Hi All!
So after taking a mini poll at the forum I am taking my first stab at a detailed review.
So before I get into the review some caveats.
- I am by no means a PAM expert. I have never owned a gen pam though I have handled and tried on a few.
- I am no photography expert. I just like taking pictures of watches and do so with a sony nex 5, a DIY lightbox, table lamps and a few magnification lenses.
- Nothing particularly qualifies me to do this review except for having a great passion for watches, a developing interest in watch photography and being thankful to RWI for all the help along the way.
So if you can get past that then enjoy the read and pictures.
Why this particular model you ask? Well, I like the busy and unique look of the dial with all the numbers and the antique color combination. Also, I have a thing for polished cases.
At any given time I have had 4 to 5 rep watches in my watch box but since the V2 of this watch came out everything else has been sold on the forum. This is the only rep watch I currently have so that makes it an even easier choice for a detailed review
To warm up here is the stock photo and a shot of the rep.
History
The 359 was announced at the 2010 SIHH with the title "Panerai 359 Luminor Marina 3 Days Automatic". Quick sidebar, the SIHH stands for Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie and is a watch convention held yearly in Geneva, Switzerland since 1991. For any enthusiast this is THE event of the year but attendance is by invitation only. Someday tho... a guy can hope
The presence of 11 numbers on the dial made it fairly unique for a PAM but definitely not the first. The PAM 164 had 10 numbers on the dial probably the closest to the 359 in the look. The daylight series also have models with 11 numbers on the dial such as the slytech from 1996. Here is a pic of the PAM 164 and daylight model.
Also at the time the beige/antique lume was limited to few models from Panerai such as the Big Egiziano (Egiziano meaning Egyptian in Italian) which was limited edition of 500 pieces sized at a whopping 60mm. Sly Stallone and Arnie "Asta Lavista""I like hot housekeepers" Governator have been spotted wearing this mammoth watch.
From the internet chatter I have read the 359 did not get a very warm reception from the core risti crowd but for the "casual" panerai buyer the model seemed to be fairly popular. The watch of course has proven to be a good seller with Panerai announcing the PAM 438 and PAM 441 this year at SIHH which have a very similar look but with the added GMT complication using the P.9001 movement.
I personally am drooling over this watch. I am not a big fan of black cases but man I cant wait for the rep of this one to come out. If you just cant wait members here have undertaken a DLC treatment on the watch that looks fantastic. Here is a picture for reference.
Thanks to Kroexists for the photo. He has a facebook page up so you can follow his excellent work :
http://www.facebook.com/DLCWatch
Here is the official specification of the watch:
Movement: Panerai P.9000 Calibre, automatic, 197 parts, 31 mm in diameter, 7.9 mm thick, 28 jewels, two mainspring barrels, 28,800 vph, in-house
Complications: Date
Power reserve: 72 hours (3 days)
Case material: Polished stainless steel
Bezel material: Polished stainless steel
Case shape: Cushion
Transparent case back: Yes, sapphire crystal caseback
Case size: 44.0 mm
Case height: N/A
Dial: Black
Hands: Steel
Strap: Leather strap
Crystal: Sapphire, corundum, 2.6 mm thick, antireflective coating
Water resistance: 300 meters
The rep was first released by Angus at Puretime in 2011 and was subsequently carried by multiple dealers. It was great to have one of the TD's be heavily involved in the design and build of the rep. The thread of the original V1 build can be found here.
http://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php/more-prototype-images-71681
Here is a picture of the V1.
Outside of using a different movement (more on that below) there were a few issues with the watch, one of them being the date wheel font so soon after a V2 of the date wheel was release followed by a full watch V2 release that had a corrected date wheel and other dial fixes.
The gen is available at about USD 8000 depending on where you get it. I honestly dont believe any watch should be over 5K unless it uses gold, diamonds or other exotic materials but thats just me
Lets get into the watch and start with the dial since that is what really sets this watch appart.
Dial, Hands and Date wheel
Here is a Gen and rep dial close up.
Gen
Rep
From 20 inches away I would say the rep factory and Angus did a fantastic job on the V2.
