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Simonix

My Vintage Pam 6154 build - Ongoing

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Simonix

Hi all.

As some of you are aware, I have been delving into the world of vintage Pams and wanted to build my own custom watch.

I have a lovely PAM622 rep which is a lovely slim vintage case based on the original Rolex built 6154 Panerai from the 1950s. This, along with seeing other fantastic builds from the likes of @kilowattore,  inspired me to have a go at building my own 6154 homage.

This is an ongoing build, and this is by no means finished.

So far I have done the following:

River 6154 case set, lightly aged and polished - No reshaping yet, as I don't have enough "knowledge" on what/where to do it.
7mm brevet crown, lightly aged and polished.
6497 movement - Will be fitting a serviced Cortebert 616 very soon (just waiting on the hands from Nightwatch).
River 3 piece dial, repainted and aged - This is very much "work in progress" (Another dial from Athaya is in the post for me to make a 2nd attempt).
Blackened resin and aged lume.
Nightwatch 6497 Tall tube hands. Aged.
T24 plexi, aged and polished - Will probably update this to the more rounded T25 or Steinkreuz M.
Zeppelin Craft custom ammo strap + vintage style buckle (also aged and polished).
Slim Solid caseback, aged and polished - May change to a display caseback after fitting the swiss 616 movement.

I am completely open to anyone's feedback and any tips, pointers, or advice you can give me to improve my project.

Will keep this updated as I try more dial/resin/lume options, fit the 616, and any other further enhancements I can discover.  For now, here are some pics of how it looks today!

cVaUY.jpg
cVqho.jpg
cVUbs.jpg
cViQD.jpg
cVmRk.jpg
cVOsP.jpg
cVyZW.jpg
cVI9J.jpg
cV1qS.jpg
 

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Simonix

It's funny, so many of those scratches aren't really visible when the watch is on the wrist?! Macro shots really show everything!!

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tribefan
8 hours ago, Simonix said:

It's funny, so many of those scratches aren't really visible when the watch is on the wrist?! Macro shots really show everything!!

Yeah, for sure, I see that in my watches all the time. The good news is on vintage most anything goes.

Nice build, really well done. Love everything except the dial is not my style. On these vintage pieces, I like looks old, but well taken care of old. But again, that is style, certainly not criticism.

This is my favorite style case to work on and change straps. Love the Radiomir, but hate the strap bars, and I really don't like any CG cases, so this is a good fit.

The Cort 616 is a nice choice. I've got a couple of swiss 6498's I was able to pick up for $100 each. One of these days I'm going to try and rebuild one of them, but they both run nicely today. 

Great work here, this is not easy to do, and as I'm sure you know, there are plenty of opportunities to screw things up. Getting to the finish line is an accomplishment.

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Simonix
3 minutes ago, tribefan said:

Yeah, for sure, I see that in my watches all the time. The good news is on vintage most anything goes.

Nice build, really well done. Love everything except the dial is not my style. On these vintage pieces, I like looks old, but well taken care of old. But again, that is style, certainly not criticism.

This is my favorite style case to work on and change straps. Love the Radiomir, but hate the strap bars, and I really don't like any CG cases, so this is a good fit.

The Cort 616 is a nice choice. I've got a couple of swiss 6498's I was able to pick up for $100 each. One of these days I'm going to try and rebuild one of them, but they both run nicely today. 

Great work here, this is not easy to do, and as I'm sure you know, there are plenty of opportunities to screw things up. Getting to the finish line is an accomplishment.

Thanks. 
 

yes, I am undecided on the dial myself to be honest. A bit too vintage really?! 

I have already stripped it back to bare brass again to have another go,,,,

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NCRich

Very nice job.

Is Athaya shipping regular post now?

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GingerApple
8 hours ago, Simonix said:

It's funny, so many of those scratches aren't really visible when the watch is on the wrist?! Macro shots really show everything!!

I think it might need even more! Well, maybe not more dents/scratches - you've done that  well to my eye - but the case is still a bit too shiny for the dial imo; it doesn't look weathered enough in spite of the dings.

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Intresting

You are a long way down the road with what it is.   Looking forward to see what you do with Dial number 2.  :)  So inspiring to see skills in others that I obviously do not possess. 

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dingle

Well done!

Brings back old memories of the one I did a long time ago.......

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Simonix

Dial attempt number 2!

Didn’t like the over the top ageing to be honest, so gone with a more subtle look. Also managed to get the white pastel powder into the engraving better this time. Also the lume/indices are much more visible. 

Improvement??

gLAL2.jpg
gLhGt.jpg
gLKpF.jpg

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GingerApple

Different, but both nice for me. I think I prefer the first slightly as I'm not a huge fan of the white bits, but that's purely personal taste. Certainly a good job :thumbsup2:

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Flinnt

I love that first dial. Doesn’t even have to be in something aged. Rustic design that looks like it’s just come off a potters wheel. 
 

