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Panerai 968 Relume Project

Rupert Fripp

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27/3/21
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Ciao Paneristi,

Firstly, my sincere apologies for the delay in providing the community with an update on this. I am in the kind of role where when it gets very busy, it basically takes over all my free time and disallowed me from giving the update I thought this project deserved.

BACKGROUND

The pam968 is without a doubt my favourite rep of all time; the colours of the bronze and brown are so beautiful and I wear it more than any other on nights out. I do not consider myself someone who becomes fixated on remedying the perceived flaws with my reps however, the lume of the 968 is one that did become an issue for me.

For those not familiar, the pam968 has a very warm lume, almost caramel in colour and really compliments the watch:


However, the VSF pam968's lume is lighter and more influenced by green, especially when charged:


I decided to commit myself to reluming the watch in an attempt to bring it's lume colour closer to gen and in doing so, make it more aesthetically pleasing.

THE PROJECT

The first issue was finding someone capable of reluming the watch - this was the hardest part. Many relumers' work are really poor, in fact, I had to resign myself to the fact that it would be virtually impossible to find someone who could finish the lume close to level of the gen.

Fortunately, I was able to find someone whose work was to a high level and agreed, on a one off basis, to work on a rep.

The next challenge was to source the right lume colour. I was able to develop a relationship with Tritec (swiss lume company) who have access to a vast array of colours and sent me out some colour cards that fell close to the colour of the gen:


I chose the colour and had my relumer order directly.

THE CHALLENGES

One of the first challenges was the fact that the lume needed to be finished in the oven. I had concerns about the effect this would have on the bronze (as I couldn't remove the bezel) and also state of the watch being a rep. The community aided me with feedback that can be detailed here: https://forum.replica-watch.info/threads/pam-bronzo-heat-resistance.10615173/

The biggest challenge of all however, came in the form of obtaining the exact colour, which I can say with some certainty, is virtually impossible without an incredible amount of patience and money. The colour of the lume was never exactly like the colour sample and to make matters worse, the colour range we are in with the 968, is heavily affected by a green charge colour, which influences the overall colour. See below:


My relumer and I went back and forth on about 8 iterations and three different lume colours to mix to get close to the gen. Here's some of his attempts:


We were either too beige (which equates to too green), too orange, too matte or too dark. My relumer was incredibly patient but we both started to lose the will to live as it felt like an impossible goal. However, he then sent one attempt which suddenly felt very close - see the 11 o'clock indice.


The warmer colour, good glossiness and most importantly, matching the sub-dial really looked promising and although we could argue over nuanced differences to the gen, pragmatically, it was firm yes from me for him to lume the remainder of the watch with this mix.

The oven question came back here, as the dial was fine for the oven, but my bezel is basically impossible to remove and wanting to save the watch case and glass, I decided to not let the bezel pip go in the oven, even though this would result in less colour development.

THE RESULTS

Here are pics of my new and improved Pam968






Overall, the improvement is subtle and still not perfectly gen, especially on the bezel pip, which didn't develop colour like the dial as I didn't allow it to go in the oven. But it certainly is an improvement. The green tinge is the biggest change, as the extra warmth in the colour means that even when fully charged, it never develops a green hue.

The lume work is also not pristine, the hands are slightly lighter in colour and I have small imperfections in the lume itself but as stated, I really believe I couldn't have got any better, failing using a swiss lumer who wouldn't touch a rep.

The glossiness is an improvement too but the new lume still doesn't have the dome shaped lume of the gen.

Charged lume shot:


THE COST

The original cost of labour was due to be £100 plus cost of lume. However, due to the amount of tests we had to do, he asked for £200 for all the work, which I was happy to pay due to his dedication and work. Every iteration had to go in the oven, then when rejected by me, had to be scrapped off again and relumed.

The ordering of all the lume pigments and gloss came to £80.

£280 in total.

CONCLUSION


Although I'm really happy with the watch and enjoyed the process, I wouldn't recommend other members embark on this mission as the colour accuracy is so hard to achieve. I was hoping, at the start of this journey, to be able to come back to the forum and say 'Guys, the colour code for the perfect 968 lume is XXXX, go order from here', however, that isn't the case.

It took three different pigments and I doubt the relumer could remember the quantities.

I think our best bet is a new factory releasing a 968 with a more accurate lume but what's clear is that light brown/beige/light orange lumes have a difficult time fighting green when charged so it will be a challenge for them too. However I'm sure they'll nail it eventually.

Shout out to @Solution6 for the great disassembly/reassembly for me to prep for lume work!
 

patnaboy

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Thanks for sharing these details! It was quite the process. It turned out great in my opinion. The lume artist did a good job. Its difficult finding lume artists willing to work on reps. It was a project I also wanted to undertake but I was concerned with finding the right color. It would be nice if an updated version would be released but I have my doubts. The 968 has managed to stay in my collection despite the cull

Enjoy the watch! These modding adventures are always interesting. I have had a few of my own trials and tribulations with mods but it was still an adventure.
 

Woundup

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I was waiting for your update with interest - thank you for sharing the process & results.

I think your 968 looks amazing (love the natural patina), though I don't personally feel the desire to go through the considerable effort with mine. We were probably all hoping for the 'use this XXX code for the correct lume color'!

Enjoy your 968 - they are such wonderful Panerai reps.
 
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kilowattore

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Now that's commitment, well done! You've gone a long way to get what you wanted, the end result might not be 100% but it's definitely an improvement I would be happy with.
 

klockjohan

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5/12/15
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Great update.
It's always nice to read a post by someone with a dedicated mission.
The end result is great.
 

up_right

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Wow! Thanks for the detailed report - that is an amazing journey! It looks like a well earned upgrade to me.

...And thats a nice vintage strap too.
 

Rupert Fripp

Active Member
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27/3/21
362
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Thanks for sharing these details! It was quite the process. It turned out great in my opinion. The lume artist did a good job. Its difficult finding lume artists willing to work on reps. It was a project I also wanted to undertake but I was concerned with finding the right color. It would be nice if an updated version would be released but I have my doubts. The 968 has managed to stay in my collection despite the cull

Enjoy the watch! These modding adventures are always interesting. I have had a few of my own trials and tribulations with mods but it was still an adventure.
Thanks! It was certainly an adventure!
 

Rupert Fripp

Active Member
Supporter
Certified
27/3/21
362
187
43
I was waiting for your update with interest - thank you for sharing the process & results.

I think your 968 looks amazing (love the natural patina), though I don't personally feel the desire to go through the considerable effort with mine. We were probably all hoping for the 'use this XXX code for the correct lume color'!

Enjoy your 968 - they are such wonderful Panerai reps.
Thanks and apologies again, you were one of the people I had in mind when writing this as I know you wanted an update.

It’s a shame there isn’t an easy fix for the lume but I’m sure we’ll get an improved version at some point in the future.
 

Rupert Fripp

Active Member
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27/3/21
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Now that's commitment, well done! You've gone a long way to get what you wanted, the end result might not be 100% but it's definitely an improvement I would be happy with.
Thanks Kilo - after realising how difficult it was to find a good lume artist and then to create the right colour, I’m definitely happy with what I have now, even though it obviously isn’t perfect.
 

Rupert Fripp

Active Member
Supporter
Certified
27/3/21
362
187
43
Wow! Thanks for the detailed report - that is an amazing journey! It looks like a well earned upgrade to me.

...And thats a nice vintage strap too.
Thanks!

The strap is from Thomas Handmade! The quality of his straps are the best.
 

Rupert Fripp

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EDIT guys - the work and lume cost €280 NOT £280.

So a little cheaper.
 
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