Incorrect Lettering Colour on PAM 312 KW ?

[pedalpower]

I went to my AD today to compare the font coloring of a gen PAM312 to my recently acquired KW PAM312 O. With all due respect to the opinions expressed so far, I have to agree with Ztealth's original post in this thread. That is, the font coloring on the KW is not even close to the gen.

I compared the gen and the KW side by side under the same lighting conditions, angles, etc. The gen lettering is clearly closer to white, one could say cream even. Under certain conditions, the lettering color looked to be close to the color of the markers, which I thought was pretty cool. However, my KW lettering is unquestionably brown and never comes close to the color of the markers. Some of the pictures of the KW posted early in this thread look brown on my screen and are pretty close to what I see in real life on my rep.

If Mehmet matched the color from a gen, then I can only imagine that his gen at that time had brown lettering. The gen does not have brown lettering today, at least not on the watch that I saw.

In any case, while I am disappointed that the lettering is brown (primarily because I don't like brown in general), I am otherwise thrilled with the watch. I will enjoy it for now and replace it if/when KW revises the font color in the future.

 

[ALE7575]

Many inputs about differences to forget this matter
It seems clear that there are differences between rep batches and maybe between gen batches
It will be difficult to make a decision

We will wait for more info

ALE

 

[lmmo]

Are recent PAM 312 more accurate in terms of this color issue?

 

[ztealth]

From what I am seeing, zf does a better job than kw in recent pams

 

[greekgod]

SOOOOO If I bought a Gen dial would it fit the KW V3???? That would put everyone to rest??

 

[greekgod]

BTW Have a look at the gen.... The colour is not WHITE as such

http://www.network54.com/Forum/6117...,+127,+382,+372+in+Jakarta+(Watch-Collectors)

 

[greekgod]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6KamJwgCR0

 

[greekgod]

http://www.rwg.bz/board/index.php?showtopic=52369 THAT Gen 312 actually is very close to KW 312 in terms of colour of the letters


Also :-

http://rubberb.com/blog/luminor_marina_1950_pam312_rubber_strap/

 

[sudenstar]

I've been wanting to pull the trigger and buy the KW 312 with the ST255 movement after reading thru ALE guide. But I noticed immediately that the lettering did look abit darker as compared to gen photo's and after searching...there is this thread. Glad to see I'm not the only one. Maybe its my eyes as I saw gold and white for the dress image which was circulating a few months ago on the interwebs.

Anyway for everyone who agrees that the KW312 lettering colour is off......would you reckon the ZF one is more accurate? In photo's it looks whiter....but would appreciate to hear from anyone who has handled a gen....

 

[cosmicgate]

wow it does look as the letter is more like the pam 359 color.

 

[kampachi]

I do think the 312kw has wrong color. 312 is a favourite pam among my peers and none of their gens have such dark color on the letters.

 

[PaMister]

I've been wanting to pull the trigger and buy the KW 312 with the ST255 movement after reading thru ALE guide. But I noticed immediately that the lettering did look abit darker as compared to gen photo's and after searching...there is this thread. Glad to see I'm not the only one. Maybe its my eyes as I saw gold and white for the dress image which was circulating a few months ago on the interwebs.

Anyway for everyone who agrees that the KW312 lettering colour is off......would you reckon the ZF one is more accurate? In photo's it looks whiter....but would appreciate to hear from anyone who has handled a gen....

i've handeled three gens and owned KW312. They are like night and day. Text coulour is much darker, totally off. So if this is imortant to you, do not buy one. I sold mine since i could not live with that but I will buy one again in a flash when they got the coulour right.

ZF looks much better in pics. but I have no real life experiece so I cant really say anything about it. But If you decide to buy ZF312 PLEASE DO POST SOME QUALITY PICTURES. I'm interested and I think that many others are as well.

 

[ALE7575]

You can detect the colour difference (if existent) only with a close inspection and most likely in direct comparison with a gen.
But you will notice the gen-like appearance from a meter of distance and in this regard KW is unbeatable
Buy a KW and you will forget the inscription colours in a minute if you are able to realize it.

