I have recently acquired the KW PAM359 and it is a piece of art work. I wanted to give everyone a full review of this watch including a pictorial and a comparison with gen. I have to say that while making this review, i learned that it is incredibly difficult to re-enact identical shots that you find online. Between the slightest changes in angle and lighting conditions, a picture of the same item can look entirely different. In any case, i tried my best to get as close as possible so that I can provide you all with a thorough review.
Anyone on the fence about these KW P.9000 models, don't hesitate - they are remarkable. I have tried on the gen and it feels and looks identical. I have been on this amazing forum for a while now and for me thorough reviews are some of the most valuable posts you can find. That being said, I hope you find my opinions and analysis helpful in some way.
First off, some background information on the genuine (Courtesy of Panerai.com):
THE LUMINOR MARINA 1950 3 DAYS AUTOMATIC - 44 MM HAS ALL THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF A MODEL MADE ALMOST 20 YEARS AGO by Officine Panerai, maintaining all of its solidity, reliability and water-tightness, while adding two new elements that give the watch great character: the P.9000 in-house calibre and a new dial. The dial is black with the classic sandwich structure, guaranteeing exceptional visibility under all conditions. In place of the bar markers, eight tiny Arabic numerals have been engraved on the plate, while the classic large Arabic numerals are present at 12, 6 and 9 o'clock. The colour is also different: the luminescent material is used to coat the hour and minute hands while the small seconds hand, the date and the writing are ecru-coloured in a shade reminiscent of Panerai's military models of the 1940s, the colour of which changed due to the natural ageing of the luminescent paste used at the time. From a technical viewpoint, the Luminor 1950 Marina 3 Days Automatic - 44 mm uses the P.9000 automatic movement, which was entirely designed and built at Officine Panerai's Neuchâtel Manufacture. The case of the Luminor Marina 1950 3 Days Automatic measures 44mm in diameter and is made of polished stainless steel, contrasting with the brushed crown-protecting bridge device. The Luminor Marina 1950 3 Days Automatic - 44 mm is watertight to 30 bars and the Panerai in-house movement can be admired through the sapphire crystal case-back.
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Technical Details:
MOVEMENT
Automatic mechanical, Panerai P.9000 calibre, executed entirely by Panerai, 13¾ lignes, 7.9 mm thick, 28 jewels, Glucydur® balance, 28,800 alternations/hour. Incabloc® anti-shock device. Power reserve 3 days, two barrels. 197 components.
FUNCTIONS
Hours, minutes, small seconds, date.
CASE
Diameter 44 mm, AISI 316L polished steel.
BEZEL
Polished steel.
BACK
See-through sapphire crystal.
DEVICE PROTECTING THE CROWN
(protected as a trademark) Brushed steel.
DIAL
Black with luminous Arabic numerals and hour marker. Date at 3 o’clock, seconds at 9 o’clock.
CRYSTAL
Sapphire, formed of corundum, 2.6 mm thick. Anti-reflective coating.
WATER-RESISTANCE
30 bar (~300 metres).
******************************************
Some Images from Panerai:
Review and Comparison:
1. Luminor Panerai seems to be ever so slightly thinner on the rep. This of-course can just be an optical illusion as the pictures are not in fact identical. But you be the judge.
2. Flat and polished Canon Pinion looks spot on. I have herd that some of these had a slightly recessed CP, but I asked for my dealer to carefully choose one with a flat CP and they did! Looks great to me.
3. Numerals look fantastic. I can not see any differences. All of my research indicated that the rep and gen numeral spacing is off in terms of proximity to the inner bezel. For the life of me i can see the difference. We are talking about maybe 1 or 1.5 mm here. To the naked eye and without having the gen to take a real side by side, I can not conclude if this is accurate.
4. Crown guard from this angle looks fantastic. Great Reg. and TM. Engravings, clean and neat. Identical brushed finish. CG Pin is nice and polished. Crown itself looks awesome and has nice and defined 'teeth'. Crown guard lever itself is not as tight as I would like it to be. This is the second KW 359 i had in my hands and the first one had a tighter lever. So it is my understanding that there may be some miniscule variances even within the same factories watches - meaning 2 watches from the same batch may have slight differences. Shape of the lever is fairly on point and I am pretty happy with it compared to gen.
1. Once again, CG shape and edges look nice and sharp. CG Pin is great and lever sticks out just the right amount.
2. Date font looks pretty good. Color is perfect. Size is questionable and it appears that Gen datewheel is ever so slightly thinner than the rep one. Once again this may be due to not having a real side by side photo comparison as these are look alike shots but not identical. So this may be an optical illusion once more.
