Creating a Personal Generic Version of a Historic Italian WWII PAM Diving Watch

A watch assembled by the author 

While researching Panerai Marina Militare watches, I found a website in Japan selling a limited edition of 100 watches. They looked a lot like Parnis and less like Panerai. The seller called his watch a Plasmir. Does that seem like a yellow flag? Well, consider that Panerai calls their watches Radiomir and Luminor.

The owner of the business wrote a story contradicting the Panerai narrative. Among other assertions, he wrote that Officine Panerai was merely a workshop and Rolex took the original order from the Italian government and shipped components to the workshop.

That's his assertion not mine.

The Japanese watchmaker displayed an impressive diagram of how he made his watch. In my estimation, he added no value to consumer education. I thought the assembly looked basic and nothing extraordinary.

I decided to assemble something like a sterile dialed model myself.

I obtained all of the components and came up with a watch I wanted to wear.  The finished product really surprised me. You would have to take it from me.

Considering the success of the Japanese seller, maybe I should place a 100 unit order (MOQ) from Pa Jie and make it a limited edition. Well, maybe not.

I want to emphasize if you can tell a good story, merchandise properly and isolate the buyer physically or by influencing their perception, you can sell almost anything. In the Japanese man's situation, I'm guessing, but I believe he put his watches in the glass cases of brick and mortar jewelry stores. At least, he talks about his store.

What I got

Parnis watches look fairly plain to me. I'm less than crazy about the bands and the cases have no adornments. At this point I can do little about the cases. I don't have a rose engine lathe and even if I did, I wouldn't know how to use it.

The Parnis case works fine. They used 44mm AISI* marine grade stainless steel. AISI is the abbreviation for American Iron and Steel Institute. This model has a high AISI rating of 316L, which is marine grade.

The Parnis case is stamped and milled. For example, the case is stamped from plate stock, but the crystal retaining bezel and the caseback with threads are machine milled. Stamping doesn't work for lugs and pin holes due to their fragility. They require milling or they'll end up misaligned.

After stamping and milling a case, a producer must mill the details to some extent. Parnis cases have a limited degree of finish from milling. Structurally they're excellent cases, but they lack the decoration of fully milled watches, e.g., Rolex.

Looking at the Panerai portfolio, the bands seemed like the most important component of fashion. It gave their watches a distinctive and bold look. I went looking for bands. I spent days looking at watch bands on-line. I found a hand stitched band with natural surface leather. I also found a diving glove buckle. I couldn't find similar straps for less than $100.

I bought the dial and case came from one of the Parnis jobbers. Originally the sterile Italian military dial appealed to me. Panerai used California dials with 47mm cases. That's a big watch. I went with an off-the-shelf sterile dial that Parnis sells with their Seagull ST-3600 movements.

Movement time: First choice - ETA Unitas movement. I found a number of sources of ETA Unitas 6497 movements. Their abundance shocked me. My supply houses could not acquire new 6497 movements, but several companies in Germany sold new ETA Unitas movements.

One company in Germany had a cache of  ETA 6497-1 movements They kept their cost in-line with US suppliers. The German firm charged $349 with free shipping. (That's the one off price for a skeleton Unitas.)

On eBay, I found substantially lower priced models. I used this search ETA Unitas 6497 movements. If the link doesn't work search on "ETA Unitas 6497 movements" under Jewelry and watches ->watches.

Ultimately, I found a new old stock watch with an Unitas movement for $47. It runs like a charm.

I also looked for Chinese movements. I found an article comparing Hangzhou HZ6300, Sea-Gull Seagull TY2130 and ETA 2824 movements. It was dated, but it set me on the right track.

The equivalent Chinese movement is the Seagull ST-3600. Seagull added a swan-neck regulator for better control of the escapement allowing me to set the timing precisely.

I felt torn between the ST-3600 and the original Unitas 6597. I decided to build two watches, one with the Seagull and one with the Unitas. They fit the case identically. The dial fit perfectly. Th Unitas set screws stabilized the movement in the case.

I did find one difference in the winding and setting mechanism. The shaft of the Unitas stem did not fit the Seagull and vice versa. The crown had the same Tap 6 threads, so that helped. Also, the winding and setting springs were reversed between the two movements - one on top and one on the bottom. I found the parts interchangeable with the exception of the stem and its fit with the setting gears and click of the detent.

Seagull makes a gem with regard to the ST-3600. It's so nice. The Unitas had a sleek and simple design - nothing fancy. It also ran smoother. I could see a difference in the way the second hand swept.

Designs

I did find a Panerai design used in 1936. Reissued in 2006, Panerai calls it a Radiomir 1936. The original had a Rolex oyster case and a Cortébert movement. Some disagreement exists about the inventor of the crown, but that didn't bother me. I wanted a certain look and function.

Historical Perspective - Legend and Tradition

I spent more time than planned doing research, but it paid off. I was able to incorporate some of the markings of the original sub-surface Italian marina militare model. The plain face and illumine hands and numbers allowed frogmen commandos (Decima Flottiglia Mezzi d'Assalto) of the Italian Royal Navy to see the time in deep Mediterranean waters. I didn't want to build a waterproof watch, but I wanted the look.

The Italian Navy watches (1936) needed extra-high grade radium. That's how the Radiomir got its name from radium.  The Italian divers, by the way, didn't engage in rescue missions. They needed to see time in adverse conditions for coordinating the mining of ships, harbors and shipping lanes - killing people.

47 Millimeter Faces Emulating Trench Watches

The Italians used trench watches during World War I. Those first wristwatches with the second hand at the 9 o'clock had pocket watch movements. With the winding crown at the 3 o'clock position instead of the top of the watch, watchmakers had to use improvised dials. The ST-3600 and the ETA Unitas 6497 are pocket watch movements. Unitas released the 6497 in 1950 and Panerai used it to replace the Cortébert.

The movements measure 37.22 mm. In lignes (French) it's 16 1/2. Size 9 as used in the American measurement system for pocket watches. Most trench watches used pocket watch size 16-18 mm movements.

The Movement

The Seagull ST 3600 is "parts-compatible" and exchangeable with the ETA Unitas 6497. ETA ceased selling their movements to competitors outside of Swatch Group. As a result, demand for replacement movements has risen to dramatic levels.

Segull and Sellita have become the main suppliers of high-end movements and parts to the Swiss watch companies with Seagull supplying parts to other movement manufacturers as well. That's why ETA movements became unavailable from my suppliers.

Well, I also had a difficult time finding the Seagull movement I wanted. I could buy in quantity. I finally found a new one on eBay for $45. I had to wait two weeks unless I wanted to pay $45 for DHL to deliver it in 5 days. I waited.

The ETA Unitas 6497 skeleton movement retails for $349 without cosmetic modifications. With Seagull and Sellita filling the gap left by Swatch/ETA, these movements are temporarily sold for considerably less money, which made this watch a bargain. I anticipate the movements increasing in price.

The Sea-Gull ST-3600 did everything I wanted. I liked the finish: Geneva stripes and perlage It had a time reserve of 48 hours after full-winding. The beats per hour of 18,000 seemed sufficient.

Conclusion - Sort of

After many decades of owning watches, this is the watch for me!. Maybe someone will do additional milling with a rose engine lathe, but who's in a hurry to add cost for something that adds no functionality?

I hope you found value in this report. I learned many things on this journey. In particular, I came to realize that when we  buy a name brand watch, we're paying for advertising, endorsements, sponsorship and big salaries and benefits. Do we really want to pay for that stuff?