The V1 had many issues with the dial. V1 dial was polished instead of being matte, the number cutouts were not very sharp and the number placing was too close to the edge of the dial.
These issues were resolved with the V2 making it much closer to the Gen.
Here is the shot of the V1 vs V2 dial. Thanks to Angus at puretime for these shots.
V1 dial
V2 Dial
The "Luminor Marina" printing on the dial is almost spot on. The "A"'s are a tad bit thicker on the rep.
Gen
Rep
The "Panerai" printing on the dial is near perfect too.
Gen
Rep
Lets take a look at the individual numbers:
1 - The shape is completely spot on! Me happy
Gen
Rep
2 - The top end of the 2 dips a hair lower on the rep than on the gen
Gen
Rep
4 - The 4 on the rep is no where near as sharp as the gen. The vertical and horizontal lines seem to merge rather than intersect like on the gen.
Gen
Rep
5 - The curve at the bottom is not the same. The gen has a more rounded look while the rep is a bit steeper.
Gen
Rep
L swiss 6 made L - Outside of the E on the "SWISS MADE" I would say the 6 is spot on... nice job!
Gen
Rep
7 - The top horizontal line of the 7 on the rep seems to thin out a bit compared to the gen.
Gen
Rep
8 - I thought the 8 would be the hardest to get right but honestly speaking no complaints here!
Gen
Rep
9 - The bottom tail of the 9 could extend a tad further to make it more accurate.
Gen
Rep
10 - The 0 seems to be a tad fatter and not as cleanly shaped.
Gen
Rep
11 - Slightly thicker top ends and slightly thinner bottom ends on the rep. No complaints tho since that how I like my women too
Gen
Rep
12 - The top of the 2 seems to droop a hair too far and is a little thicker than the gen.
Gen
Rep
Overall... i would say the dial is 98%. You really have to get into macro shots to be able to spot the difference so really a fantastic job by the factory.
The hands in my opinion are pretty much spot on. The shape and length are right, the lume sits squarely in the center and the cannon pin is flush just like the gen. Nothing to complain about here.
Gen Hands
Rep Hands
The cannon pin (the little pin that holds the hands to the movement) is per gen. It seems like the factories had some trouble getting the cannon pins right on a number of pam models where they were either too high or recessed. No such issues here.
Here is a shot of the Gen:
And a couple of shots of the rep where you can see that the pin head is flush and polished:
One of the really nice things about the Gen is that the date wheel color matches the lume color. That is not the case on the V2 rep. In making the font a tad bolder and clearer on the V2 the color is just a share more "orange" than the numbers. In most general lighting its not an obvious tell but but put it under the right light and you can easily spot the color difference.
Gen date
Rep Date:
Here is a shot of the V1 and V2 date wheels from Angus. The V2 is definitely an improvement.
Case and Case Back
Visually speaking the case looks completely spot on. When the 359 came out in 2010 it was one of the few if not the first polished 1950 style case in 44mm which added to the uniqueness factor of the watch.
Since I dont have a gen to compare against and also exact measurements probably being within tolerance limits of what the human eye can differentiate I wont spend time on that.
Gen Case Shot
Instead what is more interesting is the proportions since even a minor deviation can cause a visual imbalance. Here are a few shots with some proportions pointed out. Ok... its not the most scientific method but each pair of lines is the same length and I could only find variations to a few pixels so good job factory here!
There are 2 issues with the case tho.
First the lug holes are very close to the case edge. This is not the case in the Gen or the V1 rep I had. I went thru about 2-3 QC watches before settling on this one and still I find that the holes are about 1mm too close to the edge.
The second issue is the quick release. There were complaints on the boards that the QR mechanism tends to fall out and I have seen some 359 show up on the sales forum with spring bars.
Fortunately that has not been the issue with the V1 and V2 I got my hands on. I also find that the cut outs for the QR mechanism are not perfectly circular in the rep as they are in the Gen. This is mostly likely due to having to drill the hole on a curved surface giving it a slight lopsided look.
