VSF PAM88

[KOT1917]

Well, the old Noob polished CG was pretty bad on this example as well when it comes to the lever, polishing is off.

Of course that does not take the VSF's new version flaws off, but tells us we don't have any properly good version as today.

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The gen lever must not be polished. It is satin finished, like noob.

 

[Replisimio]

The gen lever must not be polished. It is satin finished, like noob.

Yes the Cg should be polished but the lever should be brushed.


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[mrsullivan]

Gentlemen, it seems my 088 has landed at home. I'll unbox it later today after work and share a 1rst live insight + picture set, I'm quite curious and impatient.

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[Genera74]

Gentlemen, it seems my 088 has landed at home. I'll unbox it later today after work and share a 1rst live insight + picture set, I'm quite curious and impatient.

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Cant wait... could you confirm the 24hr or 12hr. That's the biggest one for me..

 

[jonnybaws]

Cant wait... could you confirm the 24hr or 12hr. That's the biggest one for me..

It's 12hr movement.

 

[Rx4Time]

Here's a couple of macro pictures of my franken. Crown guard is genuine, dial and hands are genuine for comparison/reference.

 

[sukwonee]

Cant wait... could you confirm the 24hr or 12hr. That's the biggest one for me..

I thought this was already confirmed to be 12hr.

 

[themannier]

Here is a H fac pam228 Firenze with a XF pam111 crown guard I had in spare part.
The stock Hfac crown guard was too big and too sharp so I decided to take the XF 111 CG which is thinner like the gen CG. The XF CG fits perfectly to the Hfac case and it works firmly when closing the lever

It's important to note that the gen CG is a bit rounded,with soft edges. It took more than 8 hours of job to get the "perfect" shape with a mirror polishing surface. The pin has been flattened and polished too. You can get the same result with the XF 088 but expect at least 2 days of work if you want something nice, but maybe I am too slow lol

 

[mrsullivan]

All right, here it is.

I'm no expert, I know very knowledgable fellows here will chime in and I hope these pics will help.
If you need more specific shots, don't hesitate to ask.

So, my 1rst thoughts? All in all this watch looks ok, everything seem in line, the movement works great, strong lume, quite nice hands and a decent grainy dial.
The polish work, although not always at the right place, is very nice.
Globally we have here the usual basic VSF quality, with a good weight and feeling on the wrist.

But, there's always a but (don't tell me you're surprised!)...

- CG, we know the problem, not the right polish. Works smooth and good. Firm crown closing snap.

- GMT hand : 12h confirmed, but we all knew that. No independent setting.

- Settings : 1rst position is hour hand only back and forth setting. No independent date set. 2nd is normal time setting.

- Rotor is quite noisy.

- Seconds sub dial : satin silver material, no grooves whatsoever.

- "Leather" look a like strap : garbage. Deployant clasp ? Garbage too. The black rubber feels quite nice though. The white letter painting is a matter of taste, I kind o'like it.

- Quick release strap bars : surprisingly they work good.

And now, onto the pics (heavy!) :

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[sukwonee]

mrsullivan

Great photos and explanations. If Panerai made the 88 with brushed CG, I think it would have looked better lol. As suspected, VSF overall quality just seems to be amazing on all their watches.

 

[themannier]

mrsullivan you have a nice piece there, thanks for sharing these pictures !

 

[jonnybaws]

Despite its flaws, it looks great on the wrist, congrats!!

 

[KOT1917]

mrsullivan

Great photos and explanations. If Panerai made the 88 with brushed CG, I think it would have looked better lol. As suspected, VSF overall quality just seems to be amazing on all their watches.

A good solution, considering that it scratches, besides, first of all, CG, but ... I see the situation in such a way that polished CG is always stained on watches with a hand-wound, and may even scratch. On automatic ones, you touch it less often, so it is less prone to marks, and can be polished like the case as a whole.

No official data, just my logic to explain the choice.

mrsullivan ! Thank you very much for the photos and description! This is an interesting and sought-after watch, and your input is important. Looking at your photos from their wrists, many will understand that it makes sense to get them, because it looks in general, it is great, without a second thought, what a gen looks like, or what an old noob might be.

It seems that vsf instead of panerai offered its own version of pam2088 with in-house movt. and some changes on the dial, case and CG finish.
And I really like the last photo. This watch suits you!

 

[mrsullivan]

Thank you guys.

Apart of CG and GMT the thing that bugs me more than I thought is the 9 o'clock subdial, the absence of circle patterns makes it flat.

But hey, still, it does looks good and it feels all right. It's not the amazing gen feeling I have from my old Noob 297 O-series for example but these watches are from a different time, so comparison is irrelevant.

This VSF IS nice, please give us a V2 with corrected flaws and that's gonna be a must have.

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[Woundup]

mrsullivan - nice review & thanks for taking the time to post your impressions.

Regarding the subdial groves; don't sweat it.... I have the gen88 and it's impossible to see them unless under magnification. On the wrist the subdial just appears to be a satin silver finish as you referenced above... Here are a couple of pictures of the gen to explain:

Even with a close up picture, you can barely see the grooves. To the naked eye the grooves are impossible to detect (and I have 20/20 vision).

You have to magnify significantly to see them:

Enjoy your new 88!

 

[mrsullivan]

You're right, it changes slightly the lights reflection under certain angles, but no deal breaker to me. Thanx for your opinion on this.

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[mysterio]

If you can accept the wrong CG and the wrong GMT, the lack of the fine grooves on the 9 o'clock subdial shouldn't bother you.

Maybe VSF released the V1 with all the flaws they could pack into the watch to see how accepting customers would be, and then release a V2 with one flaw improved, then a V3 with another one, then a V4 with another improvement but then take a step back by returning a flaw that was already fixed, and so on...By the time it's all fixed, it's a V10. (joking not joking) That is why i prefer everything to be good on a V1, especially with the improvements on replication over the years. This is not 10 years ago where you bought a rep knowing it would need some modding to get it to an acceptable version, the PAM111 being a classic example. That all changed with the Noob release.

 

[sukwonee]

Woundup it's interesting to see a slight recessed CP on your gen. I got curious and looked up pics of a few different gens and the CP seems to be all over the place (some even had it raised above the hands). Maybe this is Series-Specific.

 

[mrsullivan]

If you can accept the wrong CG and the wrong GMT, the lack of the fine grooves on the 9 o'clock subdial shouldn't bother you

Don't misunderstand me, once again no deal breaker here, it's more that I did'nt think it would pop in my mind when putting it on my wrist. All in all I'm quite happy with the watch, it has the known flaws but the build quality is up to VSF standards.
The gen pics above are welcome to measure the level of differences with the rep subdial. It's more interesting than frustrating in this case.

Here is a pic of the hands alignment and of the new painted rubber strap. I must say it's soft, confortable and the painting work is nicely done.

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[Hazing]

When you get a chance, Mr Sullivan, if you could take and post some pics outside in the natural sunlight, that would be great. Thank you.

And vsf did do a terrible job on that subdial. The gmt function and crown guard are just sloppy.

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