DSN Luminor Marina Militare
PAM 036
A review in two parts
PART.1 - Out of the box
PAM 036
A review in two parts
PART.1 - Out of the box
This review is meant to be the first of two parts. Here I will try to focus on evaluating the rep currently offered by Davidsen as it is OOB while, in the second part, I will hopefully to show the same watch after some modding. I have not started working on this watch yet but I have a plan
so the results are still uncertain. Only time will tell THE GEN
The 036 marina militare is one of the most legendary vendome watches after Panerai Firenze was sold to Vendome in 1997.
Following the successful launch of Panerai PAM040 (a mysterious luminor marina model, black dial with tritium lume and titanium case) to test the market in EU, USA and Japan, Panerai/Vendome announced the release of this 200 pcs limited special edition in 1999. PAM 036 unlike its predecessor features a tobacco dial, but shares with it the tritium lumed sausage dial. It's the last model released with such luminous material which develops a unique patina over time and gives a character to the models using it. It is also the first model featuring the "marina militare" inscriptions on the dial after the pre-v 5218-202A.
Fun fact is a few examples with luminova (L SWISS L) dial have been spotted through the years (and today Panerai shows such dial on his website!). This is most likely due to the release date being so close to the date Panerai switched production to luminova, thus no spares have been produced and a few dials might have been exchanged with L SWISS L dials during service. Seeing how desirable and collectible (and expensive) the T SWISS T gens are nowadays, I can only imagine how pissed one of those owners can be
THE REP
Model: PAM 036
Maker: Davidsen (DSN)
Movement: Asian 6497 clone
Dealer: Davidsen
Just one word to describe how dealing with David is: great! His shipping is the slowest on earth, but I won't get tired to stress how nice, competent and professional he is with his watches. It took almost a month for this watch to get to Italy, but as you will see it was well worth the wait
DIAL
I'm starting this review from the dial because it has recently been updated and, with the exception of a nice post by HugoP on RG, there has been very little discussion about it. How wrong have we been! This is an awesome improvement on his previous dials (check older version here - thanks to shelby1501). The dial now has no outline around the numerals and indices and the look is now very close to the gen dial.
The indices and numbers have a warm yellow tone with a bit of glossy finish, the mix of yellow indices, white text, tobacco dial color and titanium case is out of this world. Definitely one of my all time favourite color schemes.
Let's see what are the differences with the gen dial:
GEN
REP
GEN
REP
As you can see the gen dial has overall deeper colors, the yellow is more saturated and the brown of the dial is a deeper tone. DSN's dial also seem to have a bit of a green hue. The MARINA MILITARE LUMINOR PANERAI inscriptions fonts are slightly smaller, there's more space between one letter and the other. Some very fine differences in numbers shape that would need to overlay the pics to be seen clearly.
In gen dial the walls around the numbers and indices engravings are polished, an effect that's missing in the rep.
All in all I'm impressed by the accuracy of this rep dial and totally in love with its look
CRYSTAL AND HANDS
Davidsen's sapphire has great clarity, even without AR treatment. Crystal height is a tiny bit too tall imho.
Hands are a certainty, very well made with great texture and a nice pale yellow color that's perfect for this non-matching watch. Hands are flush with CP, but the pinion should be flattened and polished.
CASE
GEN
REP
Davidsen's case shape is overall very good imho, the lugs might need more curve on the bottom side, and the four corners of the case should be sharper. On the other hand lug holes placement is good, distance between the lugs and the upper part of the case is right, bezel looks good and its base has the correct height. In the upper part of the case the curves are sharp and well defined.
Anyway, there are members way more experienced than me about these shapes, I will leave further analysys to them to confirm or deny my observations.
The case finish could use a bit more attention instead, the brushed finish is a bit too rough and as you can see in close up pics there are some machining marks and some residues of production left on the case that will have to be removed by hand.
CROWNGUARD
The crownguard looks pretty good to me. CG pin placement is good (finish could be perfected as it is not perfectly flat), lever tip is a bit too far from the case and should be a bit rounder, inner CG cutouts are slightly too round (even if gen B series CG doesn't feature the sharp cutouts we're used to in contemporary CGs).
Gen crown looks to be slightly polished while rep looks blasted.
CASEBACK
GEN
REP
Davidsen's 036 caseback is the only available option for a 036 build. All the inscriptions are there, but some fonts are a bit messed, especially the OFFICINE PANERAI engraving has too tall (or maybe too narrow) fonts with wrong shape. The fish, the TITANIUM and 300m inscriptions look closer to the gen.
Also this is the only case set featuring the engravings on the back of the case. OP 6513, BB number and production number are correctly placed and font is similar but a tad too fat.
The movement here is a standard asian 6497, decorated with DSN's thin plates. Once again the result is nice, the PANERAI engravings look crisp enough and the golden OFFICINE PANERAI FIRENZE engraving on the side looks to be the correct gold color although a bit too big. Of course it's quite noticeable that gen movement features a Y incabloc and, even more, the jewels have a gold plated outline that give a unique look to the movement.
STRAP
A special mention is due to the strap I mounted on this watch. It is a Di Stefano "Perfetto" (which obviously means "perfect"), it's made of lamb skin and is A W E S O M E !!!!
Really, this leather is just so smooth, it has such a rich color and it's evident that it will develop an awesome patina with time that it's quite difficult to describe.
I was lucky enough to see one on offer recently and snatch it up immediately. Any strap lover should do the same and have one asap, this is indeed one if not the best strap I ever tried (and I tried a few...).
Great job Simona and Chris, glad to have you on board!
CONCLUSIONS
I have tried to be extremely picky reviewing this watch, but the truth is that I am very impressed by it. I had a few watches from Davidsen this year, mostly pre-v, and this has anyway been a surprise. Great looking case, good case back, great CG, and most of all a great looking dial make this a watch that should not have passed practically unnoticed until now. Good work DSN, highly recommended release!
Now a few more pics
Lume shot:
And a wristie!
As usual any input and comment is very welcome, I would be glad to update the review with anything I missed.
Hope you enjoyed the reading and pics!
:cheers:
