[xeones]

Hi everyone. I'm looking for a Panerai homage that I can go swimming with (not diving). I'd like to get something under $200 and I wondered if any exist. From what I gather the best seem to be the getats and jacksons, but they are only rated to 3atm. If there aren't any that fit my criteria, is it possible to increase the water resistance of a getat or jackson? How hard would that be? I've looked at the "Best Panerai homage" thread but all the information is overwhelming and I couldn't find anything I could swim with. Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[2BATTRANGER]

I don't think I'd try swimming with ANY of the PAM styled Chinese homages!! They say 3ATM but I don't think I'd do more than wash my hands with them! It wouldn't be worth the added expense to try and upgrade the W/R either. (if it can even be done??)

 

[duke4c]

I had the same question but eventually I gave up on it.Problem is that UNITAS movement (as used in PAM and PAM homages) needs to be wound daily to get it working. This creates imense problems for cheap WR because:- you can't have a screw down crown. No screw down crown is made to be "unscrewed" daily for winding... plus it mighty unpractical to do as many folks wind their watches while on the wrist... as if this is not enough, unwiding and winding ANY screw daily eventually breaks "screwing" as screw threads thin over time- 2nd problem is a need for rubber gasket to protect water leak. Again this is almost impossible to to (on a cheap side) when you need to wind watch daily... stressing any kind of rubber gasket with daily winding will eventually weaken the gasket and can no longer be guaranteed to be WR.Now you know why PAM and it's famous patented "crown protection" was such a big deal when it came out. It wasn't cheap to make but it managed to resolve both of these issues. And now you also know why Panerai is so easily suing everyone who attempts to copy this system. And also, now you know why there is no PAM homage that is sutable for swimming...Cheers

 

[lysanderxiii]

I had the same question but eventually I gave up on it.Problem is that UNITAS movement (as used in PAM and PAM homages) needs to be wound daily to get it working. This creates imense problems for cheap WR because:- you can't have a screw down crown. No screw down crown is made to be "unscrewed" daily for winding... plus it mighty unpractical to do as many folks wind their watches while on the wrist... as if this is not enough, unwiding and winding ANY screw daily eventually breaks "screwing" as screw threads thin over time- 2nd problem is a need for rubber gasket to protect water leak. Again this is almost impossible to to (on a cheap side) when you need to wind watch daily... stressing any kind of rubber gasket with daily winding will eventually weaken the gasket and can no longer be guaranteed to be WR.Now you know why PAM and it's famous patented "crown protection" was such a big deal when it came out. It wasn't cheap to make but it managed to resolve both of these issues. And now you also know why Panerai is so easily suing everyone who attempts to copy this system. And also, now you know why there is no PAM homage that is sutable for swimming...Cheers

There are a number of manual wind watches with screwdown crown, some in the Panny shape. If you are careful and don't gorrila torque the crown, you should not have a problem.

Panerai is not suing people for copying their lever-lock crown system. They cannot. It was patented, the patent ran out, the design is in the public domain. Anyone can use it.

They have trademarked the shape of the bridge over the crown, your bridge must be shaped differently if you want to use their lever-lock system, that's all.

There are a number of these watches suitable for swimming, the PRS-20 is one. But, any that have been tested, would also be good....

 

[xeones]

There are a number of manual wind watches with screwdown crown, some in the Panny shape. If you are careful and don't gorrila torque the crown, you should not have a problem.

Panerai is not suing people for copying their lever-lock crown system. They cannot. It was patented, the patent ran out, the design is in the public domain. Anyone can use it.

They have trademarked the shape of the bridge over the crown, your bridge must be shaped differently if you want to use their lever-lock system, that's all.

There are a number of these watches suitable for swimming, the PRS-20 is one. But, any that have been tested, would also be good....

Thanks for the info. I checked out the PRS-20 but it doesn't have the the bridge over the crown which I would like. It's also a little out of my price range. What are some of the others that are suitable for swimming?

 

[Shibboleth]

I have a Helenarou pam homage that I got pressure-tested. It made 50m easily, which is fine for swimming, and all I was looking for.

The jeweler then tested it to 150m. He said that at that depth, the watch didn't leak out of the crown or back, but out of the front face.

The Helenarou sub homages are tested before they're sent out. If water resistance is important to you, you might want to ask her to test your pam homage before sending it out.