3. CP is nice and flat once more. Looks great
4. Once more we see that numerals on the sandwich dial look phenomenal and the L Swiss Made L inscription looks great as well in terms of placement and size.
Another thing I can bring up here is the AR. The AR on the 312/359 line from Panerai is not very strong on the gen. This is not once of those watches where the crystal disappears. I have seen ALE address this matter on a thread before. Rep AR seems good when compared to gen.
1. Im a little unhappy about the inside edge of the CG. While it is drastically over exaggerated in my photo, the inner edge of the CG is not as sharp as the gen. The outer edge is nice and crisp but the inner edge seems to be a bit softer/rounder as seen in the photo.
2. CG lever from this angle is not as flush with the CG as the gen counterpart. It is slightly raised. On the wrist you can not see this and once more the enlarged photo exaggerates the situation quite a bit. In real life it looks pretty darn close. Shape of the lever is pretty darn good as well. Miniscule differences exist of course but none the less - its close enough for my taste.
3. Something that hasn't been discussed that i notices is the thickness of the rotor on the rep p.9000 movement. As you see in the picture, the gen is thinner.
4. Officine Panerai and Logo are slightly thinner and much crisper on the gen. You will be able to see this more on my next photo, but you can still see it here as well.
Overall - lets just all agree that the rep p.9000 (This is the v1 - so A7750) is close but no cigar. We know the differences. Balance wheel at 11, etc. But the real in-house movement from panerai is a thing of beauty. I doubt we will ever get such detailed craftsmanship out of reps. Inscriptions and finishes are so nice and neat on the gen. On the rep they are nice from about 3 feet away, but throw a macro lens on your camera and you may not feel the same way about your beautiful rep movement. Just my humble opinion. This goes the same of the p.9000 that will use the St2555 as a base movement. It will still use decorated places and the decorations will not be as crisp and clean as gen. Please don't get me wrong, up until recently - we all had to look at these ugly unfinished 7750 movements and now we have these bridges that make the watch look significantly better, but this post was not intended to describe how beautiful the watch is, but rather to compare it to the genuine.
1. See the detailed teeth of the KW Crown. Looks Fantastic. Also seen here is the CG lever mechanism which looks darn close to me. I like it.
2. Once more we can see the added detail on the Gen p.9000 rotor. The inner circle has fine detail which is just lacking on our reps. Keep in mind folks that this is nit picking and from more than 2 feet away this wont make a difference what so ever. Regardless, trying to be as thorough as possible so you know where this rep stands in comparison.
3. Another view of the CG Lever Shape - once again, looks pretty good to me.
4. Take a look at the engravings here - its nice, but at macro level, its not as neat. See how clean and sharp the lines are on each engraving that's on the gen. The reps just do not have this level of production (Yet - we hope)
This image also gives us a nice and detailed view of the Case Back. Not sure if it is sapphire, but crystal looks great. Likewise the engravings on the caseback looks darn close to me. Once more we can say that its just not as sharp as gen in some respects but close enough for a fraction of the cost.
Here is a wrist shot comparison. No lines to direct your attention to on this one. But to be honest, i can't point out many differences between the two of these. Maybe some of you would be able to, but not me. Some may say that the datewheel on the rep is slightly recessed. Well on the gen it seems to be slightly recessed as well from all of the pictures that I have seen.
CONCLUSION:
Case: 10/10 - I can't find any flaws compared to gen
Bezel: 10/10 - I can't find any flaws compared to gen
Crown Guard: 9/10 - Just that inside edge seems to be a little soft for my liking, gen seems more crisp
CG Lever: 8/10 - Miniscule variances in shape and tightness when closing make me give this an 8
Crown: 10/10 - Looks nice and crisp
Crystal & AR: 9/10 - AR is not that strong, but same for gen.
Dial / Numerals: 9/10 - I love this dial. To me its stunning, but I give it this score due to spacing possibly being different in proximity to inner bezel.
Caseback: 8/10 - Looks great, but crispness is lacking
Movement: 7/10 - As stated above close but no cigar. If i were to redo this, i would have waited for a V2 with ST2555 so that at least balance wheel would be closer to gen.
Rep Strap: 7/10 - Surprisingly really nice quality. Breaks in nicely. One of the nicest fake croco straps I have ever seen/had
Buckle: 10/10 - Looks spot on to me. Didn't include it in the review as you have all seen it a million times. Standard 22mm Brushed Tang buckle for this one.
Appeal and Beauty: 15/10 LOL - this is quite subjective, but to me this is one of the most beautiful PAMs Ever. Looks amazing and definitely an attention grabber
Overall Verdict: 9/10 Go ahead and buy this watch with confidence. A Gen PAM359 will cost you $7,000 - $8,000. This rep is almost 1/25th the cost of the gen.