Some close ups so you can confirm that its not just me
Here is a shot of the gen. The hole looks nice and round:
And here the rep holes which are slightly misshapen
Honestly speaking I would love to go into each of the letters on the caseback but the reality is as soon as you show the back to anyone who knows anything about the watch the game is over because of the movement... so from a casual onlookers perspective there is not much to say about the case back since both the letters and the font are pretty decent.
For those who really care... some of the issues with the caseback are the following:
- Shape of o in OP
- Gap between the 8 and 1 on the 6816
- Shape of the "S" and "T" on the stainless steel
I could go on but I dont see the point...
Overall the caseback is accurate enough in the lettering and depth of the engraving for a casual panerai brand "knower" to look it over and admire it but thats about it.
Here is the Gen
Here is the rep with the issues I pointed out
Crown and Crown Guard
The cg is a pretty standard brushed REG. TM. engraved version which the factory has had no real issue replicating. Yes... the engraving could be a tad sharper and deeper but nothing that anyone could spot unless they were looking at it with some form of magnification.
A closeup of the Gen:
Couple of shots of the rep:
From a shape and look perspective the crown and lever look pretty good at the average "look at my wrist" view.
The lever uses a small ball bearing that touches against the crown instead of being one solid piece unlike some other models. This gives it a slightly more "spongier" feel instead of scraping feel when closing the lever. When the lever is closed it remains firmly shut but closing it does not have the "snap" satisfaction that some of the other models have. Not having handled the Gen I am not sure if this is any different so for me this is a non issue.
Here is a pic of the bearing:
As to the lever itself, get closer than the average onlooker and there is a flaw with the lever tho...the spacing of the lever from the case when closed isn't right. Its out by 1-2 mm. While that is a very small margin but being a visual standout without a counterbalance on the opposite side of the case once you see it you cant "unsee" it... so sorry if I spoiled this for you visually.
Given the tolerances with Panerai's production is it likely that there are Gens out there with a slightly larger spacing? I am positive there are... I just couldnt find any pictures of a gen that looked like the gap was the tiny bit more. Also while the case side of the lever on the rep is completely flat it is just a tiny bit curved on the gen.
Here is an approximate to scale side by side:
While the CG shape is allright the edge is too sharp. I have had $100 reps and homage watches that have a smoother edge to the CG. Its not sharp enough to cause any damage to your skin but definitely enough to reduce the overall premium feel of the watch.
Those not afraid to take a 1500 grit sand paper to their watches should have no problem fixing this issue tho
On the plus side the crown itself seems to have the right amount of ridges based on what I have been able to count from gen photos... they are just not as sharp. Overall the crown is really good in its shape, width and distance from the case but from what I can see after staring at the Gen photos for hours but side by side the difference would be obvious.
Unless you are going to sit the gen side by side with the rep and try to specifically compare the crown and CG I would not worry about it
Crystal and AR
The crystal on the 359 is probably its biggest spoiler... I wont say flaw given the movement (more of that in the next section). The crystal is sapphire and durable but the AR coating is simply terrible. For the uninitiated the AR coating is layers of oxide deposits on the crystal that reduce the reflectiveness of the glass allowing you to see the dial better.
Crystals come single and double sided and different color hues. Blue, yellow and green being the most commonly seen. The Gen 359 seems to have a yellow hue and rep has a yellow hue as well which is probably its only saving grace. God forbid if they had the ar coating with the terrible strong blue tint
For some reason the AR coating on this model seems to do the exact opposite job its intended for. This is a problem for both the V1 and the V2 reps. Not sure why this is such an issue with the factories given there are so many other models today which have great out of the box AR. The 187G from the noob factory comes to mind.
Trying to get a good head on shot is like pulling teeth using pliers. Here is a shot without any photo correction.
This is a non corrected shot of the rep taking under casual lighting conditions. Far too much reflecting off the crystal:
If you are going to make one mod to this watch, make it the AR coating. Here is a shot from a fellow member notsobreit with the AR coating redone by VAC. I plan to have mine done as well soon.
Amazing photos by notsobreit and fantastic job by Vac. Thanks guys!
