Are you sure about this? From what I have observed, the crownguard lever on this model does seem to be designed to put downward pressure on the winding stem. Changing the tolerances of the crown might affect how well the stem is situated inside the movement. Moreover, it is noteworthy that people like me like to fiddle with the crown even while the crown while the lever is in the closed position. It's also interesting to note that my movement's winding mechanism failed. Just a thought.
As far a replication, the movements are Unitas 6497 replicas made by Chinese firms. Since ETA/Unitas no longer have the patents for these old movements, the Chinese can make them legally. If serviced by an expert, the reps can perform as well as the gen Unitas 6497/8s. The only downfall of the Chinese movements is the quality control/less cleanly factories.
Of course, you are right and this isn't conclusive but it is an educated guess on my part.
I understand the reasoning for the guess. But just because they're connected physically, it does not always mean a problem in one is correlated to a "perceived" issue in another. The thickness of the crown is a replica accuracy issue, not a functional one (since you can adjust for it as I will explain below).
Let us go to your guess as to the rationale behind the design of the lever. Maria and Guiseppe Panerai's Patent application number 2,954,655 to the USPTO filed on Nov. 30, 1955 in Italy and filed in the USPTO on Oct. 1960 mentions specifically that the lever's function when locked is to keep the sealing relationship between the crown (or knob) and the sealing ring, thereby ensuring its water tightness. When the long part lever is rotated around the pivot point (the CG pin), it releases the contact of the short arm on the knob allowing the knob to be used for winding, or when axially shifted (or pulled out in layman's terms), to set the watch. Nothing more, nothing less. Now the crown (knob) is certainly connected to the winding stem but its thickness would not have any impact on any imagined stem position inside the movement, only on how much pressure the short lever tip puts on the crown. On the newer PAMs like the PAM417, you can see a hex bolt underneath the crown. You can adjust this to modify the lever "snap".