Now on to some artistic photos for a pictorial review:
Anyone on the fence about these KW P.9000 models, don't hesitate - they are remarkable. I have tried on the gen and it feels and looks identical. I have been on this amazing forum for a while now and for me thorough reviews are some of the most valuable posts you can find. That being said, I hope you find my opinions and analysis helpful in some way.
First off, some background information on the genuine (Courtesy of Panerai.com):
PAM00359 LUMINOR MARINA 1950 3 DAYS AUTOMATIC – 44 MM
THE LUMINOR MARINA 1950 3 DAYS AUTOMATIC - 44 MM HAS ALL THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF A MODEL MADE ALMOST 20 YEARS AGO by Officine Panerai, maintaining all of its solidity, reliability and water-tightness, while adding two new elements that give the watch great character: the P.9000 in-house calibre and a new dial. The dial is black with the classic sandwich structure, guaranteeing exceptional visibility under all conditions. In place of the bar markers, eight tiny Arabic numerals have been engraved on the plate, while the classic large Arabic numerals are present at 12, 6 and 9 o'clock. The colour is also different: the luminescent material is used to coat the hour and minute hands while the small seconds hand, the date and the writing are ecru-coloured in a shade reminiscent of Panerai's military models of the 1940s, the colour of which changed due to the natural ageing of the luminescent paste used at the time. From a technical viewpoint, the Luminor 1950 Marina 3 Days Automatic - 44 mm uses the P.9000 automatic movement, which was entirely designed and built at Officine Panerai's Neuchâtel Manufacture. The case of the Luminor Marina 1950 3 Days Automatic measures 44mm in diameter and is made of polished stainless steel, contrasting with the brushed crown-protecting bridge device. The Luminor Marina 1950 3 Days Automatic - 44 mm is watertight to 30 bars and the Panerai in-house movement can be admired through the sapphire crystal case-back.
******************************************
Technical Details:
MOVEMENT
Automatic mechanical, Panerai P.9000 calibre, executed entirely by Panerai, 13¾ lignes, 7.9 mm thick, 28 jewels, Glucydur® balance, 28,800 alternations/hour. Incabloc® anti-shock device. Power reserve 3 days, two barrels. 197 components.
FUNCTIONS
Hours, minutes, small seconds, date.
CASE
Diameter 44 mm, AISI 316L polished steel.
BEZEL
Polished steel.
BACK
See-through sapphire crystal.
DEVICE PROTECTING THE CROWN
(protected as a trademark) Brushed steel.
DIAL
Black with luminous Arabic numerals and hour marker. Date at 3 o’clock, seconds at 9 o’clock.
CRYSTAL
Sapphire, formed of corundum, 2.6 mm thick. Anti-reflective coating.
WATER-RESISTANCE
30 bar (~300 metres).
******************************************
Some Images from Panerai:
Review and Comparison:
1. Luminor Panerai seems to be ever so slightly thinner on the rep. This of-course can just be an optical illusion as the pictures are not in fact identical. But you be the judge.
2. Flat and polished Canon Pinion looks spot on. I have herd that some of these had a slightly recessed CP, but I asked for my dealer to carefully choose one with a flat CP and they did! Looks great to me.
3. Numerals look fantastic. I can not see any differences. All of my research indicated that the rep and gen numeral spacing is off in terms of proximity to the inner bezel. For the life of me i can see the difference. We are talking about maybe 1 or 1.5 mm here. To the naked eye and without having the gen to take a real side by side, I can not conclude if this is accurate.
4. Crown guard from this angle looks fantastic. Great Reg. and TM. Engravings, clean and neat. Identical brushed finish. CG Pin is nice and polished. Crown itself looks awesome and has nice and defined 'teeth'. Crown guard lever itself is not as tight as I would like it to be. This is the second KW 359 i had in my hands and the first one had a tighter lever. So it is my understanding that there may be some miniscule variances even within the same factories watches - meaning 2 watches from the same batch may have slight differences. Shape of the lever is fairly on point and I am pretty happy with it compared to gen.
1. Once again, CG shape and edges look nice and sharp. CG Pin is great and lever sticks out just the right amount.
2. Date font looks pretty good. Color is perfect. Size is questionable and it appears that Gen datewheel is ever so slightly thinner than the rep one. Once again this may be due to not having a real side by side photo comparison as these are look alike shots but not identical. So this may be an optical illusion once more.
3. CP is nice and flat once more. Looks great
4. Once more we see that numerals on the sandwich dial look phenomenal and the L Swiss Made L inscription looks great as well in terms of placement and size.