From certain shots the Gen Crystal also seems slightly more domed. Cant really confirm without the gen in hand so make the call yourself
Gen:
Rep:
Lume
When the V1 came out there were some instantaneous comments on the forums that the lume was weak... and rightfully so. I can imagine the anitque lume is tough to get right and from what I know this model was a first for the factories.
Here is a lume shot of V1:
The V2, in my opinion, is waaay better. I am not sure if a better lume is being applied or if the better cuts on the dial is helping the lume show thru... in any case it is a 100% improvement.
It may not glow like a torch but I have been able to show off the lume of this watch in a well lit bar after shining the my phone camera led for a few seconds... which honestly speaking is my benchmark
Probably not the torch that some of the new pams have but it holds up better than my gen Omega and matches the lume on my gen Breitling.
From an endurance perspective I am a happy camper as well...the lume holds up well after a few hours of the last charge... I plan to do ao lume endurance test after this review so that will be coming shortly.
For those of you who really need to have a torch like lume... go for it... the modders we have on the forums do an excellent job and will give the watch a brand new dark side... for those of you with a slightly more limited budget... spend on the AR.
And for reference this is what the lume on the gen looks like. As you can see the lume application on the hands is much more even and probably brighter than the numbers unlike the rep which is quite the opposite.
Here are a couple of my random lume shots of the V2 including one by notsobreit on his vac treated watch.
Movement
Honestly speaking there is not a lot to say about the movement since they are two completely different things. Its like trying to comare a chevy to a BMW and trying to find similarities so I wont even go beyond the basics.
The GEN uses the panerai home grown home built sweet alabama P9000 movement which looks like this:
The movement was released by Panerai in 2009 and is a 28.8K movement with 3 days power reserve along with 2 other movement the p.9001 and p.9002. Interestingly I have found different descriptions for the movement on the web... some stating 195 parts and other stating 197... not sure why thats the case.
Why did Panerai release 3 more in-house movements after already having 5 and the easy availability of ETA movements? I honestly dont know... maybe to justify the R&D costs because overall the I dont think the P.9000 was visually any better than the ETA's but maybe thats just me...
The P.9001/B movement on the other hand looks like something like this .... :drool:
The rep movement on the other hand look like this:
Dont get me wrong... the movement looks very nice and if you have no idea of what the gen is supposed to look like nothing seems visually off.
The only real overlap between the two is the attempt by the factory to clone the rotor without much success. The rep rotor engraving is simply not clear, deep and smooth in its look.
Its a great attempt with getting the font, color and shape of the rotor right but in overal quality it just does not match up to some of the work we see coming from the factories today.
The Gen rotor
And a peek shot at the rep rotor. The head on shots make it look terrible and i dont quite have the camera skills yet to make it look better.
While the Gen has 3 days of power reserve I usually get about 42 hours. Pretty sure that can be bumped up with a service to about 48 hours but dont expect more than that.
The date starts to change at about 11 PM and completely switches over by 12:15 so all good there.
Changing date and time is the standard 2 pull on the crown. First pull for the date and 2nd for the time. The crown seems to be firmly set, the date changes with a reassuring click and time changes smoothly.
Wrap Up
So overall... lots of hits and misses in this rep. Do I still love it... hell yeah! In my eyes it is still one of the most visually unique pams... ask my wife and she thinks all the pams look the same
Is it possible for the factories to make a better version? I think so... from what I have read on the boards a P.9000 movement rep may be in the works and changing the AR for this watch can't be a big deal since other models already have 100 times better AR.
So should you hold out.... nah! If you are in two minds about pulling the trigger on this rep... go for it... just make sure to factor in the cost of getting the AR work done because without it you may find a one night stand but not true love
Here are some shots with various strap options ( you may have seen then on my other posts) :
The default strap that comes with the watch:
A panatime vintage strap that I think looks awesome since the cracks in the leather match the vintage lume color.
Another panatime strap which really brings out the antique color on the lume.
The brushed ss strap which gives it a very industrial look.
And one of my favorites... a bronzy handmade strap which in my opinions is one the best and most reasonably priced handmade strap maker on our forums.