I know what you mean about macro shots. I still hesitate each time I go to take one...because I’m gonna find another flaw I didn’t know about previously. 

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tribefan

Looks great, really nice work on this.

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Phoenixboy

Good effort mate.



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dingle

The white is too white IMO. Needs to look slightly aged and you’ll have a show stopper. 

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Simonix

Yet another dial attempt. This time from Athaya. Went for another cream dial, with black indices and engraving. 

Plexi was damaged from my first “ageing” process to the case, so got a replacement from NW. 
Turns out the new a River case set uses a T25 “authentic” size plexi, instead of the older type now. 40.8mm instead of 40mm. 

Then finally, I also dropped in the Cortebert 616 after receiving some hands and stem (also from Athaya). 

ZDiSO4.jpg
ZDiGzj.jpg
ZDiR6v.jpg
ZDifv1.jpg

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Phoenixboy
Yet another dial attempt. This time from Athaya. Went for another cream dial, with black indices and engraving. 
Plexi was damaged from my first “ageing” process to the case, so got a replacement from NW. 
Turns out the new a River case set uses a T25 “authentic” size plexi, instead of the older type now. 40.8mm instead of 40mm. 
Then finally, I also dropped in the Cortebert 616 after receiving some hands and stem (also from Athaya). 
ZDiSO4.jpg
ZDiGzj.jpg
ZDiR6v.jpg
ZDifv1.jpg

That looks really good mate.
That dial is a great colour


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Daffy
3 hours ago, Simonix said:

Yet another dial attempt. This time from Athaya. Went for another cream dial, with black indices and engraving. 

Plexi was damaged from my first “ageing” process to the case, so got a replacement from NW. 
Turns out the new a River case set uses a T25 “authentic” size plexi, instead of the older type now. 40.8mm instead of 40mm. 

Then finally, I also dropped in the Cortebert 616 after receiving some hands and stem (also from Athaya). 

ZDiSO4.jpg
ZDiGzj.jpg
ZDiR6v.jpg
ZDifv1.jpg

 

:Applause: from another PAM junkie.  And the 616 is a great choice, especially with the prices on 8 day movements nowadays.

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Edeeot
4 hours ago, Simonix said:

Yet another dial attempt. This time from Athaya. Went for another cream dial, with black indices and engraving. 

Plexi was damaged from my first “ageing” process to the case, so got a replacement from NW. 
Turns out the new a River case set uses a T25 “authentic” size plexi, instead of the older type now. 40.8mm instead of 40mm. 

Then finally, I also dropped in the Cortebert 616 after receiving some hands and stem (also from Athaya). 

ZDiSO4.jpg
ZDiGzj.jpg
ZDiR6v.jpg
ZDifv1.jpg

That is super sharp, love the color selection on the dials.  Are the dials lumed, I can't really see from the pictures?

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Simonix
15 minutes ago, Edeeot said:

That is super sharp, love the color selection on the dials.  Are the dials lumed, I can't really see from the pictures?

Dial isn’t lumed. The indices have lume behind the blackened resin, but it’s not very visible at night to be fair. 
 

For info, the original 6154 Radiomir used Radium for the lume (hence the name). This highly radioactive substance, bleached the dials to varying grades of brown/tan/cream over time, lost their luminescence, and also darkened the numbers/markers  in colour to a dark red to almost black. 

The radium in the hands also “scorched” the dial over the years, which is why you see the circular marks on the dials. 

these Homage watches are all made to portray the history above. 
 

In my opinion, all very interesting, and one of the reasons I wanted to make some of my own...

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Simonix

Here is an original 6154, that sold at Christie’s back in 2009 for $175k...
 

ZjHRLP.md.png

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Simonix
2 hours ago, Daffy said:

 

:Applause: from another PAM junkie.  And the 616 is a great choice, especially with the prices on 8 day movements nowadays.

Thanks. Yes, the angelus movements cost as much as a complete gen watch!!

mind you, these 616 aren’t exactly cheap...

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Daffy
17 hours ago, Simonix said:

Thanks. Yes, the angelus movements cost as much as a complete gen watch!!

mind you, these 616 aren’t exactly cheap...

I wonder if you can buy the marked plates a bit cheaper, and drop them on a good running 3602...?

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BadPickle
10 minutes ago, Daffy said:

I wonder if you can buy the marked plates a bit cheaper, and drop them on a good running 3602...?

3601, like a 3602 but   without the centre jewel, 

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Simonix
22 minutes ago, Daffy said:

I wonder if you can buy the marked plates a bit cheaper, and drop them on a good running 3602...?

I believe they aren't always compatible., from what I have read. Molnja made minor changes to the designs they bought fro Cortebert over the years.

Molnja movement still look nice either way. They can be found on the bay of E for $50 regularly.

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