Thoughts on the VS P.9001 Clone Movement

[RealMcCoy]

I bought about two months ago the VS factory high-end PAM 688 replica, a watch that I truly love for it’s clean dial that is a real chameleon in different lighting conditions and probably one of the most elegant Panerais.

However this post is not about the watch but rather it’s movement, about which I have some observations: The movement itself looks well replicated, however I have noticed that there are differing statements about the functionality of the power reserve. After not being able to figure out at first if it works at all I discovered more by accident that it actually seems to be more of trick gimmick. If you shake the watch (back facing you) to make the rotor turn counter-clockwise, it appears to „charge“ (i.e. the PR dial turns clockwise increasing the black space or making the red appear again on the left) and if you make rotor move clockwise, the PR appears to discharge.

What would interest me is if other owners of a PAM with this movement can confirm this same behavior and above all know if the rotor in this case actually winds and respectively unwinds the watch (which would somehow defeat the purpose of the automatic movement). If this is the way the rep movement behaves, can this function be modded to work like the gen?

I have also observed that the rotor (that tends to helicopter at the lightest turn of the wrist) and possibly the entire movement is probably poorly lubed. When it runs, it runs reliably with a high precision, but it definitely doesn’t have the three day PR of the original and, if not worn day in and out for a full day, will tend to stop early. Have others had the same experience and can the “run time” be extended through a proper servicing/lubing?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, experience and tips!

 

[RealMcCoy]

No opinions or other experiences?

 

[freefallrlc]

Kinda strange thing with my 9010 in my new PAM1305. Maybe similar Problem. While the movement is replicated super well (position and decoration) , I noticed that the watch´s power reserve is OK if manually wound up (around 30h) When I wear on wrist and move around normally, it also was fine and was still running after taking off the watch overnight. If I put it in the watch winder (clockwise winding, its a A 7750) overnight for around 13 hours, the power reserve lasts only 6-8 hours. Kinda weird....
Not sure if it´s a lubing problem, exception with only mine or general Problem with the highly moderated movement.

 

[RealMcCoy]

That is really interesting what you wrote and possibly proves a suspicion I have that the rotor winds the movement in one direction and unwinds it in the other
I‘ve experienced the same as you and suspect it should have probably received a uni-directionally winding rotor.

Curious to see if other PAM owners with this movement chime in and provide further evidence...

 

[freefallrlc]

But if I wear the watch on wrist it would be wound in 2 directions. In watch winder, set to clockwise only, it has less power reserve than on wrist. So the theory doesn't add up, right? Sounds more like it is actually a bidirectional movement.

 

[RealMcCoy]

Well... depends... I‘ve noticed the watch to have different PR run time after days of similar wear time. Yes, you could argue that the amount of wrist movement might have differed, but it still is funny ... what makes me especially suspicious is that the different rotation directions of the rotor change the rotation of the PR indicator disk (have you tried that on yours?). This could either mean the PR indicator is just a dummy (which is likely) or that it does actually wind and unwind depending on rotation

 

[freefallrlc]

Actually I tried the watch winder with bidirectional winding. If I remember correctly the power reserve afterwards was slightly less than normal clockwise. That would mean it's only winding clockwise. Less reserve because bidirectional winding for same time means less winding in clockwise.
I had the feeling that winding in Winder might make the for it turn less. Because if the angle perhaps. But on the other hand the rotor turns so easily... Impossible to not wind there

 

[RealMcCoy]

Yup, this is in line with my observations. I‘m tempted to send mine in to a watchmaker for a proper oiling (the rotor sounds like it runs dry so I don’t think the rest of the movement has received more oil) and to ask them to investigate the function of the power reserve and winding. Would so love to do this myself, but really love this watch and don’t want to ruin it.

 

[d4rk]

Hello mates,
i have a smilar issue. Just got my vsf 441 with superclone movement. If i wear the watch regular on the wrist it Stopps every two days. And the autowind does only work in one direction.
did you send yours to a watchsmith and did he Figure out the Problem?

 

[tommikeson]

Same with me. It stops despite regular wear. Rotor only goes one way, sounds like it needs some oil. I'm not sure who to send to in the US.

 

[nalomb]

I can save you the suspense on the PR indicator — it’s faux.

Now on the unidirectional versus bidirectional, that’s an interesting conclusion. There should be a clutch in the movement that prevents that from happening, although; in the name of case thickness (and gen feel, of course), that may have been excluded from the gear train.

That could be the culprit, or the fact that the base movement under the deco plates is much cheaper than we all fear haha.


Sent from my iPhone using RWI

 

[JOP]

oh, you kill the mystery in that post...

Guys they are small, mechanical, hi beat movements. We can't have their full working order without pass the running in period.
Their running in period depend on the quality of the built, something we know that has only the necessary actions have been done about.

A service its always recommended and usually reforms the movement to a 25% better one..
Why not change the barrel complete if your watchsmith agree?

It took me almost six months to "break in" my 7733 movement and gain 42h working time.
Over of 20 times of winding carefully to gain 56h with A6497 and i still think that needs cleaning and proper built - lubrication.
Even a nos quartz may be subject of poor working order and needs service sometimes.

 

[Redfoot]

Same with me. It stops despite regular wear. Rotor only goes one way, sounds like it needs some oil. I'm not sure who to send to in the US.

I also have the V2 P9001 clone in a PAM688 and after recently reading this post thought I'd do a little test. I have only even hand wound the watch once (when I received it) so after a wearing for it for a few days I boxed it up and left it undisturbed to see how long it would run. It went from 7pm on Wednesday to 9:25am on Saturday, so OOTB the movement isn't bad really, perhaps you got a dud.

 

[johnlogan]

Anyone tried winding the watch rolling the crown backwards in position one ? it the sound is like winding a A6497 ( PAM111 )