Hope you enjoyed the review. Please feel free to respond with any comments and shots of your 359 as well
So after taking a mini poll at the forum I am taking my first stab at a detailed review.
So before I get into the review some caveats.
- I am by no means a PAM expert. I have never owned a gen pam though I have handled and tried on a few.
- I am no photography expert. I just like taking pictures of watches and do so with a sony nex 5, a DIY lightbox, table lamps and a few magnification lenses.
- Nothing particularly qualifies me to do this review except for having a great passion for watches, a developing interest in watch photography and being thankful to RWI for all the help along the way.
So if you can get past that then enjoy the read and pictures.
Why this particular model you ask? Well, I like the busy and unique look of the dial with all the numbers and the antique color combination. Also, I have a thing for polished cases.
At any given time I have had 4 to 5 rep watches in my watch box but since the V2 of this watch came out everything else has been sold on the forum. This is the only rep watch I currently have so that makes it an even easier choice for a detailed review
To warm up here is the stock photo and a shot of the rep.
History
The 359 was announced at the 2010 SIHH with the title "Panerai 359 Luminor Marina 3 Days Automatic". Quick sidebar, the SIHH stands for Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie and is a watch convention held yearly in Geneva, Switzerland since 1991. For any enthusiast this is THE event of the year but attendance is by invitation only. Someday tho... a guy can hope
The presence of 11 numbers on the dial made it fairly unique for a PAM but definitely not the first. The PAM 164 had 10 numbers on the dial probably the closest to the 359 in the look. The daylight series also have models with 11 numbers on the dial such as the slytech from 1996. Here is a pic of the PAM 164 and daylight model.
Also at the time the beige/antique lume was limited to few models from Panerai such as the Big Egiziano (Egiziano meaning Egyptian in Italian) which was limited edition of 500 pieces sized at a whopping 60mm. Sly Stallone and Arnie "Asta Lavista""I like hot housekeepers" Governator have been spotted wearing this mammoth watch.
From the internet chatter I have read the 359 did not get a very warm reception from the core risti crowd but for the "casual" panerai buyer the model seemed to be fairly popular. The watch of course has proven to be a good seller with Panerai announcing the PAM 438 and PAM 441 this year at SIHH which have a very similar look but with the added GMT complication using the P.9001 movement.
I personally am drooling over this watch. I am not a big fan of black cases but man I cant wait for the rep of this one to come out. If you just cant wait members here have undertaken a DLC treatment on the watch that looks fantastic. Here is a picture for reference.
Thanks to Kroexists for the photo. He has a facebook page up so you can follow his excellent work :
http://www.facebook.com/DLCWatch
Here is the official specification of the watch:
Movement: Panerai P.9000 Calibre, automatic, 197 parts, 31 mm in diameter, 7.9 mm thick, 28 jewels, two mainspring barrels, 28,800 vph, in-house
Complications: Date
Power reserve: 72 hours (3 days)
Case material: Polished stainless steel
Bezel material: Polished stainless steel
Case shape: Cushion
Transparent case back: Yes, sapphire crystal caseback
Case size: 44.0 mm
Case height: N/A
Dial: Black
Hands: Steel
Strap: Leather strap
Crystal: Sapphire, corundum, 2.6 mm thick, antireflective coating
Water resistance: 300 meters
The rep was first released by Angus at Puretime in 2011 and was subsequently carried by multiple dealers. It was great to have one of the TD's be heavily involved in the design and build of the rep. The thread of the original V1 build can be found here.
http://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php/more-prototype-images-71681
Here is a picture of the V1.
Outside of using a different movement (more on that below) there were a few issues with the watch, one of them being the date wheel font so soon after a V2 of the date wheel was release followed by a full watch V2 release that had a corrected date wheel and other dial fixes.
The gen is available at about USD 8000 depending on where you get it. I honestly dont believe any watch should be over 5K unless it uses gold, diamonds or other exotic materials but thats just me
Lets get into the watch and start with the dial since that is what really sets this watch appart.
Dial, Hands and Date wheel
Here is a Gen and rep dial close up.
Gen
Rep
From 20 inches away I would say the rep factory and Angus did a fantastic job on the V2.
