When I heard that VSF was bringing out the 1096, the joy was great. The 1096 is one of those modern models that combines Panerai's classic styling with a modern mix of materials. With the matt grey colour scheme and red accents, it's exactly to my taste. So I ordered the watch blind from my dealer in China. When the first QCs arrived, however, the disappointment was great. The dial in particular had nothing to do with the pictures of the Gen on the Panerai website. Now I have the watch in my hands and the disappointment has largely disappeared. VSF has built a beautiful watch, but unfortunately, one must also critically note that the poorly made dial in particular ensures that the VSF 1096 is not a good rep. But first things first ...
The Gen
The 1096 Luna Rossa GMT was presented at the SIHH 2021 and, with a size of 42mm, is fully in line with the current marketing trend of Panerai, who want to serve the Asian market with smaller watches. And even as a die-hard fan of the brand, it has to be said that especially the light titanium models in 42mm are also very comfortable to wear for normal European wrists.
The watch is - according to the marketing blah-blah - a tribute to the Italian sailing team "Luna Rossa" in the 36th America's Cup. That is, of course, nonsense. Panerai sponsors the team at great expense and is allowed to use the name "Luna Rossa" for it. Sailing and luxury watches naturally go well together, so it´s no "tribute" but a clever marketing scheme. However, the Florentines have come up with something special for the 1096: The dial of the watch is made of "Scafotech", the carbon fibre from which the yacht of the Luna Rossa team was also made. According to marketing, the dials even come from the same workpieces that were used to make the yacht. Do we believe it? No matter. In any case, the watch is limited to 250 pieces.
The Case
The 1096 comes in a modern 1950 case design, which, to put it simply, is more streamlined and thus sportier. What is special about the 1096 is the mix of materials. Case, lugs and crownguard are made of sandblasted titanium. The watch is therefore very light and has a "metal flake finish" that glimmers nicely under certain lighting conditions, but otherwise appears rather matt. The bezel is made of Carbotech, Panerai's patented carbon fibre, which we already know from numerous Gen and Rep models. The caseback is closed and also made of titanium.
VSF has actually done almost everything right with the case. The Gen is 14.3 mm thick, the VSF is only slightly thicker at 14.5 mm. The small difference is of course due to the slightly thicker Clone movement. The VSF is also made of titanium and the surface structure is well done. The design is also very similar to the Gen. The bezel is almost perfect. There are deductions for the crownguard, which is simply dirty. Here I have a suspicion. Some time ago I did a review of the TTF 1122, which had exactly the same quality problems with the crown guard. As I found out later, it is enough to clean the CG properly to get rid of the "discolouration". So either VSF and TTF have the same sloppy supplier or this watch is from TTF and (because of the Clone movement?) is only marketed under the name of the more prestigious Factory VSF, of which it is not clear since the Raids anyway whether it still exists at all. But that is, of course, speculation.
8/10
Movement
In the Gen ticks the P9010, which has been Panerai's workhorse since 2017 and ticks as an in-house movement in many newer models. Since the movement is only 6mm thick, it allows for slimmer cases, which is a big advantage, especially in the smaller models.
VSF's traditional Clone movement is installed in the VSF. It is branded as a P9010 clone, but it is a P9000 clone. The technical differences are marginal. Of course, the clone movement does not have the 72h PR of the Gen movement and has a stop-second, which the Gen movement does not have. 12h GMT function and "flying hour" are the same as on the Gen movement. Since the watch has a closed caseback, I will not go into visual differences. On the positive side, the VSF is only 2mm thicker than the Gen, despite the thicker P9000 clone. This is not noticeable on the arm and is a very big advantage over VSF's Luminor-Due-Reps, which at 42mm in size are very significantly thicker than the extremely narrow Gen models.
The VSF clones are inferior to more common movements like the A7750 in terms of replacement parts, but they are considered quite solid, so there's not much to worry about here.
I should also mention that the rotor is quite audible. However, VSF generally has a problem here with all post-raid movements.
9/10
Hands, Date, CG
VSF has also done a good job with the hands. However, the steel of the hands looks too bright, especially in the light. To judge this accurately, however, you would have to have Gen and Rep next to each other. So it remains a subjective impression. Gen and VSF have green Luminova, the quality of VSF is good as usual.
The date window looks very good and the DW is also well done.
The CG is not so good. In addition to the dirt (see above), the entire surface looks somewhat darker than on the case and the Gen, and the structure is not so well worked out. Otherwise, the CG, Crown and Crown-Lever are of solid VSF quality. You will certainly find small flaws "under the microscope", but for me at least, they don't matter.
8/10
Dial
Now it gets complicated. Since the 1096 has a carbon dial with a very complex surface structure, it was clear from the start that this would also be the decisive test for VSF. And unfortunately VSF failed here - it has to be said so bitterly. The complex structure of the dial is not to be found in the VSF. It is true that the VSF dial has a "carbon-like" structure, but this is only slightly pronounced and can only be recognised at all under certain lighting conditions.
But here, too, one must differentiate. One should not go in for the obvious comparison of the VSF with Panerai's PR photos. In the latter, the structure comes extremely to the fore, but it is unclear whether the pictures are real at all and not CGI, and how they were photographed and post-processed. Unfortunately, since the watch is strictly limited, it is hard to find real photos on the net that were taken under comprehensible and replicable lighting conditions. In any case, the sales photos at Chrono24 do not show such clear strutures as the PR photos from Panerai in most cases. Here, the difference to the VSF is often not so great.
Nevertheless, there is nothing to gloss over here. Normally, the VSF dial looks more like a matt dark grey dial without any structure. The structure, which is visible in strong light, is hardly visible on the wrist.
Anyone hoping for a better v2 is probably hoping in vain. VSF has not managed to get the complex Luna Rossa dials right in the past and I think it is unlikely that there will be a v2, especially since this model will certainly not sell too often as a v1.
But perhaps one should also keep one's feet on the ground. If I didn't know the gen, I would definitely call the dial pretty. For those of us for whom proximity to the Gen is not so terribly important, the VSF dial is a problem that could be overlooked.
2/10
Strap
A few - actually unnecessary - words about the strap: It's really bad and so stiff that you could build a diving board for the hamster cage out of it. I can't understand why VSF didn't include a rubber strap with the watch or why they only deliver it with a rubber strap. The Gen is delivered with rubberstrap and black aligatorstrap.
0/10
Conclusion
If you prefer reps that have NWBIG or even Super-Rep status, you should give the VSF 1096 a wide berth. Full stop.
However, if you like the design of the 1096 and can overlook the obvious flaws in the dial, the VSF 1096 is a nice, lightweight and wearable alternative at 42mm. Perhaps the VSF 1096 should be called a homage rather than a rep?
I myself will probably sell mine ;-)
