I'm a big fan of the Pam 127 Fiddy, except that sometimes its "retro" crystal is a little too retro for me and refracts light too much at the edges. As an alternative, Panerai has the 372 in its program. But it only has two hands, which looks very minimalistic to me on the huge dial of a 47 Luminior. The 1080 is "the best of both worlds" - a 372 with the fancy Tobacco dial of the 127 and the small second hand on the 9. But the 1080 has a small but important disadvantage - it was only produced in an edition of 60 pieces for the German-speaking market and sold via the jeweler "Embassy" and was sold faster than you could look. Today, the 1080 is probably one of the most sought-after Pams ever. So I was even happier when KOT1917 told us on RWI that HWF is releasing a rep for this model. But the joy lasted only until I saw the first pictures. But by then it was too late. I had ordered a copy and the QC pictures arrived quickly as well. And suddenly, the anticipation was there again, because the HWF 1080 is a nice watch; although not an exact rep of the Pam 1080. But one after the other.
Dial
The 1080 has - like the 127 - a Tobacco dial, whose color changes from a very dark brown to a light milky coffee brown in sunlight. The sandwich-dial is matte, numbers and indices are yellow with green luminova. HWF did a good job with all of that, too. Numbers and indices are cleanly punched out, size and spacing are correct; also with the inscription "Luminor Panerai" and the "L-Swiss-Made-L" on the lower side of the dial. The lume is great!
Hands
The first big disillusionment comes with the hands. They look like a 1:1 copy of the 127, but the 1080 has a short hour hand. That´s an instant tell. The rep is recognizable as such at first glance, even by laymen. Since the 1080 is so rare and there are very few pictures of the Gen, it's hard to say more about the intricacies. However, it seems that the gold of the hands is a bit too pale and yellow-gold, while the hands of the Gen seem a bit red-gold. But I could be wrong here.
Case
Comparing the shape of different cases is always hard for me. Some are color blind, I am shape blind ;-)
First fears were that HWF simply takes the case of the 127. Fortunately, that is not the case. The case of the HWF 1080 shows much slimmer lines than the one of my XF 127 - more about that later when comparing the two watches.
To me, the case looks solid and good, and I can't see any major differences from the Gen. But that is emphatically my layman's opinion! I would bet the pros will find differences and are welcome to do so in the comments as well.
Caseback
Anything but perfect, however, is the caseback. The engraving makes a solid, if not perfect, impression. However, it is wrong! While the symbol "Friendship & Passion Paneristi" including the three stylized flags of the three German-speaking countries is correct, the serial number, the water resistance and the model number are engraved on the caseback of the HWF - and that not only contrary to Gen, where these infos can´t be found on the caseback, but also without exception wrong! The 1080 is only 100 and not 300 meters waterproof and has not 500, but 60 pieces. What's funny is that the water resistance is engraved correctly on the lugs. And the serial number engraved on the lugs doesn't match the serial number on the case cover either. I can't understand, how HWF could make such stupid mistakes.
Movement
While the Gen uses a P.3000, the HWF 1080 has a simple A6497 movement and that - unlike in the descriptions of the TDs - not with a P.3000 decoration, but out of the box without any decorations.
Crown and Crownguard
Again my shape blindness takes effect ;-)
It all looks ok to me. The crown is much thinner than on the 127 and is therefore very easy to wind. Expert comments are welcome here as well.
Straps
Rep Pam-Straps are garbage. That is also true here.
Crystal
Let's move on to perhaps the most important item on this model, the Crystal. The Gen has a Sapphire Crystal here, which is curved, but has a very steep curvature at the edge and only a slight curvature across the face. This is far more than a minor issue, as light refraction depends on the correct curvature. And here I am sorry to say that the HWF 1080 does not have the correct curvature. At the edge, the curvature is much too flat but not as flat as on the 127. I don't know how they cut the glass exactly. But the cut makes up for some of the wrong one. So the light is not refracted as much as the 127 by any means, but not as weakly as the 372 or the Gen either. It's a mishmash between the 127 and 372. The optical distortion isn't terribly great, and the cut creates very nice light patterns when the light hits it. That's ok. But it is still very different from the Gen.
Summary
With the wrong crystal, HWF unfortunately also wastes the chance to deliver a serious rep of the wonderful 1080. The wrong hour hand is easy to change, the wrong caseback is not visible on the arm and can be ignored; the same goes for the unkind simpel movement. But the 1080 lives from the optical distortion of the crystal and here, an exchange is not so easy. Therefore, the final verdict can unfortunately not be positive.
The HWF 1080 is undoubtedly a very nice watch, but more or less a very nice homage than a serious rep. Viewed as a watch, however, it pleases. The slim case is very comfortable to wear, and against the 127, the HWF 1080 seems almost modern and light on its feet. However, the TDs asking price of $348 is a bit high, considering that the movement was simply installed without any modification or decoration, and the rest is also solid, but not outstandingly finished. But the prices for reps have now once increased and the TDs also seem to have neatly turned the margin screw. That's the way it is in 2022, whether we like it or not.
HWF 1080 vs. XF 127
It's certainly interesting to compare this to a good 127-rep. Fortunately, I own the XF 127, so I have the opportunity to compare the two models. As you can see, they are very different. So the HWF 1080 is not a Fiddy with steel back, as already rumored ;-) It is rather a slim Fiddy with similarities to the Gen. A nice watch, but one that will have a hard time finding its fans. The flaws are just too big for that.