The V1 had many issues with the dial. V1 dial was polished instead of being matte, the number cutouts were not very sharp and the number placing was too close to the edge of the dial.
These issues were resolved with the V2 making it much closer to the Gen.
Here is the shot of the V1 vs V2 dial. Thanks to Angus at puretime for these shots.
V1 dial
V2 Dial
The "Luminor Marina" printing on the dial is almost spot on. The "A"'s are a tad bit thicker on the rep.
Gen
Rep
The "Panerai" printing on the dial is near perfect too.
Gen
Rep
Lets take a look at the individual numbers:
1 - The shape is completely spot on! Me happy
Gen
Rep
2 - The top end of the 2 dips a hair lower on the rep than on the gen
Gen
Rep
4 - The 4 on the rep is no where near as sharp as the gen. The vertical and horizontal lines seem to merge rather than intersect like on the gen.
Gen
Rep
5 - The curve at the bottom is not the same. The gen has a more rounded look while the rep is a bit steeper.
Gen
Rep
L swiss 6 made L - Outside of the E on the "SWISS MADE" I would say the 6 is spot on... nice job!
Gen
Rep
7 - The top horizontal line of the 7 on the rep seems to thin out a bit compared to the gen.
Gen
Rep
8 - I thought the 8 would be the hardest to get right but honestly speaking no complaints here!
Gen
Rep
9 - The bottom tail of the 9 could extend a tad further to make it more accurate.
Gen
Rep
10 - The 0 seems to be a tad fatter and not as cleanly shaped.
Gen
Rep
11 - Slightly thicker top ends and slightly thinner bottom ends on the rep. No complaints tho since that how I like my women too
Gen
Rep
12 - The top of the 2 seems to droop a hair too far and is a little thicker than the gen.
Gen
Rep
Overall... i would say the dial is 98%. You really have to get into macro shots to be able to spot the difference so really a fantastic job by the factory.
The hands in my opinion are pretty much spot on. The shape and length are right, the lume sits squarely in the center and the cannon pin is flush just like the gen. Nothing to complain about here.
Gen Hands
Rep Hands
The cannon pin (the little pin that holds the hands to the movement) is per gen. It seems like the factories had some trouble getting the cannon pins right on a number of pam models where they were either too high or recessed. No such issues here.
Here is a shot of the Gen:
And a couple of shots of the rep where you can see that the pin head is flush and polished:
One of the really nice things about the Gen is that the date wheel color matches the lume color. That is not the case on the V2 rep. In making the font a tad bolder and clearer on the V2 the color is just a share more "orange" than the numbers. In most general lighting its not an obvious tell but but put it under the right light and you can easily spot the color difference.
Gen date
Rep Date:
Here is a shot of the V1 and V2 date wheels from Angus. The V2 is definitely an improvement.
Case and Case Back
Visually speaking the case looks completely spot on. When the 359 came out in 2010 it was one of the few if not the first polished 1950 style case in 44mm which added to the uniqueness factor of the watch.
Since I dont have a gen to compare against and also exact measurements probably being within tolerance limits of what the human eye can differentiate I wont spend time on that.
Gen Case Shot
Instead what is more interesting is the proportions since even a minor deviation can cause a visual imbalance. Here are a few shots with some proportions pointed out. Ok... its not the most scientific method but each pair of lines is the same length and I could only find variations to a few pixels so good job factory here!
There are 2 issues with the case tho.
First the lug holes are very close to the case edge. This is not the case in the Gen or the V1 rep I had. I went thru about 2-3 QC watches before settling on this one and still I find that the holes are about 1mm too close to the edge.
The second issue is the quick release. There were complaints on the boards that the QR mechanism tends to fall out and I have seen some 359 show up on the sales forum with spring bars.
Fortunately that has not been the issue with the V1 and V2 I got my hands on. I also find that the cut outs for the QR mechanism are not perfectly circular in the rep as they are in the Gen. This is mostly likely due to having to drill the hole on a curved surface giving it a slight lopsided look.
