My First Panerai

[droptopman]

Good morning gentleman,

Long time collector, die hard vintage Rolex guy. This is my first decent Panerai. I bought a really crappy 177 a couple years ago with some cheap straps, but only wore it once and sold it right away. So not really a fair test. I had not really looked much at Panerai since, but always admire the wrist shots here and on the gen forum. I have my Rolex collection where I want it right now and was getting bored with the watch hobby of late so started looking at gen Pam's. Did a ton of research and figured out I like: Only the really basic dials, prefer tobacco to black dials, prefer the vintage or off white lume, Luminor cases, titanium over SS. They really do not make a model that fits all my criteria. I really like the 055, 634 (except the snap on cb and spring bars), the pre A 002, Pre V 201A, or the basic 112, 176, 560Q but not as much of the others.

Decided to try a rep out to see if I can bond with the size.
So started looking in the sales threads everyday for the last couple of weeks and found this one. I was really close to buying a beautiful Pre A 002 with a Rolli dial last week, but decided on this 390 instead.

It is lightly modded: Noob case reshaped, H factory dial, bezel and crystal, Swiss ETA, and a Gen Pam strap and buckle. Once I received it, I took some high resolution pics to the workbench and did a little more case work on it to soften up some of the edges a little more.

 

[T3RM1N4T0R]

390 is a great one to start with. Congrats

sent from my Samsung edge plus v6s

 

[kilowattore]

Probably my favourite PAM, and this one is pretty nice indeed. Congrats on your purchase!

 

[Nemrac72k]

Absolutely beautiful. Great quality photos too.

 

[h5tuu]

Looks great! 390 is a solid watch, once you go Pam it's a slippery slope .

 

[verno75]

really beautiful piece...nice pick-up!

 

[ALE7575]

Nice watch. One of the nicest PAMs
Congrats

 

[PAM1983]

That case looks amazing. Great Watch. IF you ever part ways with it down the road give me a shout first.

 

[stray_cat]

Love the 390, this hybrid with swiss ETA, mods, OEM strap AND buckle definitely can be a keeper. Tobacco on Tobacco hehe. Wear in good health M.

 

[droptopman]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the kind words. I must say, I am really enjoying her so far. So much different than wearing a vintage gen Rolex. The thickness and top weight takes some getting use to. Great for clanging and banging at the gym though. Really do not worry about it as it seems like it is as tough as a tank. Dig the simplicity and the 44mm fits my wrist about perfect.

Noob Question regarding straps. The two straps (Mario Paci, Oem Rugby Gold) that came with it are nice but both a fairly thick/rigid and a little too short for my 7.3 inch wrist. Virtually no tail....Do they soften much with age?

Also, I am looking at a genuine OEM Asso medium brown with the gold/beige stitching in XL. I think this is the strap that came with the genuine 390. Are the gen Asso straps comfortable?

Thanks
Mark

 

[Maahinen]

I'm still looking for my first Pam and this model is awesome

 

[Silvanos]

Great watch and intelligently modded, congrats mate

 

[Isragg16]

Asso straps are very comfortable. I have my 390 on an asso and it looks great.

 

[Alfred Cock]

Hi,

Did you do the mods yourself ?

I like it alot, wear it in good healt

 

[droptopman]

Hi,

Did you do the mods yourself ?

I like it alot, wear it in good healt

No I bought it with the mods done. I did do some more case work on it after I received it.

 

[droptopman]

Panerai finally got these straps back in stock. I like this set up the most.

 

[cornholio]

Panerai finally got these straps back in stock. I like this set up the most.

I'm also thinking of making my foray into PAMs as well and I like this 390 especially with the combo you have on, that's pretty much EXACTLY what I want as my first and probably only PAM.

I don't know much about pams (I'm more into AP and recently Rolex) so can you tell me if this is the noob?

Wear it in good health my friend

 

[marha]

Congrats! Your 390 is very pretty PAM with nice moddings.
IMHO there are much better straps than gens. For example gunny, mays or malio...

 

[Zulu44gmt]

This is great thread because I feel like I'm in same situation (Rolex's feel too tiny sometimes) Looking for first Pam too. Handled a few Gens at AD - fell in love with the leather straps,,,the overall lug was suprisingly good--but thinking trying out the rep first - because I'm not sure if I'm sold on the size. was considering the Pam 088 or sim GMT movement. Love the leather combo but not sure about in the sweaty summers... Friend wears a 47mm Pam on a Nato- he seems to pull it off ok.

 

[frankcannon]

Nice PAM, loving the mods and extra work you have done. Congrats and wear it well.