really is held in high regard! I'd like to contact him and see if he can do me an automatic. Like you say, it's the shiny black finish I'm looking to avoid! I'll check out avitt too, I did spot a nice dlc job done down the Pan rep forum pg1 or 2.

Thanks again!

 

[hooligan]

Just so you can plan your budget, I think DLC jobs cost about $300 or more to have done. That's not an insignificant amount, when you're talking about reps.

 

[nimofan]

Just so you can plan your budget, I think DLC jobs cost about $300 or more to have done. That's not an insignificant amount, when you're talking about reps.

Yeah, that's a lot of money for a mod on a replica. Especially when things are tight (as they are atm for me anyway). On the other hand, if I can get a finished product looking like this..

Then maybe it's worth throwing some cash at it! With the right shade of tan strap that would be stunning. I've emailed avitt and asked him if we can work together on putting something like it together. Also emailed Davidsen, maybe he has a 028 LE out of the box, though I read some complaints about that watch - supposed to not be one of his best acc/ one reviewer. Looked great to me..

Fingers crossed something will materialise either way. Sold my beater (a RADO gen) two weeks ago and need a nice budget replacement. :thinking: