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Best Panerai brand
- Thread starter Frank Choi
- Start date
Your question is too vague. What models are you looking at? So we at least have an idea of what models we can recommend if the ones you are interested in are not availabile in a good enough quality. Help us help you. 
SnKk
Renowned Member
- 1/12/16
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This is an easy answer for me and will come as no surprise to anyone who has read my previous posts. Go with the Pam 372 noob and a solid caseback. A little searching will get you the watch for 200, a caseback for 50 and I was recently able to secure a lightly used gen strap for 180.
Well, it's not surprising since the question is too vague (best PAM). Anyone will put in whatever they think is the best PAM for them. So for you that would be the Noob PAM372.
- 17/2/15
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today all the major factories make amazing reps compared to a decade ago. Or even 5 years ago. But here's my thoughts on who's the best.
Luminor non-chrono case (6497 or 7750 based watches): Noob factory is second to none. I have torn down numerous (hundreds) of watches from noob factory and have never been disappointed with the fit or finish inside or out compared to gen. The movements are usually clean and oiled correctly as well.
The added advantage is the ability to swap every single case part with gen parts. You can't do that with any other factory
Luminor Daylight Chrono: noob wins again for the same reasons followed by H factory. H factory is good but does not accept all gen parts.
1950 Submersible cases: im a big fan of V6, but their quality is very inconsistent from batch to batch. Very unfortunate.
1950 44mm: VSF hands down, no comparison. I bought a few of these and really couldn't tell the difference from gen. I don't say that lightly.
1950 47mm: SF would be number one. Much like VSF the quality is 99% gen. They are followed closely by V6 and ZF
In general:
H factory makes decent watches but inaccurate CGs, cases with sharp unsoftened corners, and a strange bezel design kill them for me. I avoid HF when possible.
V6F has made some amazing reps but inconsistent care and quality: dirty movements mysterious changes in part shape and size, purple AR on crystals... I avoid them as well but will occasionally buy a V6 being very picky about QC
ZF is okay, but the weird cannon pinion cap on subs and similar quality issues to V6F cause me to avoid them as well.
You've asked a good question. I hope this helps.
Luminor non-chrono case (6497 or 7750 based watches): Noob factory is second to none. I have torn down numerous (hundreds) of watches from noob factory and have never been disappointed with the fit or finish inside or out compared to gen. The movements are usually clean and oiled correctly as well.
The added advantage is the ability to swap every single case part with gen parts. You can't do that with any other factory
Luminor Daylight Chrono: noob wins again for the same reasons followed by H factory. H factory is good but does not accept all gen parts.
1950 Submersible cases: im a big fan of V6, but their quality is very inconsistent from batch to batch. Very unfortunate.
1950 44mm: VSF hands down, no comparison. I bought a few of these and really couldn't tell the difference from gen. I don't say that lightly.
1950 47mm: SF would be number one. Much like VSF the quality is 99% gen. They are followed closely by V6 and ZF
In general:
H factory makes decent watches but inaccurate CGs, cases with sharp unsoftened corners, and a strange bezel design kill them for me. I avoid HF when possible.
V6F has made some amazing reps but inconsistent care and quality: dirty movements mysterious changes in part shape and size, purple AR on crystals... I avoid them as well but will occasionally buy a V6 being very picky about QC
ZF is okay, but the weird cannon pinion cap on subs and similar quality issues to V6F cause me to avoid them as well.
You've asked a good question. I hope this helps.
Could you link your top models from a TD website so I can see? I have a couple of Noob super reps (Pam104 O, etc.) and just ordered the VSF Pam388, but wanted to see which ones of the 1950 44mm VSFs you though were incredible.
No worries. I think it was a great question that deserved to be answered.
I'm a big fan of the 312, 351, 359
Here's the link I always used to look at all the VSF watches
It's not in English but has lots of great pictures
http://m.vsfwatch.webportal.cc/index.jsp
Which links are you referring to? The only two links (one to the guide and another to the unupdated super rep thread) are visible to me.
It was already stated that Noob is the only factory where all the case parts were interchangeable with gen parts. So what does that mean for every factory whose name is not Noob? No they are not.
The information is there. You just have to read it.
Then you are referring to a totally different situation (factory parts with other factory parts not with gen parts). Nobody can say definitively about one factory's interchangeability with every other factory out there. If you read about it somewhere, then for that particular situation it worked, however that can't be a definitive reference. It would depend on what version the parts are as the factories sometimes change the dimensions and what fit before now won't fit.