Some close ups so you can confirm that its not just me
Here is a shot of the gen. The hole looks nice and round:
And here the rep holes which are slightly misshapen
Honestly speaking I would love to go into each of the letters on the caseback but the reality is as soon as you show the back to anyone who knows anything about the watch the game is over because of the movement... so from a casual onlookers perspective there is not much to say about the case back since both the letters and the font are pretty decent.
For those who really care... some of the issues with the caseback are the following:
- Shape of o in OP
- Gap between the 8 and 1 on the 6816
- Shape of the "S" and "T" on the stainless steel
I could go on but I dont see the point...
Overall the caseback is accurate enough in the lettering and depth of the engraving for a casual panerai brand "knower" to look it over and admire it but thats about it.
Here is the Gen
Here is the rep with the issues I pointed out
Crown and Crown Guard
The cg is a pretty standard brushed REG. TM. engraved version which the factory has had no real issue replicating. Yes... the engraving could be a tad sharper and deeper but nothing that anyone could spot unless they were looking at it with some form of magnification.
A closeup of the Gen:
Couple of shots of the rep:
From a shape and look perspective the crown and lever look pretty good at the average "look at my wrist" view.
The lever uses a small ball bearing that touches against the crown instead of being one solid piece unlike some other models. This gives it a slightly more "spongier" feel instead of scraping feel when closing the lever. When the lever is closed it remains firmly shut but closing it does not have the "snap" satisfaction that some of the other models have. Not having handled the Gen I am not sure if this is any different so for me this is a non issue.
Here is a pic of the bearing:
As to the lever itself, get closer than the average onlooker and there is a flaw with the lever tho...the spacing of the lever from the case when closed isn't right. Its out by 1-2 mm. While that is a very small margin but being a visual standout without a counterbalance on the opposite side of the case once you see it you cant "unsee" it... so sorry if I spoiled this for you visually.
Given the tolerances with Panerai's production is it likely that there are Gens out there with a slightly larger spacing? I am positive there are... I just couldnt find any pictures of a gen that looked like the gap was the tiny bit more. Also while the case side of the lever on the rep is completely flat it is just a tiny bit curved on the gen.
Here is an approximate to scale side by side:
While the CG shape is allright the edge is too sharp. I have had $100 reps and homage watches that have a smoother edge to the CG. Its not sharp enough to cause any damage to your skin but definitely enough to reduce the overall premium feel of the watch.
Those not afraid to take a 1500 grit sand paper to their watches should have no problem fixing this issue tho
On the plus side the crown itself seems to have the right amount of ridges based on what I have been able to count from gen photos... they are just not as sharp. Overall the crown is really good in its shape, width and distance from the case but from what I can see after staring at the Gen photos for hours but side by side the difference would be obvious.
Unless you are going to sit the gen side by side with the rep and try to specifically compare the crown and CG I would not worry about it
Crystal and AR
The crystal on the 359 is probably its biggest spoiler... I wont say flaw given the movement (more of that in the next section). The crystal is sapphire and durable but the AR coating is simply terrible. For the uninitiated the AR coating is layers of oxide deposits on the crystal that reduce the reflectiveness of the glass allowing you to see the dial better.
Crystals come single and double sided and different color hues. Blue, yellow and green being the most commonly seen. The Gen 359 seems to have a yellow hue and rep has a yellow hue as well which is probably its only saving grace. God forbid if they had the ar coating with the terrible strong blue tint
For some reason the AR coating on this model seems to do the exact opposite job its intended for. This is a problem for both the V1 and the V2 reps. Not sure why this is such an issue with the factories given there are so many other models today which have great out of the box AR. The 187G from the noob factory comes to mind.
Trying to get a good head on shot is like pulling teeth using pliers. Here is a shot without any photo correction.
This is a non corrected shot of the rep taking under casual lighting conditions. Far too much reflecting off the crystal:
If you are going to make one mod to this watch, make it the AR coating. Here is a shot from a fellow member notsobreit with the AR coating redone by VAC. I plan to have mine done as well soon.
Amazing photos by notsobreit and fantastic job by Vac. Thanks guys!
