Sausage dials...

[rhaug]

Friends,

I have recently acquired a Noob 390, which has rekindled my enjoyment of the Panerai style.

Just one thing bothers me, the quality of the sausage dial. In most pictures it is difficult to discern gen from rep, but in real life the lack of deeply grooved indices is quite glaring. More so than say a proper flat cannon pinion etc.

It seems to be a well known issue with sausage dial models like 000, 005 etc, I have read some old threads about it.

I’m wondering if there are any upgrade options available? All I can find is going for a gen or a rolli dial.

I have read that H-fac dials are supposedly better when it comes to sausage dials, but are they cut/grooved like gen at all? Or are they mostly a better surface print?

Look forward to hear your opinions and perspectives, thank you.

 

[ALE7575]

THIS IS A CANNED AUTOMATIC MESSAGE (Please don’t reply this message).

Dear friend.
My message box is very busy at this moment.
It is impossible for me to reply all questions.
Please ask your question in the general forum in order to get more answers. I will try to participate.
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Regards,
ALE

 

[rhaug]

Hey ALE, thank you for jumping, although I'm not quite sure I understand your message

Anyway, there has been written a lot on the topic of sausage dials in the past, but unfortunately many of these old threads have lost the images and so valuable knowledge is no longer accessible.

Here is a thread comparing different prods of 390 dials, but where the images are gone as far as I can tell:

https://forum.replica-watch.info/threads/pam-390-hf-and-noob-dials.200895/

Here is an image showing very clearly the deep grooves of a good sausage dial:

View attachment 91626

These images from an old thread seem to show a very good H-fact dial with similar groovy indices:

From this thread:

https://forum.replica-watch.info/th...ded-h-fact-000-qc-pics-allowed.211340/page-12

Are H-fact dials as good as they look in these images, or are there any flaws to be aware of (beyond the large-ish center hole). And are they still as good today as they seemed to be two years ago?

 

[kilowattore]

Latest Hfac sausage dials are the best you can get bar a rolli or a gen afaik.

 

[rhaug]

Latest Hfac sausage dials are the best you can get bar a rolli or a gen afaik.

Thanks, sounds like I'll need to get some stuff from H-fac then Do you think a relume would make it even more gen like? Or would it not make much difference, given the basic structure of the dial?

 

[kilowattore]

A relume would be very difficult to do well. It would require scraping the old lume off the indices before applying the new layer. The risk of damaging the dial is high but I guess a very skilled guy could do it. Applying new lume on top of the existing layer is out of question as it would raise the indices and strengthen the sausage look.
In any case new HF dials are available only with white lume so if you're looking for an old dial with cream lume your only option is rolli.

 

[mysterio]

A relume would be very difficult to do well. It would require scraping the old lume off the indices before applying the new layer. The risk of damaging the dial is high but I guess a very skilled guy could do it. Applying new lume on top of the existing layer is out of question as it would raise the indices and strengthen the sausage look.
In any case new HF dials are available only with white lume so if you're looking for an old dial with cream lume your only option is rolli.

Does Rolli offer to relume dials? Didn't know that.

 

[rhaug]

A relume would be very difficult to do well. It would require scraping the old lume off the indices before applying the new layer. The risk of damaging the dial is high but I guess a very skilled guy could do it. Applying new lume on top of the existing layer is out of question as it would raise the indices and strengthen the sausage look.
In any case new HF dials are available only with white lume so if you're looking for an old dial with cream lume your only option is rolli.

Thanks for the explanation. Have read many times about people getting re-lumes done, so thought it wasn't a major operation, but maybe it's different for sausage dials?

In any case, trying to learn as much as I can about how to get to a better sausage dial, both the cheap and expensive ways, so thankful for the explanation!

 

[kilowattore]

Does Rolli offer to relume dials? Didn't know that.

No he doesn't, sorry if I was unclear. He sells/sold finished dials only.

 

[mysterio]

No he doesn't, sorry if I was unclear. He sells/sold finished dials only.

But even then does he have a variety of dials? I have not been following his work so I only know of a few.

 

[kilowattore]

But even then does he have a variety of dials? I have not been following his work so I only know of a few.

He produced his dials in batches so, for a short time he had say the 000 dial, then after a while a batch of 002, then a batch of 203/A and so on.
Last project I'm aware of was the 172 dial, but a long while has passed without news.

 

[d4m.test]

Where is the place to go to source dials? I’m looking for 000,005 or 111