Just my thoughts

Obviously I keep my first KW PAM 312 and I have had all versions in my hands and some gens

Some years ago, I met a good friend (PANERAI lover) who owns several gen PAMs and he had just bought a gen PAM 111. He knew I like reps, and I was wearing my KW PAM 312 with a real croco strap.

He guessed I worn a gen, and asked me if I was happy with the watch.
I didn't want to take off my watch becuase of the inaccurate movement and asked my friend to give me his gen PAM 111 to put it in my wrist side by side with my KW PAM 312.
When I had the two watches side by side I showed them to my friend.

I asked him : What do you think about ??

He answered:
When I bought my PAM 111, I was hesitating between 111 and 312. Now I think I went wrong. Your PAM 312 is a great watch in comparison with mine. I should have bought PAM 312 !!

I was tempted for a change, but he was a very good friend... LOL

ALE

 

[cosmicgate]

Well, i received my 388 today, the color does seem to be off. I then dug and searched through all the 312 and 388 variations that i could find, the earlier versions of the 312 and 388 have the correct color (i think), it is not as brownish as what i can see from the recent kw versions.

In short, the recent kw does really look sand brown, while the gen is a bit of a off white with a mixture of a lil green. Hard to describe but you'll know when you see the kw ones.

 

[Uberschall]

I am with ALE7575 100% on this one.

Take a look at my KW 312:

Then look at this gen 312:

And for reference, here's the CURRENT Panerai website 312 picture:

I also took a good look at the gen many times at an AD and the color is correct. Mehmet did a great job.

 

[Uberschall]

Moreover here's a thread from TimeZone (not sure if I am allowed to post it, please delete if necessary):

http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=tree&goto=6705805&rid=2#msg_6705805

"i was hoping that someone could help me out with a question regarding the pam 312. i owned a 312 "k" series about 4 years ago that i ended up selling and have regretted ever since. i was looking at a new 312 at an AD over the weekend and not only does the dial look much more "charcoal grey" in color but the fonts on the dial appear to be almost a brownish color...i remember mine having a black dial with off-white fonts. did panerai change the dials on the newer 312's??????"

Enough said...

 

[ALE7575]

Moreover here's a thread from TimeZone (not sure if I am allowed to post it, please delete if necessary):

http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=tree&goto=6705805&rid=2#msg_6705805

"i was hoping that someone could help me out with a question regarding the pam 312. i owned a 312 "k" series about 4 years ago that i ended up selling and have regretted ever since. i was looking at a new 312 at an AD over the weekend and not only does the dial look much more "charcoal grey" in color but the fonts on the dial appear to be almost a brownish color...i remember mine having a black dial with off-white fonts. did panerai change the dials on the newer 312's??????"

Enough said...

Really nice catch Uberschall !!!

Case closed !!

Thanks
REP POINTS ADDED

ALE

 

[PaMister]

That's funny ALE. Countless pics are showing the difference as well as real life experiences of members, but one post in some watch-forum without pics is enough for you to close the case?

Dispite, same guy said later: "thanks for the replys. i did go back to the AD and it was just the lighting for the most part. i think my memory of my old 312 was just a bit foggy. "

 

[ALE7575]

I'm not closing the case due to have proofs and pics to prove gen and rep are the same

I'm considering the case closed because there are doubts between gen owners and observers saying the inscriptions are brownish in last series, always or maybe under some light conditions

Bear in mind that these observers don't know about our comments regarding the colour of inscriptions. If gen have some possibilities of be considered brownish we cannot say than the rep is inaccurate because some buyers are also saying that reps seem brownish sometimes
We can say that it happens the same in gen 312 as in rep 312.
Is that accuracy??

ALE

 

[PaMister]

I'm not closing the case due to have proofs and pics to prove gen and rep are the same

I'm considering the case closed because there are doubts between gen owners and observers saying the inscriptions are brownish in last series, always or maybe under some light conditions

Bear in mind that these observers don't know about our comments regarding the colour of inscriptions. If gen have some possibilities of be considered brownish we cannot say than the rep is inaccurate because some buyers are also saying that reps seem brownish sometimes
We can say that it happens the same in gen 312 as in rep 312.
Is that accuracy??

ALE

No way ALE.

Rep looks brownis all the time, never white. Gen looks brownish some times (under some special lightning conditions) but never milk coffee brown like rep.

Rep colour is way off.