From certain shots the Gen Crystal also seems slightly more domed. Cant really confirm without the gen in hand so make the call yourself
Gen:
Rep:
Lume
When the V1 came out there were some instantaneous comments on the forums that the lume was weak... and rightfully so. I can imagine the anitque lume is tough to get right and from what I know this model was a first for the factories.
Here is a lume shot of V1:
The V2, in my opinion, is waaay better. I am not sure if a better lume is being applied or if the better cuts on the dial is helping the lume show thru... in any case it is a 100% improvement.
It may not glow like a torch but I have been able to show off the lume of this watch in a well lit bar after shining the my phone camera led for a few seconds... which honestly speaking is my benchmark
Probably not the torch that some of the new pams have but it holds up better than my gen Omega and matches the lume on my gen Breitling.
From an endurance perspective I am a happy camper as well...the lume holds up well after a few hours of the last charge... I plan to do ao lume endurance test after this review so that will be coming shortly.
For those of you who really need to have a torch like lume... go for it... the modders we have on the forums do an excellent job and will give the watch a brand new dark side... for those of you with a slightly more limited budget... spend on the AR.
And for reference this is what the lume on the gen looks like. As you can see the lume application on the hands is much more even and probably brighter than the numbers unlike the rep which is quite the opposite.
Here are a couple of my random lume shots of the V2 including one by notsobreit on his vac treated watch.
Movement
Honestly speaking there is not a lot to say about the movement since they are two completely different things. Its like trying to comare a chevy to a BMW and trying to find similarities so I wont even go beyond the basics.
The GEN uses the panerai home grown home built sweet alabama P9000 movement which looks like this:
The movement was released by Panerai in 2009 and is a 28.8K movement with 3 days power reserve along with 2 other movement the p.9001 and p.9002. Interestingly I have found different descriptions for the movement on the web... some stating 195 parts and other stating 197... not sure why thats the case.
Why did Panerai release 3 more in-house movements after already having 5 and the easy availability of ETA movements? I honestly dont know... maybe to justify the R&D costs because overall the I dont think the P.9000 was visually any better than the ETA's but maybe thats just me...
The P.9001/B movement on the other hand looks like something like this .... :drool:
The rep movement on the other hand look like this:
Dont get me wrong... the movement looks very nice and if you have no idea of what the gen is supposed to look like nothing seems visually off.
The only real overlap between the two is the attempt by the factory to clone the rotor without much success. The rep rotor engraving is simply not clear, deep and smooth in its look.
Its a great attempt with getting the font, color and shape of the rotor right but in overal quality it just does not match up to some of the work we see coming from the factories today.
The Gen rotor
And a peek shot at the rep rotor. The head on shots make it look terrible and i dont quite have the camera skills yet to make it look better.
While the Gen has 3 days of power reserve I usually get about 42 hours. Pretty sure that can be bumped up with a service to about 48 hours but dont expect more than that.
The date starts to change at about 11 PM and completely switches over by 12:15 so all good there.
Changing date and time is the standard 2 pull on the crown. First pull for the date and 2nd for the time. The crown seems to be firmly set, the date changes with a reassuring click and time changes smoothly.
Wrap Up
So overall... lots of hits and misses in this rep. Do I still love it... hell yeah! In my eyes it is still one of the most visually unique pams... ask my wife and she thinks all the pams look the same
Is it possible for the factories to make a better version? I think so... from what I have read on the boards a P.9000 movement rep may be in the works and changing the AR for this watch can't be a big deal since other models already have 100 times better AR.
So should you hold out.... nah! If you are in two minds about pulling the trigger on this rep... go for it... just make sure to factor in the cost of getting the AR work done because without it you may find a one night stand but not true love
Here are some shots with various strap options ( you may have seen then on my other posts) :
The default strap that comes with the watch:
A panatime vintage strap that I think looks awesome since the cracks in the leather match the vintage lume color.
Another panatime strap which really brings out the antique color on the lume.
The brushed ss strap which gives it a very industrial look.
And one of my favorites... a bronzy handmade strap which in my opinions is one the best and most reasonably priced handmade strap maker on our forums.
Hope you enjoyed the review. Please feel free to respond with any comments and shots of your 359 as well