Another thing I can bring up here is the AR. The AR on the 312/359 line from Panerai is not very strong on the gen. This is not once of those watches where the crystal disappears. I have seen ALE address this matter on a thread before. Rep AR seems good when compared to gen.
1. Im a little unhappy about the inside edge of the CG. While it is drastically over exaggerated in my photo, the inner edge of the CG is not as sharp as the gen. The outer edge is nice and crisp but the inner edge seems to be a bit softer/rounder as seen in the photo.
2. CG lever from this angle is not as flush with the CG as the gen counterpart. It is slightly raised. On the wrist you can not see this and once more the enlarged photo exaggerates the situation quite a bit. In real life it looks pretty darn close. Shape of the lever is pretty darn good as well. Miniscule differences exist of course but none the less - its close enough for my taste.
3. Something that hasn't been discussed that i notices is the thickness of the rotor on the rep p.9000 movement. As you see in the picture, the gen is thinner.
4. Officine Panerai and Logo are slightly thinner and much crisper on the gen. You will be able to see this more on my next photo, but you can still see it here as well.
Overall - lets just all agree that the rep p.9000 (This is the v1 - so A7750) is close but no cigar. We know the differences. Balance wheel at 11, etc. But the real in-house movement from panerai is a thing of beauty. I doubt we will ever get such detailed craftsmanship out of reps. Inscriptions and finishes are so nice and neat on the gen. On the rep they are nice from about 3 feet away, but throw a macro lens on your camera and you may not feel the same way about your beautiful rep movement. Just my humble opinion. This goes the same of the p.9000 that will use the St2555 as a base movement. It will still use decorated places and the decorations will not be as crisp and clean as gen. Please don't get me wrong, up until recently - we all had to look at these ugly unfinished 7750 movements and now we have these bridges that make the watch look significantly better, but this post was not intended to describe how beautiful the watch is, but rather to compare it to the genuine.
1. See the detailed teeth of the KW Crown. Looks Fantastic. Also seen here is the CG lever mechanism which looks darn close to me. I like it.
2. Once more we can see the added detail on the Gen p.9000 rotor. The inner circle has fine detail which is just lacking on our reps. Keep in mind folks that this is nit picking and from more than 2 feet away this wont make a difference what so ever. Regardless, trying to be as thorough as possible so you know where this rep stands in comparison.
3. Another view of the CG Lever Shape - once again, looks pretty good to me.
4. Take a look at the engravings here - its nice, but at macro level, its not as neat. See how clean and sharp the lines are on each engraving that's on the gen. The reps just do not have this level of production (Yet - we hope)
This image also gives us a nice and detailed view of the Case Back. Not sure if it is sapphire, but crystal looks great. Likewise the engravings on the caseback looks darn close to me. Once more we can say that its just not as sharp as gen in some respects but close enough for a fraction of the cost.
Here is a wrist shot comparison. No lines to direct your attention to on this one. But to be honest, i can't point out many differences between the two of these. Maybe some of you would be able to, but not me. Some may say that the datewheel on the rep is slightly recessed. Well on the gen it seems to be slightly recessed as well from all of the pictures that I have seen.
CONCLUSION:
Case: 10/10 - I can't find any flaws compared to gen
Bezel: 10/10 - I can't find any flaws compared to gen
Crown Guard: 9/10 - Just that inside edge seems to be a little soft for my liking, gen seems more crisp
CG Lever: 8/10 - Miniscule variances in shape and tightness when closing make me give this an 8
Crown: 10/10 - Looks nice and crisp
Crystal & AR: 9/10 - AR is not that strong, but same for gen.
Dial / Numerals: 9/10 - I love this dial. To me its stunning, but I give it this score due to spacing possibly being different in proximity to inner bezel.
Caseback: 8/10 - Looks great, but crispness is lacking
Movement: 7/10 - As stated above close but no cigar. If i were to redo this, i would have waited for a V2 with ST2555 so that at least balance wheel would be closer to gen.
Rep Strap: 7/10 - Surprisingly really nice quality. Breaks in nicely. One of the nicest fake croco straps I have ever seen/had
Buckle: 10/10 - Looks spot on to me. Didn't include it in the review as you have all seen it a million times. Standard 22mm Brushed Tang buckle for this one.
Appeal and Beauty: 15/10 LOL - this is quite subjective, but to me this is one of the most beautiful PAMs Ever. Looks amazing and definitely an attention grabber
Overall Verdict: 9/10 Go ahead and buy this watch with confidence. A Gen PAM359 will cost you $7,000 - $8,000. This rep is almost 1/25th the cost of the gen.
Now on to some artistic photos for a pictorial review:
