The Breitling Watch Blog

I’ve never owned an homage Panerai before, only real Panerai’s and I have handled a fake that a friend of mine purchased. This is the first Homage I’ve owned, and I bought it used on Timezone. The watch has had a few owners already, and when it came to me, the brushed finish looked a bit re-done, at least compared with any of the factory finished watches I’ve purchased in the past. Overall, however, the watch is very nice with excellent lume and an awesome crystal.

As you can see, the dial is a black sandwich-style, with Swiss Super Luminova. This baby glows BRIGHT and long, just like my real Pannies. While this watch is meant to be similar to the original PAM127 “Fiddy”, its not meant to be an exact replica. The device protecting the crown does not have the “REG TM” marking on it, and also the protector lever points upwards on this Homage, as opposed to downwards on the original. The handes are all gold, just as they are on the original. The case, while well made and finished in 316L stainless steel, does not have quite the same level of precision that my real Panerai cases have. The surfaces around the lugs are not perfect, which is typical of lower-quality finished watches.

As you can see, the dial is marked “Marina Militare” as many of the Homages are. Under a loupe, the writing a crisp and precise. The replica that I examined did not have the same level of quality in the printing. The dial on this watch is marked Swiss, but I’m not sure if its because the dial is Swiss made or what. JOA is an Engineer based in the US and he makes the watches himself, so I don’t know how that works.

The edges on the device protecting the crown are not as sharp as the real ones, with a bit more rounded edges, either as a result of too much re-touching or lower quality final finish. The super-domed sapphire crystal looks amazing, giving the distorted edge look around the dial, making the numbers have that vintage look to them. When winding the watch, there is very little friction and and the winding crown bounces back quickly, this leads me to believe there is no o-ring or gaskets in the crown itself.

Movement in the JOA is an ETA/Unitas 6497, essentially the same movement that is used in the PAM127. This movement, however, is a base calibre without the frills such as bevelled gears, swan’s neck fine adjustment and polished screws. The Panerai movement also has their custom decorated bridges and plates. Here you get a basic swiss-made 17 jewel movement.

Overall, its a wonderful watch. Likely not very waterproof, since there are no gaskets in the crown, but not a big deal for me. I think its a great Homage watch, and doesn’t carry the stigma associated with fakes. While I don’t think that an Homage is a fake, it is still a copy, and this watch still feels like a copy of a genuine item. I only buy real watches, and while this is not a replica, it still doesn’t feel like the real deal. This watch costs 1/20th of what a PAM127 would cost, so its much more affordable, and the quality of the watch is more than what would be expected at the pricepoint. However, its still has that feeling of being a copied watch. That will be a personal point for purchasers, and won’t apply to every buyer.

Otherwise, I think its a great watch for the money, and gives you a lot of the fun of owning a PAM without buying a fake. Many of the Homage dealers out there also sell fakes, but Johel (JOA) does not sell fakes, which makes the watch a little better on the Karma scale.

Ocean7 makes a very nice looking watch, and I greatly enjoyed the Ocean7 LM-6c I had while I owned it. Great hunky-chunky look, and fantastic curved crystal. Lume was not the greatest, but I’m not really picky about Lume. The skeleton hands look pretty awesome on it too.

I owned it for quite a while, and then decided to sell it recently. I found out that when I bought the watch, the price was $1599, and then now the watch sells for $899, direct from Ocean7. For a company to drop the price so much is pretty drastic, and not much of a service to their customers. But, if that’s how they want to do things, I guess that’s that.

The Ocean7 uses a Valjoux 7750 movement, likely not modifed at all. It is completely swiss made with your typical 316L stainless steel case and Sapphire Crystal. Water resistant to 500m. Its a big watch at 44mm, with 24mm Lug width and includes both the steel bracelet and the strap. Overall a very nice watch for a very reasonable price, especially since the price reduction.

Here’s my recently posted Video Review of my George J Von Burg Sport Chronograph. I reviewed the George J Von Burg here, and now I’ve posted the video review as well so you can see that. The watch uses the workhorse ETA/Valjoux 7750, and measures 40mm in diameter. Swiss Made by GJVB, a privately owned, family-business watchmaker.

In the spirit of my budget watches series of articles, I bring you a video review of the budget Swiss Army Ambassador automatic Day-Date. This is a very well made watch for the money, and is crafted very well. The case work is substantially better than many watches in the price range.

If you’ve been following my blog, you guys might know that I’ve got a thing for Pilot watches. I’ve been collecting them for the past several months, and one of the ones that I have kept is the Eklund Pilot Watch. This watch uses German and Swiss parts, with the Swiss ETA 2824 workhorse movement. Glass is sapphire and the dial I believe is from Germany. Retail price on this watch is $650US from GNT Watch.

Dial is a simple Pilot dial with the Dots and Triangle 12 o’clock marker. Lume is good, but not fantastic – the luminous material is SuperLuminova. Matte black finish, with a 41mm case diameter, which makes it very wearable without being too large and uncomfortable. This is a great beater watch!

The Sapphire Glass is not AR coated, but it is curved so some reflections are noticeable. The case is brushed and the bezel is polished. Hands are polished stainless steel with SuperLuminova. There is a Date feature with quick-set and hacking seconds, which is standard with the ETA 2824 movement. I have mounted the Eklund Pilot watch on a Hand Made in Germany Jurgens pilot watch strap which looks great with the watch and is extremely comfortable.

As you can see, the watch has a Gilt ETA 2824 movement, and it is accurate at the moment to about 10 seconds a day. This could possibly be regulated to be slightly more accurate. The case back is exhibition and polished. I think having the caseback bushed like the rest of the case would have been better as it sometimes seems to cheapen the look of a watch a bit when they do not match.

The proverbial Wristshot. Shown on my 6.75″ wrist, the watch appears smaller from the angle that I’ve taken the picture, but I feel the 41mm diameter looks fine on my wrist. It does seem to wear more like a 40mm, however. The thickness is 11mm, and feel just about right. Not a bad watch if you can snag it for half price used, though at the retail price you have some more recognizable German and Swiss brands that would be a better choice.