Vintage Panerai 3646 with prototype dial
Tale of a rivet dial
Tale of a rivet dial
Get your reading glasses on because I have a lot to write on this project
During my constant research on vintage PAMs I encountered a few pics of a very special and diverse 3646, one with a prototype dial made of three layers: a brass disc used as a base, a black mid layer on which the lume was applied and a top layer made of plexiglass. The three layers were held together by two rivets placed on the sides fo the center hole. It was a very special dial and a very special watch, this is the pic that started it all:
Obviously, as soon as I saw it I wanted to build one, so I started searching for sources for a dial. Eventually I found Radiomires on HF produced a small batch of these a while ago, the study behind the dial was phenomenal and the result was totally awesome. Dials were produced using a process very similar to the gen one, biggest difference was the numbers and indices were engraved on the back of the plexi. The result was so close to the gen and so beautiful that it hurt.
Needless to say those dials are long gone and those who have one are sticking to it not wanting to let go such a beauty. I do understand them
Anyway, Steph_Dexter saw my WTB and replied telling me "Mate, why don't you let me try and make one of these for you? I think I can do it". Of course my reply was "make two of 'em while your at it
"Dials production took a while, but the attention to detail SD showed was great as usual and the final result was way beyond my expectations.
Here are some pics of one of the dials SD produced for me:
As you can see this dial is simply top notch, no less. The engravings are crisp, there is no "pixelation" effect like visible in Athaya's dials. From what I can tell SD used a similar process as Radiomires, a brass base plate and a back-engraved plexi top layer held by rivets. One thing worth mentioning is numbers and indices are not lumed, just painted. Another important feature is the plexi disc itself being domed and thinning out towards the edges.
This is a very important feature, as a matter of fact this is THE reason I could use this dial on a thin NW "cali" case set, although the assembly is now very tight inside the case. The builders know that these cases use a movement ring which is designed to accept a thin 0.8 - 1.0 mm dial (like the cali dial that gives it its name), while these rivet dials are 1.5mm+ thick at the center.
Now let's go fast forward a few months. I am talking with a friend about, guess what, vintage PAMs and he mentions how he'd like to find a rivet dial, so I tell him
"I'm your man mate, I have two great dials SD made for me and I'm building one right now" and show him some pics.
Friend
"You have two? Then build two watches, one for you and one for your friend in a distant country which shares the same addiction"
And here's why you're seeing two almost identical watches in the pics here
A few details needed to be sorted before the build was finished. My obvious case choice, as stated above, was NW's case as I find it the best shaped case available by far. I got two of them, one from the older batch and one from the most recent updated batch. Can I say he perfected perfection? I'll let you guess which is which, those who will see the subtle difference will be amazed
Then, blue hands. I wanted them to be heat blued, not anodized, but at the same time I did not want to mess with broaching hands as I never tried it. I hope I'm not excessively boring with this umpth technical detail, but the biggest problem the builders have with blued hands is the lack of a tube. You need the CP to stick out tall over the dial or you won't have enough clearance for the hands to rotate. Athaya went around the problem using anodized blue hands with a tall tube, the look is nice but the blue isn't deep enough. The color changes of a proper SS heat blued handset are unobtainable through anodizing.
River approached the problem installing a SS tube after blueing the hands. It's a clever solution although this way you can see a metal rim around the hand hole at certain angles. Very good yet still not perfect, anyway the only solution I was aware of except a set of binbin hands.
I thought NW was selling the same hands as River, they looked ok for the project so I went ahead and ordered a couple of sets. Much to my surprise the hands where nothing like expected, they were far better instead!
These are the first blued hands I see which are not only broached to size, but feature a tube which is part of the hand itself. Hands have been relumed and slightly rusted, one set a bit more than the other. The only let down is the segmented hour hand which is incorrect compared to reference.
Of course using NW hands required installation of a H4 HW+CP set on the a6497 I used in order to allow clearance of the thick dial and the extra thickness added by the rivets. This was not difficult at all...
Well, this is it.
The rest of build proceeded more or less in the usual way, case shaping, soldering lugs and crown tube, aging, refinishing. To be more adherent to the reference pic I opted for a clean polished finish on the watches. Like I did with hands, one of the cases is a little more aged than the other in order to maintain a subtle difference between the watches.
Both straps come from Bakeka, both with hidden rivets. He can make them with any leather hide he has in stock and it's such a clever solution for fixed lugbars.
Here are a few more pics:
Hope you enjoyed the reading and pics, new projects coming soon!
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